Sharswood, Philadelphia
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Sharswood is a small neighborhood in the
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 ...
section of the city 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 ...
in the
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. It is located to the east of Brewerytown, north of
Girard College Girard College is an independent college preparatory five-day boarding school located on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school was founded and permanently endowed from the shipping and banking fortune of Stephen Girard upon ...
, west of Ridge Avenue, east of 24th Street and south of
Cecil B. Moore Avenue Cecil B. Moore is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, named after the late Philadelphia-based civil rights attorney and politician Cecil B. Moore. The district is loosely ar ...
. It is often grouped with Brewerytown, as in the Brewerytown-Sharswood Community Civic Association, and the Brewerytown-Sharswood NTI Planning Area.


History

In Philadelphia's earliest years, Sharswood had not yet developed as a neighborhood and was part of a larger area of farmland known as the Penn District. Ridge Avenue, which makes up Sharswood's eastern border, was a
Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...
trail prior to European settlement. Sharswood gets its name from
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Judiciary of Pennsylvania, Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as ...
justice George Sharswood, who once lived in the area. The area was first developed in the 19th century as a
streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...
and a home for Irish and German brewery workers who found employment along the banks of the Schuylkill River. The west side of Sharswood was once known as Engelside, because of the Bergner & Engel brewery at 32nd and Thompson Street. Sharswood took shape as a predominantly
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
neighborhood in the early 20th century, when it experienced population inflows during the Great Migration. A number of notable African-American artists lived in Sharswood, including James B. Davis of
The Dixie Hummingbirds The Dixie Hummingbirds (formerly known as The Sterling High School Quartet) are an influential United States, American gospel music group, spanning more than 80 years from the Jubilee quartets, jubilee quartet style of the 1920s, through the "h ...
and Dox Thrash. Many more artists including
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...
,
John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...
and
Odean Pope Odean Pope (born October 24, 1938) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Pope was born in Ninety Six, South Carolina to musical parents and moved to North Philadelphia at the age of 10, where he learned from Ray Bryant. His talent ...
frequented the area around Ridge and Columbia Avenue, known for its jazz clubs and nightlife, when visiting or touring in Philadelphia. The
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recommended a number of hotels, restaurants and other establishments in the neighborhood. African-American leaders like Cecil B. Moore and Charles W. Bowser lived in and around the neighborhood. Sharswood was
racially segregated Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people ...
from surrounding white neighborhoods, and it was dangerous for Black residents of Sharswood to travel to neighborhoods like Swampoodle, north of Lehigh Ave, and Fairmount, south of Girard Ave. According to J.M. Brewer's 1934 map of Philadelphia and another map produced by the federal government's
Home Owners' Loan Corporation The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) was a government-sponsored corporation created as part of the New Deal. The corporation was established in 1933 by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation Act under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roo ...
, Sharswood was redlined. According to the area description form that accompanies the 1937 HOLC map of Philadelphia, Sharswood and its adjacent neighborhoods were populated primarily by laborers and mechanics making an average of $900 to $1800 annually ($19,190 to $38,381 in 2023 dollars), with a high number of families on
public assistance Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance pr ...
and a homeownership rate below 10%. Longtime residents say that lawyers, doctors and teachers also lived in the neighborhood. Roberts Vaux Junior High School was built in the neighborhood between 1936 and 1938.
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...
briefly lived and worked at a house on the corner of 25th and W Oxford Street for about 6 months in 1954, while serving as the
Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...
's minister for Temple 12, located at 1643 North Bailey Street. The 1964 Columbia Avenue Riot began just north of Sharswood, and spilled over into the neighborhood, devastating local businesses, exacerbating racial tensions and accelerating
white flight The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...
. In 1967, construction on the Norman Blumberg Apartments was completed between 24th and 22nd, Jefferson, and W Oxford Streets. In 1968, the People's Neighborhood Medical Center opened on 1410 North 24th Street to provide low cost preventative healthcare to low income residents of North Philadelphia. The medical center was founded by Charles P. Vaclavik, a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
doctor from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. In the early 1970s, the medical center expanded and employed multiple doctors as well as a dentist. It attracted government funding through the
Model Cities Program The Model Cities Program was an element of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty. The concept was presented by labor leader Walter Reuther to President Johnson in an off-the-record White House meeting on May 20, 1965 ...
, as well as other grants. Under Vaclavik's leadership, the medical center took an active role in the community and advocated for addressing the
social determinants of health The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status. They are the health promoting factors found in one's living and working conditions (such as the dist ...
in addition to the practice of medicine. In the later half of the 20th century, the neighborhood suffered from population decline,
deindustrialization Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpr ...
and disinvestment, becoming one of the poorest neighborhoods in Philadelphia with a high rate of vacancy and
violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful Force (law), force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, vio ...
. Despite endemic poverty in the surrounding neighborhood, the 2400 block of Sharswood Street became renowned in the 1980s for its cleanliness and tight-knit community. An inordinate number of children who grew up on the block went on to find success later in life in a variety of fields. Between 1977 and 1983, Vaux Junior High's
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
team, the Bad Bishops, won an unprecedented seven consecutive national junior high school chess championships. In 1979, the team was invited to the
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and attended an international competition in
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
. Incomes in the neighborhood stagnated during the 20th century. In 1999, Sharswood had a median income of $18,773 ($34,599.45 in 2023 dollars). The 2013 closure of Roberts Vaux Junior High School and Gen. John F. Reynolds Elementary School further disrupted the neighborhood's social cohesion and exacerbated the socioeconomic problems faced by residents. The closure of Vaux Junior High School was initially meant to be temporary, but plans to reopen it as a public school were scrapped.


