Callowhill is an unofficial name for a

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 ...

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, located roughly in the vicinity of Callowhill Street, between

Vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

, Spring Garden, Broad, and 8th streets. The name "Callowhill" was coined by the Callowhill Neighborhood Association, a community organization in the area; although this name often appears on online maps, the City of Philadelphia does not have an official name for this area. Callowhill is named for Callowhill Street, which was named after Hannah Callowhill Penn,

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

's second wife and ''de facto''

proprietor Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as ''title'', which may be separated and held by diffe ...

of Pennsylvania after William Penn. Callowhill was formerly home to large-scale manufacturing and other industries, of which an architectural history has been left in the form of grand old abandoned factories. During the 1970s and 1980s, the population of Callowhill plummeted, and although numbers are rising, it is a fairly unpopulated section of the city compared to surrounding neighborhoods. Recently developers have started to employ

adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is the reuse of an existing building for a purpose other than that for which it was originally built or designed. It is also known as recycling and conversion. The adaptive reuse of buildings can be a viable alternative to new con ...

projects, converting them into loft style housing; so much so that many have termed the neighborhood "The Loft District". In 2010, the Callowhill Industrial Historic District was added to 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 ...

. Callowhill is physically cut off from its neighbor to the south,

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

, by the Vine Street Expressway. This has largely prevented Chinese businesses from spreading north, although some industrial and storage uses by the Chinese community have been placed in Callowhill. Vine Street is also blamed for the abrupt drop in pedestrian life above Chinatown, and the struggle faced by efforts to redevelop this section of the city that lies between Center City and

North Philadelphia North Philadelphia, nicknamed North Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is immediately north of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City. Though the full extent of the region is somewhat vague, "North Philadelphia" is regarded as ...

The former

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railr ...

train trestle, the Reading Viaduct, is a defining feature of the Callowhill neighborhood. Neighborhood groups proposed that the abandoned structure be maintained as a public park. The Reading Viaduct park plan gained momentum in 2009 when Philadelphia's Center City District (CCD), and its influential president Paul Levy, became enamored of the idea and ultimately became a partner to help manage the project. CCD announced on Tuesday, February 6, 2018 that the first phase of the quarter-mile-long, elevated park would open in spring 2018. The grand opening of the Rail Park was held on June 14, 2018, attracting a large crowd.

Education

* Career and Academic Development Institute * Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School * Roman Catholic High School

Points of interest

* Callowhill Industrial Historic District * Franklin Music Hall * Goodman Brothers and Hinlein Company * Packard Motor Corporation Building * Philadelphia Lodge No. 2 BPOE (1925) * Reading Viaduct * Smaltz Building * Terminal Commerce Building * Union Transfer

References

External links

Callowhill Neighborhood Association
*, City Planning Commission, 2005 {{North Philadelphia Adaptive reuse of industrial structures in the United States Broad Street (Philadelphia) Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Vine Street (Philadelphia)

Education

Points of interest

See also

References

External links