
Overbrook is a historic
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. It is situated in the northwest of
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Although there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the n ...
.
The area's housing ranges from large, old homes to rowhouses to three- and four-story apartment buildings.
Physical setting
Overbrook lies in the northwest of
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Although there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the n ...
, surrounded by
Wynnefield
__NOTOC__
Wynnefield is a diverse middle-class
neighborhood in West Philadelphia. Its borders are 53rd Street at Jefferson to the south, Philadelphia's Fairmount Park to the east, City Avenue (commonly referred to as "City Line") to the north and ...
to the east,
Carroll Park to the south, and
Montgomery County to the north.
The neighborhoods of
Overbrook Farms,
Morris Park and
Overbrook Park are often considered to be part of Overbrook, but in many city documents they are considered separate from the neighborhood proper, which in a 2004 map from the
Philadelphia City Planning Commission was narrowly defined as bounded by North 63rd Street to the west, Lansdowne Avenue to the south, and
SEPTA's regional rail tracks to the northeast.
A map produced by the
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) is the metropolitan planning organization for the Delaware Valley. Created in 1965 by an interstate compact, DVRPC is responsible for transportation and regional planning in the greater Phi ...
and
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...
places the boundaries of the neighborhood at the west branch of
Indian Creek to the west, Lansdowne Avenue to the south, 54th Street to the east, and the city limit at City Line Avenue to the north.
Any definition places the neighborhood in close proximity to
Overbrook High School, the
Overbrook School for the Blind, the
Overbrook SEPTA Station, and Overbrook Avenue.
The neighborhood gets its name from Overbrook station, where the tracks run "over the brook" of
Mill Creek, one of two creeks that run thorough the neighborhood. Mill Creek enters a
culvert
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...
in Montgomery County close to the station and flows underground through the center of the neighborhood and beyond before emptying into the
Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...
.
Indian Creek runs primarily above ground through Morris Park before emptying into
Cobbs Creek.
History
The land that would become Overbrook, along with the rest of Philadelphia, made up part of the vast
Northeastern coastal forests
The Northeastern coastal forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the northeast and middle Atlantic region of the United States. The ecoregion covers an area of 34,630 sq miles (89,691 km2) encompassing the Piedmont ...
inhabited by the
Lenape
The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada.
The Lenape's historica ...
people. European settlers moved inland from the
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...
in the 17th century,
including
Welsh settlers who acquired land in the areas west of Philadelphia in the 1680s, establishing farms and mills. Several large farms owned by Welsh farmers in the Western Liberties would later become the neighborhood of Overbrook.
The agricultural lands near Indian and Mill Creek in 1704 became part of
Blockley Township and in 1795 were connected to Philadelphia via the
Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, what is today
Lancaster Avenue. The construction of the
Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, also known as the Main Line, further connected the area to the city. This line was later incorporated into the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...
and in 1860
Overbrook station was opened
and named after Mill Creek, which the tracks ran over.
The first residential development in the Overbrook area was the construction of the planned suburb of
Overbrook Farms from the 1890s through the 1920s. In 1892, the investment bank Drexel & Company, led by
Anthony Joseph Drexel
Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. (September 13, 1826 – June 30, 1893) was an American banker who played a major role in the rise of modern global finance after the American Civil War. As the dominant partner of Drexel Burnham Lambert, Drexel & Co. of ...
, began buying up agricultural land near Overbrook station. Working with the architects Herman Wendell and Walter Bassett Smith, they began the construction of what was billed as a "suburb deluxe" for middle to upper-class families hoping to leave the city. The neighborhood had its own water system, steam heat (from the Overbrook Steam Heat Company), and electricity (from the Overbrook Electric Company), and was well connected to the city with trains running every half hour.
Overbrook Farms was designated a "historic district" in 2019 by the Philadelphia Historical Commission.
Architecture
Overbrook developed in various stages between 1900 and 1960. The dominant housing type is the
row house
A terrace, terraced house (British English, UK), or townhouse (American English, US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses party wall, sharing side walls. In the United States ...
, present in a wide variety of styles. Built during the early twentieth century when trolley lines were allowing middle-class Philadelphians to move out from more crowded row house communities, Overbrook was a community of choice at that time. Outside of Overbrook Farms, most of the houses in the Overbrook area date from between 1915 and 1930, when the Great Depression halted new construction nationally and locally.
In addition to rowhouses, there are a number of twin (semi-detached) houses. These semi-detached homes have two or three floors and typically are over in size. Prime examples of typical Overbrook twin houses are along Wynnewood Road from Haverford Avenue to Malvern Avenue, North 64th Street between Lansdowne and Lebanon Avenues, or Nassau Road between North 61st and 63rd Streets. There are very few detached single-family homes in Overbrook. Single homes typically pre-date the construction of most of Overbrook's housing or came into existence on select lots after the construction of most of the rowhouses and twin houses. For example, one will see a few single-family homes on Wynnewood Road near Columbia Avenue. A large stone home remains this intersection. This home once sat on acres of land that the owner(s) sold off to developers who then constructed twin houses and rowhouses. The vast majority of the single-family, detached homes in the Overbrook area are in the
Overbrook Farms neighborhood.
Demographics
Demographic information for
ZIP Code 19151 covers Overbrook and
Morris Park as well as parts of
Carroll Park.
This ZIP Code as a whole is sometimes referred to as ''Overbrook''.
Major trends identified in 2011 were an increase in the
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
population and a drop in the
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
population from 1990 to 2010, a change which took place primarily in the 1990s.
Landmarks

Overbrook, while overwhelmingly residential in character, does have several notable landmark buildings and institutions.
Natural
*
Mill Creek - runs underground starting near Overbrook station
*
Indian Creek (Cobbs Creek tributary) - runs through Morris Park
*
Cobbs Creek Park – forms southern border of Overbrook section, undergoing restoration in many places
Educational

*
Overbrook Elementary School – 2032 N. 62nd St., listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
*
Overbrook High School – 59th and Lancaster, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
*
Overbrook School for the Blind – Malvern Avenue near 64th, landmark campus sporting Spanish Revival architecture
*
Lewis C. Cassidy School/Academics Plus School, 6523 Lansdowne Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19151, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
* Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School and Church – 63rd and Lancaster, historic grade school attended by actor
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...
* The
Free Library of Philadelphia
The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...
Haddington Branch serves Overbrook-Morris Park.
Religious
*
African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas - 6361 Lancaster Avenue
*
Mosque of Shaikh M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
*
Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia
*
St. Donato Roman Catholic Church
*
Overbrook Presbyterian Church at the corner of Lancaster Avenue and City Avenue, first constructed in 1889
Overbrook in media
Entertainer
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...
, who attended
Overbrook High School, named his production company,
Overbrook Entertainment, after the neighborhood.
References
Further reading
Overbrook Farms Club websiteOverbrook, as it wasfocused on changes in the Overbrook area watershed and natural landscape
Overbrook School for the Blind website
{{West Philadelphia
Neighborhoods in Philadelphia
Philadelphia Main Line