Notable residents included the Benton family descendants of former king Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte Overbrook Farms is 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 ...

that is situated on the western edge of the

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Although there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the n ...

section of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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 ...

, United States. It is roughly bounded by City Avenue ( U.S. Route 1), 58th Street, Woodbine Avenue, and 66th Street at Morris Park. The neighborhood is bisected by Lancaster Avenue ( U.S. Route 30) and the original Pennsylvania Railroad "main line". Today, the rail line is used by both

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

passenger service and

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

's commuter Paoli/Thorndale Line.

History

This region of Philadelphia and its suburbs were originally settled by Welsh immigrants, who purchased land from William Penn. Two of these farms contributed land for what became the Overbrook Farms neighborhood, which was developed beginning in 1892. The neighborhood is often incorrectly considered to be a sub-section of the larger and densely developed Overbrook neighborhood. Overbrook Farms was the first of several planned communities at were established along the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Overbrook Farms Company was the developer; its officers had links to directors of the Girard and Drexel banks and the Penn Railroad. This planned community includes some of the first residential projects by the first graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania's architectural program. Overbrook Farms maintains the oldest continually operating neighborhood association in the United States, the Overbrook Farms Club (OFC). OFC sponsors an annual house tour each Spring. The neighborhood was designated as a National Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its description and statement of significance can be found a
"Overbrook Farms"
Historic Districts. ''Overbrook Farms, Its Historical Background, Growth and Community Life'' (1936) by Tello J. d'Apery, M.D. also provides a complete history of the area. A more recent development of smaller homes with modern incursions, called Greenhill Farms, is not included within the historic district. This development extends from 66th Street to 72nd Street. Bordered on three sides by Morris Park and on the west by City Avenue, it includes some original mansions built on Wistar Morris' gentleman's farm. The City Line Avenue Bridge was listed on 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 ...

in 1988.

Public libraries

The

Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...

operates the Wynnefield Branch nearby.
Free Library of Philadelphia

References

External links

''Overbrook Farms'' history
''Overbrook Farms its historical background, growth and community life.'' This entire book is available free for download from Penn State's Digital Bookshelf. * National Register - Inventory {{Authority control Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Houses completed in 1893 Historic districts in Philadelphia Overbrook, Philadelphia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania