Sharswood
Neighborhood of Philadelphia
Girard College is adjacent to Sharswood's southern border.
Sharswood
Coordinates: 39°58′37″N 75°10′23″W / 39.977°N 75.173°W / 39.977; -75.173
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Philadelphia
City	Philadelphia
Area code(s)	215, 267 and 445

Sharswood is a small neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is located to the east of Brewerytown, north of Girard College, west of Ridge Avenue, east of 24th Street and south of Cecil B. Moore Avenue.^[1] It is often grouped with Brewerytown, as in the Brewerytown-Sharswood Community Civic Association, and the Brewerytown-Sharswood NTI Planning Area.

History

Sharswood gets its name from Supreme Court of Pennsylvania justice George Sharswood, who once lived in the area.^[2] The area was first developed as a streetcar suburb in the 19th century and took shape as a predominantly African-American neighborhood in the early 20th century, when it experienced population inflows due to the Great Migration.^[3] A number of notable African-American artists lived in Sharswood, including James B. Davis of The Dixie Hummingbirds^[4] and Dox Thrash.^[5] The neighborhood was racially segregated from surrounding white neighborhoods, and it was dangerous for Black residents of Sharswood to travel to neighborhoods like Swampoodle, north of Lehigh Ave, and Fairmount, south of Girard Ave.^[6] According to J.M. Brewer's 1934 map of Philadelphia and another map produced by the federal government's Home Owners' Loan Corporation, Sharswood was redlined.^[7] According to the area description form that accompanies the 1937 HOLC map of Philadelphia, Sharswood and its adjacent neighborhoods were populated primarily by laborers and mechanics making an average of $900 to $1800 annually ($19,190 to $38,381 in 2023 dollars), with a high number of families on public assistance and a homeownership rate below 10%.^[8] Longtime residents say that lawyers, doctors and teachers also lived in the neighborhood.^[9]

J.M. Brewer's 1934 map of Philadelphia, showing redlining in Sharswood

The 1964 Columbia Avenue Riot began just north of Sharswood, and spilled over into the neighborhood, devastating local businesses, exacerbating racial tensions and accelerating white flight.^[10] In 1967, construction on the Norman Blumberg Apartments was completed between 24th and 22nd, Jefferson, and W Oxford Streets. In 1968, the People's Neighborhood Medical Center opened on 1410 North 24th Street to provide low cost preventative healthcare to low income residents of North Philadelphia.^[11] The medical center was founded by Charles P. Vaclavik, a Quaker doctor from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. In the early 1970s, the medical center expanded and employed multiple doctors as well as a dentist. It attracted government funding through the Model Cities Program, as well as other grants. Under Vaclavik's leadership, the medical center took an active role in the community and advocated for addressing the social determinants of health in addition to the practice of medicine.^[12][13] In the later half of the 20th century, the neighborhood suffered from population decline, deindustrialization and disinvestment, becoming one of the poorest neighborhoods in Philadelphia with a high rate of vacancy and violent crime.^[14][2] Despite endemic poverty in the surrounding neighborhood, the 2400 block of Sharswood Street became renowned in the 1980s for its cleanliness and tight-knit community. An inordinate number of children who grew up on the block went on to find success later in life in a variety of fields.^[15] Incomes in the neighborhood stagnated during the 20th century. In 1999, Sharswood had a median income of $18,773 ($34,599.45 in 2023 dollars).^[2] In recent years, the neighborhood has seen significant change under the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) Sharswood-Blumberg Neighborhood Transformation Plan.^[16]

A medical center in Sharswood during the 1970s

Sharswood-Blumberg Neighborhood Transformation Plan

Between 2014 and 2016, a group of local gardeners led by Sharswood resident Tommy Joshua had a dispute with the PHA over land near the Blumberg Apartments which they had cleared of debris and turned into a garden called the North Philly Peace Park. The PHA had claimed ownership of the land via eminent domain and intended to build new apartments on it. In 2015, the housing authority fenced off the garden despite protests from residents. In 2016 the gardeners agreed to relocate to a parcel on 22nd and Jefferson Street.^[17]

In 2019, the PHA opened a new $45 million headquarters at 2013 Ridge Avenue.^[18]

In March 2023, a deputy landlord-tenant officer (a private contractor who was not a sworn law enforcement official) shot Angel Davis, a tenant at the Girard Court Apartments, in the head while serving Davis and her husband with an eviction.^[19][20] Outcry over a string of shootings in 2023 by landlord-tenant officers, including this one, led to a temporary suspension of the landlord-tenant office's contract to serve evictions. During the suspension, evictions were served by the Sheriff's Office.^[21]

References