Philadelphia is known worldwide as a City of neighborhoods. Wynnefield, a city line neighborhood in West Philadelphia, is one the Philadelphia's most widely recognized neighborhood names and Wynnefield residents are well represented in the history of the City and its development. This Wynnefield neighborhood profile is a glimpse of the neighborhood through an interesting story I came across for Black History month in Philadelphia Weekly (Anderson. Feb. 26,1997). It is of the community work and commitment of Wynnefield resident, Ms Katie B. Jackson, dubbed the "Queen of Wynnfield", founder of the Wynnefield Academy.
Long before Ms. Jackson came to Philadelphia and before she became a part of the history of Wynnefield, we recreate the historical setting of Wynnefield at the time of the City's founder, William Penn, using historical anecdots and archival documents to fill in our lapses of time. Stories and first hand experiences help us along in our development of images to recapture life and society in Blockley Township and Kingsessing Township.
In the eighteenth century, Blockley Township and Kingsessing Township comprised West Philadelphia, that rural part of the city west of the Schyukill River, dotted with farms and estates, particularly along the banks of the river. Among the oldest of these buildings is Wynnestay, located at Fifty-second and Woodbine Streets.
Blockley's rural isolation was broken by the completion of the Lancaster Turnpike in the 1790's and the opening of the Market Street Permanent Bridge on New Year's Day, 1805. The area became increasingly attractive to gentlemen seeking sites for their country estates. They included both newcomers like Ilaian-born Paul Busti, who moved to his Retreat Farm near 44th and Haverford Ave. about 1799, and established Philadelphians like John Hare Powel, who moved into and renovated the Powelton Mansion, which was located in 1800 near Thirty-second and Race streets. The growth of rural hamlets in the township and small industry along the river, however, began to engulf these first West Philadelphia estates by mid-century. It was during the second quarter of the nineteenth century, while John Hare Powel was overimpoving Powelton, that social and charitable institutions began moving into West Philadelphia.
During the half-century after the opening of the Market Street Bridge, Blockley's economy shifted from agriculture to manufacturing and commerce, and its population grew from a meager 882 inhabitants in 1790 to 6,214 by 1840. Consequently, in 1840 the borough of West Philadelphia was carved out of Blockley Township by the Court of Quarter Session, but since its legality was questioned, the process was repeated four years later by the General Assembly. Under the Act of Consolidation in 1854, however, the carved townships and borough lost their separate identities, if not their distinctions, and became the Twenty-fourth Ward of the City of Philadelphia.
Shortly after the Act of Consolidation, street railways came to West Philadelphia, and during the next twenty years eleven different companies established a recticular complex of horse-powered railways over large parts of the area, helping to make it one of the city's most fashionable suburbs. Block Developments also appeared in the wake of the street railways. Plenty of open land remained in West Philadelphia. The advent of the automobile after 1900 and the opening of the Market Street Elevated in the spring of 1907 ignited another wave of speculative developments. This time they were to be row upon row of two-story dwellings and tenement apartment buildings. Development was pushing west but had not reached the suburban Wynnefield.
Suburban-like Environment and Present Strengths:
It took almost one hundred and twenty years to get the majority of the masses to travel to this western corner of the city. It wasn't always specifically to see or visit Wynnefield but more than likely it was to spend a day at "Woodside Park" in Wynnefield Heights which borders Wynnefield. The neighborhood also has been known as Woodside Park or Baldwynne Park. "Woodside Park" is the name of an amusement park that was constructed in 1897 by the Fairmount Park Transportation Company, and that continued in opeartion until 1955.
By now Miss Katie B. Jackson's story has begun. Born at the start of the depression in 1929 she grew up on a farm in southeastern Alabama. She came from a large family where her mother was the local midwife. It is likely that in this setting Katie grew up valuing life and the virtues of hard work and perserverance early. Before turning 20, Ms. Jackson had attended Russel County Training School and graduated from Miles College in Alabamama. She came north to Philadelphia and worked at Misericordia Hospital as a nurse, and moonlighted as a seamstress. She became known to neighbors as the "Hat Lady', but more important, she was dubbed 'Queen of Wynnefield" because of her substance.
Ms. Jackson affected life in the Wynnefeild section of the city just as it was transforming from an upscale Jewish enclave with mansions to a middle-class black neighborhood in the 70's. She evenutally launched a number of successful businesses in Wynnefield-- the best-known being the WYNNE-- and has created a legacy of black entrepreneurship and social activism that remains an inspiration to today's middle class black Philadelphians. As her business grew, Jackson bought a 30-room mansion in upper Wynnefield, at 2452 Bryn Mawr Ave. just off City Line Avenue. Mostly destroyed in fire in 1994, the house now sits empty. A point that will lead me to the topic of Ms. Jackson's commitment to the neighborhood and to issues of today that can begin to be addressed so as to continue the strengthening of the qualities of the neigborhood and resident participation.
Ms. Jackson became heavily involved in the community during the 60's and 70's and the cultural transformation. The Wynnefield Residents Association was formed and Ms. Jackson was active. She saw a need for a social organization in the community and to fill that gap she started the Christian Sisters Nondenominational Fellowship. Concerned about educating the children in the community she started offering daycare in her home in 1972. She went from 10 to 100 children almost over night. She opened the Wynnefeild Academy in 1975. During the 70's many large tracts of land were available for development and since then planning in the community has always been an issue with residents.
In the summer of 1992, community groups representing neighbors were faced with the possibility that the Bala Golf Club would be sold for development. Commercial use however is not permitted under R-2 Residential zoning. While the golf course issue is resolved, the Wynnefield neighborhood has several other planning issues that require attention. One such issue is the conversion of Wynnefield's historic mansions. into multi-family, office, instituional and social services uses. Many conversions have already taken place. At issue is how much and to what extent will this market demand impact on the integrity of the character and preservation of the community?
There is much more to be discussed and written on the neighborhood of Wynnefield. You have just been taken along a path that is developing. A path that anyone can travel and contribute to. Our neighorhood profiles are live documents waiting to be enriched with your input and knowledge. If you have information, documents, photographs, etc. that you know features not only Wwynnefield, but any of the West Philadelphia neighborhoods, please share it with us here at W.O.L.I. so we can share it with the world.