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Frankford – Direction of a Greater Philadelphia

Frankford - Direction of a Greater Philadelphia Cover

Joe Menkevich has found us a prize this time.  For me, this beats the very cool Google Map overlay of old Frankford maps I posted a while back. Frankford – Direction of a Greater Philadelphia(be patient it’s a big pdf) tells the tale of Frankford in 1922 when the El was new.  It’s subtitle says it all: Souvenir Booklet and Program published to commemorate the opening of the Frankford Elevated Railway.  Inside it’s pages, besides the story of how the el came to be, are the ads for banks, printers, news papers, factories, stores etc.  The story in these pages is so hard for me to imagine.  It’s a story where Frankford(and Philadelphia) is filled with promise and the arguments among its citizens speak to how they want to spend their bright future, not how to defend a battered city.  Check out the story on how the El came into being.  It reads as a soap opera.

Browse through the pages, if you see anything noteworthy, leave us a comment pointing it out.

And check out page 31.

Frankford Gazette Ad

Although we are the Frankford Gazette, we are not THE Frankford Gazette.  We think some corporate entity has rights to it , we’re just cyber squatting on the name.  We’re just keeping the fire lit so to speak.  And look at that slogan, “For a New Frankford and a Greater Northeast”.  DAAAAMMN.  I think I’m gonna have to steal that slogan.

[PDF] Frankford – Direction of a Greater Philadelphia (6.78 MB)

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SRC Green Lights Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission approved the application by the Sankofa Freedom Acedemy to establish a new charter school in Frankford at their meeting on February 18th.  The new school will be a college prep program based on the Freedom School model.  It will include kindergarten through high school.

Dr. Ayesha Imani, the CEO and founder informed us that classes will begin this September with Kindergarten through fourth grade and also ninth grade.  The school will move to the full enrollment of 650 students gradually over a period of a few years.

A two year lease is being negotiated for use of the old Mater Dolorosa school building, however this is seen as a short term solution since the anticipated enrollment will require more space than is available at that site.

We’ll keep you up to date on their progress.

We have updated the Frankford resources page with the school listing to include Sankofa.  This latest addition brings us to 16 plus the Frankford Hospital nursing school.

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Next Week in Frankford

  • Grand Army of the Republic Museum Open House
    When-Sun, March 1, 12pm – 5pm
    Where-4278 Griscom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)
    Description-Presentation at 1:30 PM: Civil War Medicine Lesley Wood
  • Frankford Civic Association Meeting
    When-Thu, March 5, 7pm – 8pm
    Where-Frankford Hospital – 2nd floor conference room (map)
  • BLUE THURSDAY
    When-Thursday, Mar 5, 2009
    Description-Police officers are under attack and citizens are fed up. It’s time to let our friends and neighbors know that we support the men and women who put their lives in danger to protect ours. Thursday, March 5, 2009 is “Blue Thursday,” a special day created and promoted by Dom Giordano and The Big Talker 1210, WPHT. Dom is asking listeners from all over the Delaware Valley to show their support for police officers who are increasingly under fire from armed criminals on our streets. Show your support by wearing blue, or decorate your car, home, or place of business with blue ribbons or blue lights, encouraging everyone you know to do the same and show support for police officers throughout the region. The Big Talker 1210 urges you to show additional support for officers by wearing blue, or decorate your car, home, or place of business with blue ribbons or blue lights, encouraging everyone you know to do the same and show support for police officers throughout the region on “Blue Thursday.” The Big Talker 1210’s Dom Giordano will host a special live broadcast from Geno’s Steaks from 6 PM to 12 Midnight on Thursday, March 5th. Dom and an array of special guests will discuss and analyze the reasons for the recent rash of police killings in Philadelphia and ways to reduce gun violence and make our streets safer. “Blue Thursday” coincides with next Joey Vento’s Geno’s Steaks fund raiser for the families of fallen Philadelphia Police Officers. Joey Vento will again donate all dollars generated by sales of his famous cheese steaks from 10 AM on Thursday, March 5th until 6 AM on Friday March 6th. Previous individual Geno’s fund raising efforts have raised more than $50,000. On “Blue Thursday” The Big Talker 1210 will also debut our new Salute-A-Cop promotion where we will begin to regularly recognize officers for individual excellence on the job.
  • Baseball and Softball Registration
    When-Friday, March 6, 6:00pm – 7:30pm
    Where-St. Joachim Church’s Pope John Paul II Room (map)
    Description-The Deni Playground Advisory Council will be holding Baseball and Softball Registration on Friday, March 7th and Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at St. Joachim Church’s Pope John Paul II Room from 6 – 7:30 pm. The in-house coed baseball league for ages 8-10 and the in-house coed t-ball team for ages 5-8 will cost $15. The 11-12 girl’s softball traveling team and an 11-12 and 13-14 boys baseball team will cost $30 a child. The 3rd child in a family will be free. The travel teams will be playing in the Northeast Peanut League. The cut-off date for the child’s age for traveling baseball is May 1st; girl’s softball is January 1st. All travel players are required to have a copy of their birth certificate. The Deni Baseball/Softball season will start at the end of March and run till the end of June.