Glenwood is a neighborhood in

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

. It is located in the vicinity of

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 ...

to West York Street. In 1988, two residents of the 3100 block of Percy Street, Reverend Clarence Hester, a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

minister and activist, and Carrie Hartsfield, an insurance worker who retired, cofounded the Glenwood Community Development Corporation in an effort to improve the area. Glenwood is often defined as the area bounded by York Street to the south (bordering Stanton and Templetown), Germantown Avenue to the east (bordering Fairhill), and Glenwood Avenue to the north and west (bordering

Nicetown–Tioga Nicetown–Tioga is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It comprises two smaller, older neighborhoods, Nicetown and Tioga, although the distinction between the two is ra ...

, Allegheny West, and Strawberry Mansion).Rubino, Frank.
Razing Hell
" ''

Philadelphia Weekly ''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 ...

''. May 7, 2008. Retrieved on January 20, 2009. Glenwood is a low-income, predominantly

African-American neighborhood African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African American. ...

. The area has one of the highest crime rates in the city.

Demographics

As of the 2010 Census, Glenwood was 88% non-Hispanic black or African American, 7.8% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 2% white, 1% Asian, and 1.3% all other. Though a predominantly black neighborhood, there is an increasingly significant number of Hispanics, particularly in the eastern parts of the neighborhood, in areas immediately west of Germantown Avenue.

Crime

The crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s changed the character of the neighborhood; it was considered to be the western fringes of the

Philadelphia Badlands Fairhill is a neighborhood on the east side of the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Fairhill is bordered by Front Street to the east, Germantown Avenue (10th Street) to the west, Allegheny Avenue to the nor ...

, an area known for an abundance of open-air recreational drug markets and drug-related violence. Hester said that when recreational drugs appeared in his area, many residents left, and drug dealers moved in to their now-vacant houses. Hester began campaigning against drug dealers in the area, persuading Philadelphia Mayor

W. Wilson Goode Woodrow Wilson Goode Sr. (born August 19, 1938) is a former Mayor of Philadelphia and the first African American to hold that office. He served from 1984 to 1992, a period which included the controversial MOVE police action and house bombing ...

to order the demolition of 82 properties at the intersection of Hutchinson Street and Percy Street. Frank Rubino of the ''

'' stated in a 2007 article that Glenwood had "crumbling, boarded-up"

row houses In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

with signs reading "KEEP OUT!", broken windows, much trash, porches with iron grating, graffiti, murals erected for people who died, discarded malt liquor bottles and tires, and stray cats. In the same article, Glenwood is described as "absolutely an ugly neighborhood," and that "it's ugly and it's dirty."

References

{{North Philadelphia Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Upper North Philadelphia