Port Richmond 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 ...

in the River Wards section of

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 Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. It is notable for its large Polish immigrant and

Polish American Polish Americans () are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of the U.S. population, ...

community, and it has been known as the Little Poland of Philadelphia. The neighborhood is also home to a large

Irish American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

community and sizable German, Lithuanian, Italian, and Puerto Rican communities, along with a historic Jewish community, as represented in the various churches and organizations. In more recent years, a sizable Albanian community has moved in. Port Richmond's ZIP code is 19134. A small portion of the neighborhood, north of Castor Avenue, falls into the 19137 ZIP code. The neighborhood is bounded by the Frankford Creek to the northeast, Lehigh Avenue to the southwest, the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

to the east, and Kensington and Allegheny Avenues to the northwest. While many locals often refer to Port Richmond as simply Richmond, there is a specific area named Richmond consisting of the most northeastern section of the neighborhood (the area north of Allegheny Avenue up to Frankford Creek). Adjacent neighborhoods are Bridesburg to the northeast, Juniata to the north, Harrowgate to the northwest and

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

to the south.

History

Colonial and coal eras

colonial times The ''Colonial Times'' was a newspaper in what is now the Australian state of Tasmania. It was established as the ''Colonial Times, and Tasmanian Advertiser'' in 1825 in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colon ...

, most of today's Port Richmond was owned by Anthony Palmer, the founder of Philadelphia's

neighborhood. Palmer put together various parcels of land starting around 1704. He named the estate he built "Hope Farm," and in 1729 sold this estate to William Ball. Palmer then purchased the old Fairman Mansion estate which bordered on the south of "Hope Farm" and built his town of Kensington. Over time, some manufacturing began at the southern end of "Hope Farm" and this area became known as Balltown. There were glass and textile concerns located there during the later part of the 18th century. During the 1800s, with the advent of the steam engine aboard ships, Port Richmond was a major terminus for colliers, which received coal from the

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 ...

facility at the port, and transported it to steamships at other locations. Colliers, as well as other merchant and military ships, continued to visit Port Richmond for coal until after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when coal-burning steam engines on ships were replaced by more modern oil and

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

Early 20th century

Port Richmond, at the beginning of the century, was a working-class neighborhood, and most workers simply walked to their nearby workplaces with lunch pail in hand. Cars were not common and those who had them stored them in

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

s. Stables for horses and cars were located in various parts of the area. Streets—unlike now—were generally free of parked vehicles, allowing hucksters and other vendors space to easily proceed down the narrow side streets with their horse and wagon on a daily basis. European

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

s arrived in large numbers and lost no time in scrimping and working long hours to earn sufficient money to purchase modest row homes, such as those along Chatham Street. Usually, the only heat in such homes was provided by a coal-fired

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

in a tiny kitchen. Some comfort could be had in the fact that these homes contained tiny rooms, generally two downstairs and two upstairs, and were easy to keep warm from the heat of the kitchen range. Such homes were generally twelve feet wide, and the entire length of the house was about twenty four feet. Cellars consisted of plain dirt floors. The fact that the homes were row homes, which were joined by common walls, helped them retain heat during cold winter spells. Only the fronts and backs of each home presented themselves to the coldness of winter. Why the cellars along Chatham Street, for example, contained dirt floors is not entirely clear, unless it was because the cellars were used simply for wood or coal storage or because cement was not a widely used product at the time. A ton of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

sold at the time for about four or five dollars and would be sufficient for the entire winter. However, most people bought coal by the

bucket A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical Cylinder (geometry), cylinder or Truncation (geometry), truncated Cone (geometry), cone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom that is attached to a semicircular carrying handle (grip), handle ...

from a street

peddler A peddler (American English) or pedlar (British English) is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of good (economics), goods. In 19th-century United States the word "drummer" was often used to refer to a peddler or traveling salesman; as exem ...

who came by daily in his horse-drawn carriage. The outsides of these homes consisted of wooden steps and brick sidewalks. Since this type of housing was of economic construction, the bricks in the sidewalk were laid in a crosshatch pattern in sand. When bricks were used in construction of the walls of the house, the mortar mix was made from lime and sand. Chatham Street homes were constructed in the late 19th century. Later, row homes in Port Richmond were generally sixteen feet wide and contained a cemented cellar, a coal-fired heater, and an upstairs bath for a total of for a total of five or six rooms. Such newer homes, like those on Almond Street, for example, increased in size as prosperity improved for the residents. These homes were palatial when compared with Chatham Street homes, and contained a coal-fired furnace that provided central heat. They generally consisted of three bedrooms and a bath upstairs, and also a living room, dining room, and a kitchen downstairs. (See the Salmon Street photo for examples of this type of row home.) Port Richmond residents were frugal and bought produce from the many street vendors who came by daily with their horse-drawn carts, loaded with fresh vegetables from nearby farms, located not very far away. Housewives could buy

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...

cucumber The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es,

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s, and other vegetables by the

bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an Imperial unit, imperial and United States customary units, US customary unit of volume, based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was used mostly for agriculture, agricultural pr ...

and store or preserve them for the winter. Gas mains were installed in the neighborhood by the city of Philadelphia, and gas was metered into each home for cooking and illumination. The meter was in the basement, and required someone in the household to occasionally feed it coins to keep the gas flowing. On Port Richmond sidewalks, tall gas lamps illuminated the streets. During each evening a lamplighter would come by to light the street lamps by igniting them with a very long device he held up in his hands.''The Challenge of the Times'', by Tom Bojanowski, 1992, privately published.

