Map of Philadelphia area placing West Philadelphia in context
West Philadelphia Community History Center

Faculty and Students at the University of Pennsylvania inaugurated this heritage site in the spring of 2008.
This virtual history center will be an ever-revised and expanded resource by and for members of the
West Philadelphia community, and especially for teachers and their students.

Click for the Home page for the West Philadelphia Community History CenterClick for historical summaries of West PhiladelphiaClick for descriptions and histories of West Philadelphia neighborhoodsClick for personal perspectives on West PhiladelphiaClick for special exhibitsClick for maps of West PhiladelphiaClick for statistics on West PhiladelphiaClick for a bibliography of resources for the study of West PhiladelphiaClick for teacher guides for studying West Philadelphia

 

 

 

SPECIAL EXHIBITS

Detail of 1777 map of West Philadelphia

Mapping West Philadelphia: Landowners in October 1777
Interactive website developed from research by J.M. Duffin, 2011

Detail of ca. 1850 photograph of main building of the Pennsylvania Institute for the Insane

112 Acres of Change in the Heart of West Philadelphia:
An essay by Mark Frazier Lloyd, in collaboration with Caleb C. Bradham, 2010

Market Street under the newly constructed Market El in 1914. Photograph from a news article in the Philadelphia Evening Ledger, Nov. 14, 1914

Construction of Market El Transforms West Philadelphia
An essay by Mark Frazier Lloyd, 2010

Detail of print by William Birch of William Hamilton's country estate, the Woodlands

The Building of West Philadelphia: An Historical Survey of Suburban Architecture
A website by Matthew Grubel, 2008

Title page of Vieira's 1903 book on West Philadelphia

West Philadelphia Illustrated
A book by M. Laffitte Vieira, 1903

Detail of watercolor of West Philadelphia, ca. 1880, by David Kennedy featuring the bank designed by Frank Furness at 32nd and Market streets

West Philadelphia: Building a Community
An exhibition at the Arthur Ross Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania
July 7 - October 11, 2009

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Web site sponsored by the University Archives of the University of Pennsylvania Copyright 2009 | PRIVACY