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Crime in Frankford

From kyw1060.com:

Police have released details and a composite sketch of a suspect wanted for a sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in the Frankford section.

The girl said she was walking on the 4400 block of Wingohocking Street in Frankford, when a man grabbed her by the neck, dragged her into an alley, held a knife to her throat and sexually assaulted her.

The attack happened around 9:15 pm on January 25th. Police were searching for a man believed to be about 6-feet tall with a thin build, 16-17 years old, with scars on his face. He was wearing a dark green jacket with fur around the hood.

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Next week in Frankford

  • Sun, Feb 3, 12pm – 5pm – GAR museum (Google map)- Civil War History Presentation! – FREE & Open to the public! Special Black History Month Presentation: Camp William Penn and the Training of Black Troops for Civil War Service. G.A.R. Civil War Museum & Library Presents: First Sunday Historical Program Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 1:30PM G.A.R. Civil War Museum & Library 4278 Griscom St. Philadelphia, PA 19124 215-289-6484 www.garmuslib.org For details: contact: Dr. Andy Waskie: 215-204-5452
  • Thu, Feb 7, 7pm – 9pm – Frankford Civic Association meeting at Frankford Hospital (Google map), 2nd floor conference room. Check community calendar for agenda.
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History Shmistory

It is almost hidden in plain sight googlemap
on a busy street in Frankford. The Historical Society of Frankford is opposite the Frankford Friends school. These two venerable institutions form a vortex of learning and culture in a neighborhood rarely associated with either.

We visited the Historical Society (HSF) last week and took a tour with Debbie Klak, the current president. While the HSF has no public programs during January and February, work still goes on.

We met Harry Silcox, the prominent local historian, doing some research on the Edwin Forrest Home for Retired Actors and also Jack McCarthy the society’s archivist. We discussed the new organization of a Center for Northeast Philadelphia History which HSF is coordinating. A flock of volunteers came in while we were there and I could not tell you what they were doing except to say that they were very busy.

The building is larger that it first appears. Using parts of 3 floors, it is filled with both documents and artifacts from the 17th century through the present day. It would takes days to do justice to a review of the exhibits but some of our favorites were related to Benjamin Franklin, the Marquis de Lafayette, Hessian soldiers during the revolution, Lydia Darragh and Frankford during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War period in Frankford and of course the Lenape indians. It was something like the Antique Road Show of Frankford.

The document collection is extensive with literally thousands and books, records and maps to offer the researcher hours of new avenues to peruse. Genealogists looking for new routes to search, if your have ancestors in the Northeast, you may find that missing link right here.

Every institution goes through cycles of growth and rest. The Historical Society of Frankford is moving into the 21st century in a growth mode. With the influx of new folks coming into Frankford and the increasing interest in local history throughout the Northeast, things are definitely looking up.

It was a great tour for us and open house will resume for the public on the first Sunday in March at 1:00 PM. Meanwhile have a look at our slide show of some of the pictures from our tour on flickr.com.

[where: 1507 orthodox st. Philadelphia, pa 19124]

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Crime in Frankford

Another tragic incident reported on Philly.com:

A pregnant woman was shot dead in the city’s Frankford section overnight, police said, but doctors at Temple University Hospital were able to save her child.

The expectant young mother was killed by a single shotgun blast to her back shortly after 1 a.m. on the 4600 block of Griscom Street (Google map), police said.

Read the entire story here.

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Bricks


You may have noticed that there are a lot of bricks in Frankford. There are so many brick structures that you almost lose sight of them. it was the building material of choice for quite a long time. We are looking at these buildings now many years after they were built and the majority of them have seen better days. Brick structures are tough but they do need periodical maintenance – brick pointing and cleaning to keep them standing and looking good.

If you have been down to Society Hill you can see the beauty of old brick buildings that have been restored. That trend is steadily moving up in our direction. Just drive downtown under the el and you will start to see old brick buildings restored to like new condition.

I was walking up Frankford Avenue last week from Church Street and came to the former Mozaic (fondly missed) building. I then took the “Road less traveled” and turned up Gillingham (Google map). It was a nice sunny day and in about 10 steps I thought I was on one of the back lanes in London or Belfast or maybe even Coalisland. This street shows you the Frankford of the future today.