Wars

Port Richmond played a major maritime role in American wars from the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and onward through

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company, established in 1830 and located nearby, provided skilled work for local workers, who built the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s and the for the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

in the late 19th century. The shipyard, and others in the area, also built surface ships during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

—such as —and during World War I, and World War II when Cramps' workforce employed 18,000 skilled workers. During World War II, Port Richmond contained numerous docks and wharves for the loading and unloading of war cargo. In addition, the riverside area contained numerous ancillary facilities, such as warehouses, workshops, and offices. The

had used the port as a terminus for the transfer of coal, and, during the war, railroad service remained a vital function of the port, for its ability to quickly transfer goods to and from the port. The old Orinoka Mills in Richmond, was used as a training and wartime production facility in association with Mastbaum during the war. Today, the port is smaller than it was in World War II, although some marine services still remain, such as the Tioga Marine Terminal at Tioga and Delaware Avenue.

Railroad derailments

Frankford Junction in Port Richmond is an important point on the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, Rhod ...

rail artery, as well as being the site of several major rail accidents. On September 6, 1943, the northbound ''Congressional Limited'', a nonstop

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

passenger train, bound from Washington, D.C., to New York City, derailed near Port Richmond, killing 79 people and injuring 117 others. On May 12, 2015, at the same site, an

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 ...

train derailed.

Culture

Port Richmond is a vibrant neighborhood with a deep and proud cultural history encompassing several centuries. Stores, some located down side streets, are small and numerous because of the nature of the existing row home architecture where row homes and homefronts have been converted to use as stores. However, many of these stores and drinking establishments offer food, drink and charm which is unique to the neighborhood. Many Port Richmond homes have been refurbished and are now occupied increasingly by younger people, who no longer walk to work at the once bustling Port Richmond docks or to the tanneries and

loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

s of their predecessors, but are employed in various parts of the city of Philadelphia, returning home in the evenings to the comfort of their picturesque neighborhood. Unfortunately, as the narrow side streets are a product of the horse-and-buggy era, car parking is a problem. The Russell H. Conwell School, George L. Horn School, John Paul Jones Junior High School, James Martin School, Thomas Powers School,

Richmond School Richmond School & Sixth Form College, often referred to simply as Richmond School, is a coeducational comprehensive secondary school with academy status, located in North Yorkshire, England. It was created by the merger of three schools, the ...

, and Francis E. Willard School are 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 ...

Polish heritage

There are many Polish delis and restaurants throughout the neighborhood, evidence of the Polish ethnic background of the neighborhood. The neighborhood continues to attract Polish immigrants. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries when immigration was at its peak in Philadelphia, Polish people settled on farms in Port Richmond. Soon, the Polish population increased massively, which produced rowhouses with their notable marble steps, and creation of Saint Adalbert Church, which was built in Polish Cathedral style. Today, there are a number of restaurants and stores in the area of Richmond Street and Allegheny Avenue that cater to the Polish-American community. The former Krakus Market on Richmond Street offered a large selection of Polish and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an foods, including a variety of

Kielbasa Kielbasa (, ; from Polish ) is any type of meat sausage from Poland and a staple of Polish cuisine. In American English, it is typically a coarse, U-shaped smoked sausage of any kind of meat, which closely resembles the ''Wiejska'' ''sausage'' ...

, Polish canned goods, Polish newspapers and various types of Polish pastries, such as

Babka A babka, or an Ugat Shmarim (Hebrew: עוגת שמרים) is a sweet braided bread that originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine. It is popular in Israel where it is known as a yeast cake. It is also popular in the Jewish dias ...

, Chrusciki and Paczki. Philadelphia's award-winning Polish American String Band which marches in the

Mummers Parade The Mummers Parade is held each New Year's Day in Philadelphia. It started in 1901, and is the longest-running continuous folk parade in the United States. Local clubs, usually called "New Years Associations" or "New Years Brigades", compete i ...

down Broad Street on New Year's Day, sometimes marches and struts through the neighborhood, as on Port Richmond's Memorial Day celebration. A half-dozen blocks west on Allegheny from Richmond Street, there is an ancient park, Campbell's Square, where neighborhood children play and where special community events are sometimes held. Despite its strong Polish roots, where even now, many still speak the language in ordinary conversation, the area has also served other nationalities, such as the

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

. In addition to the area's Polish ethnicity, Lithuanians— who have historically always been strongly linked with the Polish nation—hold their festivals and dances, as well as catered affairs for the community, at the Lithuanian Dance Hall on Allegheny Avenue, just a few blocks west of Richmond Street. The Lithuanian Music Hall is currently the home of the Theatre Company of Port Richmond, a community theater providing entertainment to the community since 1984.

