Swampoodle is an older neighborhood in North Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States. Swampoodle was defined as the vicinity of the junction of three railroad lines near Lehigh Avenue and 22nd Streets.Philadelphia Neighborhood List, City of Philadelphia.
/ref> The neighborhood was the home of Connie Mack Stadium, long known as

Shibe Park Shibe Park, known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a ballpark located in Philadelphia. It was the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League (AL) and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (NL). When it opened April 12, 1 ...

. The stadium was located at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue. Connie Mack Stadium was once the home of the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

(AL) and the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. Owners of homes bordering the stadium would make money parking cars or renting porch and roof space. Formerly an Irish neighborhood, as of 2012 it had been absorbed into Allegheny West, a poor African-American enclave that had suffered post-industrial decline and

disinvestment Disinvestment refers to the use of a concerted economic boycott to pressure a government, industry, or company towards a change in policy, or in the case of governments, even regime change. The term was first used in the 1980s, most commonly in ...

. There are several accounts of how the neighborhood came to be named Swampoodle. One source says that the name refers to the swampiness and frequent formation of puddles near 22nd Street and Lehigh Avenue, which is similar to explanation given for the name of the Swampoodle neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The term is also slang for low-lying land and may have been used because

Cohocksink Creek The Cohocksink Creek was formerly a stream running between what are now the Philadelphia neighborhoods of Northern Liberties and Kensington. It was a tributary of the Delaware River. Its name, spelled various ways, is said to come from a Lenap ...

ran through the area. Others have countered that the area is actually elevated.

Location

Finkel defines Swampoodle as "Junction of three railroad lines, vic. icinityLehigh Avenue and 22nd Streets." He gives "(before 1926)" as the time period during which the name is attested in the sources that he and his contributors consulted.* The Philadelphia Information Locator Service list, augmented from the Finkel 1995 list, repeats the same definition. However, the junction of three railroads to which they refer would apparently be the junction at

North Philadelphia station North Philadelphia station is an intercity rail and regional rail station on the Northeast Corridor, located on North Broad Street in the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Southeastern Pennsylvan ...

, which clearly has been well east of 22nd Street since the 1890s or earlier.

Proposed SEPTA Swampoodle Connection

SEPTA's proposed

Swampoodle Connection The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and serving the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphi ...

was named for the old neighborhood as recently as the 1980s.

References

Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Upper North Philadelphia Irish-American culture in Philadelphia {{Philadelphia-stub