Sharswood-Blumberg Neighborhood Transformation Plan

In recent years, the neighborhood has seen significant change under the
Philadelphia Housing Authority The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) is a municipal authority providing Public housing services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the fourth-largest housing authority in the United States and is the largest landlord in Pennsylvania. PHA h ...
(PHA) Sharswood-Blumberg Neighborhood Transformation Plan. In November 2013, the PHA received a $500,000 grant through the
Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...
's Choice Neighborhood Initiative to transform the site of the Norman Blumberg Apartments as well as the surrounding Sharswood neighborhood. Condemnation notices for more than 1,300 structures in the greater Sharswood neighborhood were sent out in 2015, and demolitions began shortly after. The PHA refused to complete a federally mandated Section 106 review of historic structures in the project area before issuing demolition orders. Fewer than 150 of the structures condemned in 2015 were occupied. Some occupied properties were wrongly classified by the PHA as vacant. Residents impacted by demolitions complained of rodent infestations as pests fled demolished buildings, as well as dust and vibrations from demolition and construction on adjacent parcels. Some residents also said that they were not given fair compensation for their properties seized through eminent domain, because the PHA did not take into account the cost of interior renovations when appraising the value of residents' homes. The owners of most of the homes seized by the PHA through eminent domain in 2015 did not receive compensation for several years. Many of the properties were appraised by the PHA at values thousands of dollars lower than the city's tax assessment valuation. Owners who contested these valuations had to undergo a lengthy review process. Reynolds Elementary School was sold, along with four other schools, to the PHA for a total of $3 million in 2014. It has yet to re-open. Between 2014 and 2016, a group of local gardeners led by Sharswood resident Tommy Joshua had a dispute with the PHA over land near the Blumberg Apartments which they had cleared of debris and turned into a garden called the North Philly Peace Park. The PHA had claimed ownership of the land via
eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...
and intended to build new apartments on it. In 2015, the housing authority fenced off the garden despite protests from residents. In 2016 the gardeners agreed to relocate to a parcel on 22nd and Jefferson Street. Development in Sharswood began in earnest after the partial demolition of the Blumberg Apartments on March 19, 2016. 500 families were relocated from the Blumberg Apartments prior to demolition, in addition to a number of residents living in the surrounding rowhomes. In 2016, Philadelphia's School Reform Commission sold the Vaux Junior High School building to the PHA for $2 million. In 2017, Big Picture Learning partnered with the PHA and 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 ...
to re-open Vaux Junior High School as a
charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
offering a non-traditional model of education with a focus on internships and career preparedness for grades 9-12. Though the school is run by an outside education company, its employees are District employees represented by the
American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 pe ...
. In 2019, the PHA opened a new $45 million headquarters at 2013 Ridge Avenue. Shortly after the new headquarters opened, dissatisfied PHA tenants, neighborhood residents, and others adversely affected by the
housing crisis An affordable housing crisis or housing crisis is either a widespread housing shortage in places where people want to live or a financial crisis in the housing market. Housing crises can contribute to homelessness and housing insecurity. They are ...
launched #OccupyPHA, a sustained protest outside the Ridge Avenue headquarters. Protestors remained encamped outside the headquarters for five months before disbanding. In 2020, the PHA received another $30 million in federal grants for the redevelopment of the Blumberg site. From June to October, protestors again camped outside of the PHA headquarters, eventually leaving when the PHA agreed to relocate them to nine vacant homes in Strawberry Mansion. The agreement with the protest encampment allowed the PHA to move forward with plans to construct a retail corridor north of its headquarters. An initial proposal for a suburban-style development with a large parking lot surrounding a standalone
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stalled due to disagreements between the developer and its retail tenant over the nature of the development. In 2022, after the project was redesigned to promote a more walkable, dense environment, a shopping complex which included a
Grocery Outlet Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. is an American discount closeout retailer consisting exclusively of supermarket locations that offer discounted, overstocked, and closeout products from name-brand and private-label suppliers. The company has stor ...
, a bank and an urgent care facility opened on the parcel at Ridge and 21st. PHA President Kelvin A. Jeremiah said that this was the first grocery store to open in the vicinity of the Sharswood neighborhood since the 1964 Columbia Avenue Riot. In March 2023, a deputy landlord-tenant officer (a private contractor who was not a sworn law enforcement official) shot Angel Davis, a tenant at the Girard Court Apartments, in the head while serving Davis and her husband with an eviction. Outcry over a string of shootings in 2023 by landlord-tenant officers, including this one, led to a temporary suspension of the landlord-tenant office's contract to serve evictions. During the suspension, evictions were served by the Sheriff's Office.


References

{{North Philadelphia Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Lower North Philadelphia