Demographics

Port Richmond is largely a working-class

community, and has been so for decades. As of the 2010 Census, Port Richmond was 76.7% non Hispanic white, 14.7% Hispanic of any race, 5.8% non Hispanic black, 1.8% Asian, and 1.1% all other. A more recent U.S. Census estimate released in 2014 for the year 2013., indicates that the Port Richmond community is much more diverse. For example, zip code 19134 with 60,000 inhabitants, has 23,000 Puerto Ricans and 5,550 Polish Americans. Zipcode 19125 has 1,400 Polish Americans. In Port Richmond, as in every old ethnic enclave in Philadelphia, demographic change is occurring at a rapid pace.

Principal thoroughfares

The main thoroughfares of Port Richmond are Allegheny Avenue, running east–west, Richmond Street and Aramingo Avenue, both running north–south. Allegheny Avenue is the location of the largest Catholic church in the area Nativity B.V.M. as well as Our Lady Help of Christians Church. Their children, along with St. Adalbert's attend Our Lady of Port Richmond Regional Catholic School. Richmond Street, south of Allegheny Avenue, runs parallel to Interstate 95 and contains a large number of Polish shops which serve the local Polish community. Italian and Polish

bakeries A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

bake fresh bread and various traditional pastries and meats. Port Richmond is also historically noted for the trolley tracks that run down Richmond Street (see photo at top of page) along the Delaware River. The trolleys have recently been restored and are running again. Center City Philadelphia, with its metropolitan stores and historic tourist attractions, is not that far away. There is a southbound entrance to

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

on Allegheny Avenue, a half block east of Richmond Street, and I-95 will quickly take you to Center City Philadelphia, areas of

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."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, ...

or the

Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia International Airport is the primary international airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It served 30.8 million passengers annually in 2024, making it the busiest airport in Pennsylvania and the 21st-busies ...

. On the other hand, to see the dynamic structures of

Old City, Philadelphia Old City is a neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, near the Delaware River waterfront. It is home to Independence National Historical Park, a dense section of historic landmarks including Independence Hall, ...

, a drive to center city could be made south on Richmond Street and continuing on south on Delaware Avenue, providing a wonderful view of what remains of the ship terminals that once made the

Port of Philadelphia The port of Philadelphia is located on the Delaware River in Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. ''Port of Philadelphia'' generally refers to the publicly owned marine terminals located within Philadelphia city limits along the west b ...

a bustling seaport. The Port Richmond Trail is part of the

East Coast Greenway The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, s ...

Religion

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church opened in 1882, and two others later opened: St. Adalbert in Philadelphia and

Our Lady Help of Christians Mary, Help of Christians () is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, based on a devotion now associated with a feast day of the General Roman Calendar on 24 May. John Chrysostom was the first to describe this title, in 345 AD. Don Bosco ...

(1898). On July 1, 2019, St. Adalbert and Nativity BVM and Saint George Parish, merged into a single congregation. St. Adalbert was chosen as the parish church of the merged Nativity BVM, which was renamed St. John Paul II Parish. Our Lady Help of Christians was closed in 2018.

Education

The

School District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated State schools, public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the largest school district in Pennsylvania and the eighth-lar ...

operates public schools. Our Lady of Port Richmond Regional School was established in September 2008 by the merger of Nativity B.V.M, Our Lady Help of Christians, and St. Adalbert. Each of the predecessor schools had enrollments of about 200. The 2008 economic downturn prompted the schools to merge. There were 545 students in the merged school in 2008, but the continued economic malaise resulted in declining enrollments. By 2016 enrollment was at about 400 and recovering. 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 Richmond Branch. In November 2024 heating issues meant the library had closed on a temporary basis. The building experienced more issues, and it had to close after a brief reopening due to a lack of structural integrity in the roof.

Notable people

*Author and screenwriter Joe Augustyn attended St. Adalbert's, then Philadelphia's Central High and The American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He wrote and produced the cult horror film '' Night of the Demons'', and now writes novels. * Frank Hoerst, famous baseball player. He attended North Catholic High School and played for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

. * Jack McTamney, singer, songwriter and performer. * Zachary Rehl, Philadelphia chapter president of the neo-fascist group

Proud Boys The Proud Boys is an American far-right politics, far-right, Neo-fascism, neo-fascist militant organization that promotes and engages in political violence.Far-right: * * Fascist: * * * * * Men only: * * * Political violence and militancy: ...

and convicted seditionist.

References

External links

Polish Port Richmond Community

New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) providing services to the Port Richmond area
{{Authority control Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Irish-American neighborhoods Irish-American culture in Philadelphia Polish-American history Polish-American culture in Pennsylvania Polish communities in the United States