Angora, Philadelphia

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox settlement | background_color=    |image_skyline=Welcome to Philly NB US 13.JPG |imagesize= |image_caption=A sign welcomes [[U.S. Route 13 in Pennsylvania|US 13]] drivers to the City of Philadelphia in Angora. |image_flag= |name=Angora |settlement_type = [[List of Philadelphia neighborhoods|Neighborhood]] | mapsize = 300px | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Philadelphia | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_mapsize = | coordinates = {{Coord|39.944722|-75.238611|format=dms|display=title}}  |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = {{USA}} |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = [[Pennsylvania]] |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = [[Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] |subdivision_type3 = City |subdivision_name3 = [[Philadelphia]]   |postal_code_type= |postal_code= |area_codes=[[Area codes 215, 267, and 445|215, 267, and 445]] }}

'''Angora''' is a neighborhood in the [[West Philadelphia|West Philly]] section of [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, United States. Although its boundaries are not precise, it is roughly bounded by the [[Cobbs Creek, Philadelphia|Cobbs Creek neighborhood]] to the north, [[Cobbs Creek]] to the west, [[Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Kingsessing]] to the south and east, and [[Cedar Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Cedar Park]] to the east. The [[Angora (SEPTA station)|Angora Commuter Rail Station]] on the [[Media/Wawa Line]], two bus lines (routes 46 and "G"), and a trolley line ([[SEPTA Route 34]]) all intersect around Baltimore Avenue and 58th Street, which is unofficially the nexus of the neighborhood.

On May 12, 2005, a commercial block in Angora was certified as [[Blight (urban)|blighted]] by the [[City Planning Commission (Philadelphia)|City Planning Commission]],<ref name="blightcert">{{cite web |title=Blight Certification for the area bounded by S. 57th Street, Hoffman Avenue, Cobbs Creek Parkway, and Baltimore Avenue |url=https://www.phila.gov/media/20190501093104/57thAndBaltimore_BlightCertification.pdf |website=www.phila.gov |access-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308191430/https://www.phila.gov/media/20190501093104/57thAndBaltimore_BlightCertification.pdf |archive-date=8 March 2022 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and a redevelopment plan was proposed later that year.<ref name="redevplan">{{cite web |title=Angora Redevelopment Area Plan |url=https://www.phila.gov/media/20190501093127/57thAndBaltimore_RedevelopmentPlan.pdf |website=www.phila.gov |access-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302220336/https://www.phila.gov/media/20190501093127/57thAndBaltimore_RedevelopmentPlan.pdf |archive-date=2 March 2022 |url-status=dead}}</ref> However, Angora Terrace and other portions of the neighborhood are well-kept.{{Citation needed|reason=True statement, but looks like Original Research without a verifiable source.|date=April 2022}}

==History== The neighborhood was founded by Robert and George Callaghan in 1863, who named it for [[Ankara]], the city in Turkey. The landscape was sparsely populated for decades, and a surrounding woodland provided a bucolic environment seemingly separate from the city of which it was part. Development began in earnest between 1900 and 1920.

In its founding, it was the site of the Callaghan [[textile mill]]; later, in the early 20th century, a mill that produced yarn and a factory that produced glass were erected. This industry was accompanied by the relatively limited development of residential areas within the neighborhood, mainly restricted to the 5800 block of Baltimore Avenue (between 1918 and 1920) and to an area that once was a grove of trees, known as Sherwood Forest. A nearby attraction for residents (mainly children and older residents) was Kingsessing Park, in the [[Kingsessing | Kingsessing neighborhood]], in which a recreation center was constructed in 1918.<ref name="Bjelopera">{{cite book | last = Bjelopera| first =J.P. | title = City of clerks : office and sales workers in Philadelphia, 1870-1920| publisher = University of Illinois Press| date = 2005| location = Chicago}}</ref>

Of note was the Sherwood Cricket Club of Angora. A watercolor of it can be found at the [http://www.phillyh2o.org/backpages/Cas_HTML/Cas31_37.html PhillyH2O website]. Cricket was an important sport at that time, with the [[Belmont Cricket Club]], in West Philadelphia, being one of the most prominent venues in the country. There are many references to the Sherwood Cricket Club of Angora on cricketarchive.com.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}}

[[Category:Neighborhoods in Philadelphia]] [[Category:Southwest Philadelphia]]