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Pennsport
Drawing of the USS Philadelphia, built in Joshua Humphreys' shipyard in Pennsport, 1799.
Drawing of the USS Philadelphia, built in Joshua Humphreys' shipyard in Pennsport, 1799.
Country  United States
State Pennsylvania
County Philadelphia County
City Philadelphia
ZIP Code
19147, 19148
Area code(s) Area codes 215, 267, and 445

Pennsport is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Pennsport is home to a large working-class Irish American population, many of them descendants of immigrants from the mid to late 19th century. They maintain social organizations (also called "clubs"), which are located along 2nd Street (known locally as "Two Street"). Each year the clubs spend months preparing costumes, music and performances for Philadelphia's annual Mummers Parade on Broad Street on New Year's Day.

At one time Pennsport was proposed as a location for development of casinos along the Philadelphia waterfront. Many residents opposed this. They wanted development that would provide better jobs. The state and city had conducted some negotiations with the Mashuntucket Pequot, whose reservation is based in Connecticut, to establish Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia in this neighborhood, but it never gained approval.

Location

Pennsport is bound by Passyunk Square to the west, the Delaware River to the east, the Queen Village neighborhood to the north, and the Whitman neighborhood to the south. The Pennsport Redevelopment Area Plan of 1968 listed the border streets as Washington Avenue on the north, Snyder Avenue on the south, and Fourth Street on the west.

Demographics

The 2000 census listed Pennsport's population as 26,300, but this figure includes the populations of Southwark, Queen Village, and [[Whitman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Whitman neighborhoods.

Pennsport's population identifies as 70% white, 17% African American, 8% Asian American, and 5% [[Hispanic and Latino American, of any race. Roughly 40% of the population is under 18.

History

According to the Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions, Pennsport was originally part of Moyamensing Township. Most of the area north of present-day Mifflin Street was included in the Southwark District from 1794 until the consolidation of Philadelphia in 1854. At that point, it was mostly contained in the First Ward. The First and Second Wards ran east of Passyunk Avenue and were divided by Wharton Street (First to the south, Second to the north). The southern boundary of the First Ward initially spanned south to the river, but it was stopped at Mifflin Street in 1898.

Preparation for War to defend Commerce Birch's Views Plate 29
"The building of the Frigate Philadelphia", Plate 29 of Birch's Views of Philadelphia (1800). The man standing in the foreground may be a portrait of Humphreys.

The first United States naval yard was located in what is now Pennsport at Federal Street on the Delaware River. The naval yard was established 1801 and was active until 1875, when it moved to League Island, where the Philadelphia Navy Yard business campus is currently located. Prior to its establishment as the official naval yard of the United States, it was the private shipyard of famous shipbuilder Joshua Humphreys, who designed the original six frigates of the United States Navy. One of those six original frigates, the USS Philadelphia, was built at the site.

Furness High School and the former Abigail Vare School are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Historic rowhouse synagogue Congregation Shivtei Yeshuron-Ezras Israel was featured in the Hidden City Philadelphia 2013 Festival.

Education

Vare-Washington Elementary School Philadelphia (DSC 2053)
The Vare-Washington School, in the former Washington School in Dickinson Square West, serves Pennsport.
Phila FLP Whitman
Whitman Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia

The School District of Philadelphia operates public schools serving Pennsport.

Vare-Washington School serves grades K-8. The school was previously named Abigail Vare School and had occupied a building in Pennsport. In October 2013 the Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC) voted to close Washington School in Dickinson Square West. Abigail Vare School moved from its previous building to the former Washington building at 1198 South 5th Street.

Furness High School also serves area residents.

Public libraries

The Free Library of Philadelphia Whitman Branch in Whitman serves Pennsport.

Notable residents

  • Rob McElhenney – actor, creator of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  • Edward "Babe" HEFFRON - A paratrooper in Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Heffron took part in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and helped liberate the Kaufering concentration camp in Landsberg, Germany. He received a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
  • William "Wild Bill" Guarnere (April 28, 1923 – March 8, 2014) - a United States Army soldier who fought in World War II as an NCO with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. HBO produced a miniseries Band of Brothers (2001), based on Guarnere and his unit; Guarnere was portrayed Frank John Hughes. Guarnere later wrote and published his own account: Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story (2007). Long-time friend Edward "Babe" Heffron and journalist Robyn Post were co-authors.

Bronze statues of William “Wild Bill” Guarnere and Edward “Babe” Heffron have been installed at a park on 2nd and Reed Streets. It portrays the pair as young men, as they looked just before leaving Pennsport to fight in Europe during World War II.

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