Elmwood Park, also known simply as Elmwood, is a neighborhood in the Southwest section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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. It borders the city line with Delaware County at Cobbs Creek, and extends to the Schuylkill River. The Eastwick neighborhood borders it to the southwest, and Kingsessing borders it on the northeast. Poles and Irish Americans had long been the majority in the neighborhood, organized around

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parishes established throughout the early to mid 20th century. In 1985, Mayor

Wilson Goode Woodrow Wilson Goode Sr. (born August 19, 1938) is a former List of mayors of Philadelphia, Mayor of Philadelphia and the first African Americans, African American to hold that office. He served from 1984 to 1992, a period which included the c ...

declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

as white rioters demonstrated outside two houses in Elmwood, creating an "imminent danger of civil disturbance." One home had been sold to an African-American family and the other to an

interracial Interracial topics include: * Interracial marriage, marriage between two people of different races ** Interracial marriage in the United States *** 2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident * Interracial adoption, placing a child of one raci ...

couple. Between 1990 and 2000, the white population decreased by 57.39% while the African American population increased by 55.40%. Vietnamese American

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s and

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

n immigrants have joined African Americans in making today's Elmwood a more racially diverse neighborhood as the white population decreases. The Route 36 trolley runs along Elmwood Avenue through the heart of the neighborhood. A storage facility that is also used as an alternate terminus is also located there. The Thomas Buchanan Read School was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1986. Elmwood Park's
The Labor Monument: Philadelphia's Tribute to the American Worker
' (2010) by artist

John Kindness John Kindness (born 1951) is an Irish artist working a range of media including sculpture and painting. His work often contrasts material, image and reference in an unusual and humorous way. Kindness was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He att ...

is one of the first monuments in the United States commemorating the contributions of organized labor nationwide. The monument was commissioned by the

Association for Public Art Established in 1872 in Philadelphia, the Association for Public Art (formerly Fairmount Park Art Association) is the United States' first private, nonprofit public art organization dedicated to integrating public art and urban planning. The Assoc ...

(formerly the Fairmount Park Art Association) and installed in 2010 at 71st Street and Buist Avenue.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 27,329 people living in the neighborhood. The racial makeup was 31.15%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 55.40%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 10.33%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and 0.75% from other races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 2.25% of the population. The median income for a household in the neighborhood was $24,817.

Education

Free Library of Philadelphia operates the Paschalville Branch, which serves Elmwood and other subdivisions, at 6942 Woodland Avenue. The system also operates the Eastwick Branch, which serves Elmwood Park and other subdivisions, at 2581 Island Avenue.Eastwick Branch
" '' Free Library of Philadelphia''. Retrieved on January 3, 2008.

References

External links

Philadelphia Imposes a State of Emergency
''New York Times'', November 24, 1985
Recent Trends in Immigration to Philadelphia
Johnny Ceffalio, University of Pennsylvania {{Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Irish-American neighborhoods Southwest Philadelphia