From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Southwark District |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places |
|
Map of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania highlighting Southwark District prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854
|
| Location: |
Bounded by Delaware, Washington Aves., 5th, Lombard, Front, and Catherine Sts., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Built/Founded: |
1703 |
| Architect: |
Multiple |
| Added to NRHP: |
May 19, 1972 |
| NRHP Reference#: |
72001172[1] |
| Governing body: |
Private |
Southwark was originally the Southwark District, a municipality in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania and is today primarily a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
[edit] History
Southwark is one of the oldest settlements in the County of Philadelphia and was its oldest district. Thanks to the populations of the Swedish settlements of Wicaco and Moyamensing, Southwark grew earlier than other parts of the county apart from the city of Philadelphia. The General Assembly created the district of Southwark on May 14, 1762, to facilitate cooperation with regards to street-building.
The district, as defined by the National Register of Historic Places[1], is bounded by 5th Street on the West, Lombard Street on the North, Washington Avenue on the South, and Front, Catherine, and Queen Streets and Delaware Avenue on the East.
Due to its location south of Philadelphia, the name was adopted as an allusion to the borough named Southwark in the county of Surrey, England, immediately south of the city of London.
In the recent past, Southwark was noted as a very poor and dangerous neighborhood. Because of this, better neighborhoods enveloped it by slowly expanding their boundaries, until today when you can only see a few remaining traces of this neighborhood's name. These include Southwark restaurant at 4th and Bainbridge, Southwark Paints further south on 4th, Southwark Development Corp, a public housing project along Washington from 3rd to 5th, and even "Southwark" painted on a wall as far away as 23rd and Washington.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
