Hawthorne is a neighborhood in the

South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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 ...

. It is located between Broad Street and 11th Street, and extends from South Street to Washington Avenue.

Background

The most prominent landmark in the neighborhood was Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza, a public housing high-rise complex at 13th and Fitzwater Street, originally called Hawthorne Square. The four MLK towers were imploded on October 17, 1999, and have been slowly replaced with a mix of low-rise public housing, based on

New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually i ...

ideas, thanks to the

HOPE VI HOPE VI is a program of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is intended to revitalize the worst public housing projects in the United States into mixed-income developments. Its philosophy is largely based on New Urban ...

program. Hawthorne is in transition, one of the few neighborhoods contiguous to

Center City, Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous wi ...

that had been left relatively untouched by major upscale development. It is also sandwiched between

gentrifying Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

neighborhoods: Southwest Center City is to its west and Bella Vista is to its east. Much of Hawthorne is currently being renovated. Old homes are being renovated with only the exterior remaining. Other properties that were commercial are being (or have been) demolished and new town homes have replaced them. Approximately 10 new homes a year for the past 2 years, the current tax abatement and home with parking are what are attracting new residents. The Nathaniel Hawthorne elementary school was converted into condominiums in 2011. The

High School for the Creative and Performing Arts The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, commonly known as CAPA, is a magnet school in South Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the edge of the Christian Street Historic District. It is a part of the School Distri ...

is also located in Hawthorne, in the former Ridgway Library. The ornate building dates to 1878 and is modeled after the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considere ...

, and is the former home of the

Library Company of Philadelphia The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) is a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia. Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a library, the Library Company of Philadelphia has accumulated one of the most significant collections of hist ...

History

According to Sandra Robinso

Hawthorne Square was originally the name given to the area between roughly Lombard and Bainbridge. A popular

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 ...

nightlife spot for

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musicians, vices, and rowdy bars, it was also a site of poverty and

street crime Street crime is a loose term for any criminal offense in a public place. The difference between street crime and white-collar crime is that street crime is often violence that occurs in a public area whereas white-collar crime is non-violent crim ...

. When the city made an effort to revitalize

Society Hill Society Hill is a historic neighborhood in Center City Philadelphia, with a population of 6,215 . Settled in the early 1680s, Society Hill is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia.The Center City District dates the Free Soc ...

and the neighborhood now called Washington Square West, the community of Hawthorne Square was essentially pushed to the south and west, creating "Hawthorne" with its current boundaries. The Washington Avenue Historic District, Bartlett School, and

Nathaniel Hawthorne School The Nathaniel Hawthorne School is a historic school building that is located in the Hawthorne neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. History and arc ...

are listed on 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 ...

Education

The

School District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200 ...

operates public schools, including Academy at Palumbo, formally known as Barlett School, or Frank C. Palumbo Junior High School. The

Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves Philadelphia. It is the 13th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the City of Philadelphia gover ...

operates the Charles Santore Branch (formerly Southwark Branch), serving Bella Vista.Charles Santore Branch
"

. Retrieved on September 22, 2011.

References

External links

The Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition

The Home of Martin Luther King Plaza Homeowners Associations

"The Place Where You Live: Hawthorne"
''

South Philly Review ''Philadelphia Weekly'' (''PW'') is a website based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a newspaper in 1971 as ''The Welcomat'', a sister publication to the ''South Philadelphia Press''. In 1995, the paper became ''Philadelphia Weekl ...

''
Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza implosion footage

MLK Plaza revitalization plans

Historic Photographs of Hawthorne
''Philly''History.org {{South Philadelphia Neighborhoods in Philadelphia South Philadelphia