Author: Gil

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Weekly spotlight on homes

A new feature this week is our spotlight on a particular house in Frankford. As you walk around the town you cannot help but be impressed by the huge houses you see on some of our streets. Many of them have been converted to various uses and some have unfortunately fallen into disrepair.
However Frankford is filled with well kept houses of modest size and that is what this feature is about.

So today the spotlight is on this house in the 1600 block of Wakeling Street. It catches your eye because of the neat, well kept little garden in front of the porch but it is clearly cared for and is still being undergoing some painting.
Every week for the next year or so we will put the spotlight on a new house. No houses that are for sale will be featured.

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Tacony

For our friends in Tacony:

IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

16th Annual Tacony History Day Parade and Disston Festival Saturday, September 15th, 2007

The Historical Society of Tacony and MARC (the Major Artery Revitalization Committee) are proud to sponsor the 16th Annual Tacony History Day on Saturday, September 15th, 2007. This celebration of history and community pride includes a Parade marching through the historic Tacony neighborhood, and a Festival at the Disston Recreation Center, both featuring local history and talent.

We are thrilled to announce that Bianca Ryan, winner of the 2006 America’s Got Talent national competition, will be our Parade Grand Marshall.
The Parade begins at 11 am, forming at Magee and Torresdale Avenues, and stepping off North on Torresdale to Princeton Ave where it will turn West to Cottage Street, then South to the Disston Recreation Center for the Disston Festival. Disston Recreation Center is located at the corner of Disston and Glenloch Streets, three (3) blocks west of Torresdale Avenue.

Favorite Parade performers include the Eagles Cheerleaders, Greater Kensington String Band, Woodland String Band, Hegerman String Band, the Golden Crown Fancy Brigade, Philadelphia Police & Fire Pipes and Drums, the Andalusia Jug Band, and the Father Judge High School Band. Ronald McDonald, Drill Teams, Color Guards, Boy Scout Bands, Classic cars and Military vehicles also thrill the crowd. After the Parade, Bianca Ryan will kick off the Disston Festival with a short performance, followed by a “Meet & Greet”. More live music and dancing will be on stage at the Festival, featuring the local talent of the Mary Ford Dancers and students from Anna Marie’s Academy of Dance.

There are also games and rides for children and families, food & refreshments, face painting, and games of chance.The Historical Society of Tacony will exhibit their Historic Display in the Recreation Center, where people can see some of the great photographs and artifacts of Tacony and the greater Northeast Philadelphia from the Society’s collection. Books featuring local history will be available to purchase.
Other local historical groups will be there, including the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation Philadelphia Chapter and the Historical Society of Frankford. . Thanks also go to the Tacony Civic Association and the Philadelphia Recreation Department for their dedicated and loyal support.

The Rain Date is set for September 29th. If there is a question of rain, people will be able to call the Tacony Day phone line after 7AM on September 16th to find out if any part of the Day will be postponed. If you want to volunteer or participate in the Parade or the Festival, or if you want further information, be sure to call the Tacony Day Phone line at 215-338-8790.

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Friends of Womrath park

The Friends of Womrath Park still needs a leader to keep the Friends group going and growing! The Philly Water Dept (PWD) has funding in the works to do a project in Womrath Park as part of the Frankford Creek Greenway project, and they need to have the group functioning so they can channel local input.

If you are interested in coming out for meetings, cleanups etc as soon as possible, they need you!

Please contact:
Janet Berstein at jamberstone@aol.com
or
Tracy ODrain at frankfordmainstmgr@yahoo.com

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Frankford 1901

I started this out by trying to find what the boundaries of Frankford really are. A news report this week identified the 2300 block of Orthodox Street as Frankford. When I grew up in Bridesburg in the 50s we considered that part of Bridesburg. So I started looking around and found that there are no official boundaries of Frankford because there is no official Frankford.

Frankford may be a zip code or a census tract or an idea in somebody’s mind but that is as close as we can get. Which brings us to this map. It is from the Gopsill’s 1901 map of Philadelphia. I like this map because it shows Frankford in the period before the development that changed the original town.

Most important thing to know is that the street lines that are shown as dashes are proposed. they were not built in 1901. Five points was what we now call Oxford Circle. Dark Run Lane is now Cheltenham Avenue. The intersection of Orthodox and Ditman (my great grandfather’s grocery) is there but Torresdale Avenue did not exist.

Click on the map to get a larger image. The Historical Society of Frankford has many others of much better quality. A new season of programs will begin in September.