Eastwick, Philadelphia

{{Short description|Neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox settlement | background_color =   | image_skyline = Eastwick Loop Station House.JPG | imagesize = | image_caption = The SEPTA employee bathroom at the center of the [[Eastwick Loop (SEPTA station)|Eastwick Loop station]] | image_flag = | name = Eastwick | settlement_type = [[List of Philadelphia neighborhoods|Neighborhood of Philadelphia]]  | 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]] | mapsize = 300px | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Philadelphia | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_mapsize = | coordinates = {{Coord|39.8903|-75.2424|format=dms|display=title}} | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_codes = [[Area codes 215, 267, and 445|215, 267, and 445]] }} '''Eastwick''' is a neighborhood in the [[Southwest Philadelphia|Southwest]] section of [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States. It is the southwesternmost neighborhood in the city, bordering [[Philadelphia International Airport]] and the city line with [[Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Delaware County]] at [[Cobbs Creek]] and [[Darby Creek (Pennsylvania)|Darby Creek]]. The [[Elmwood Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Elmwood Park]] neighborhood borders it to the northeast. It includes the Clearview neighborhood.

==History== The neighborhood is named for [[Andrew M. Eastwick]], an engineer and patron of [[Bartram's Garden]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andrew Eastwick: Savior of Bartram's Garden – PhillyHistory Blog |url=https://blog.phillyhistory.org/index.php/2017/10/bartram-hall-and-bartrams-gardens/ |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=blog.phillyhistory.org}}</ref> It was largely rural until the 1920s when swampy land was dredged to create room for an airport and other large-scale uses within the city limits. Much of the original housing built before the 1950s lacked sewer service and other urban conveniences. Residents referred to the neighborhood as "The Meadows."<ref>*McKee, Guian A. [http://juh.sagepub.com/content/27/5/547.full.pdf "Liberal Ends Through Illiberal Means: Race, Urban Renewal and Community in the Eastwick Section of Philadelphia, 1949-1990"], ''[[Journal of Urban History]]'', Vol. 27 No. 5, July 2001, pp. 547–583 {{doi|10.1177/009614420102700501}}</ref>

Residents enjoyed the ability to have a rural lifestyle within city limits; nearby creeks provided recreation in the form of swimming, bathing, and fishing. An extensive [[Crab fisheries|crabbing]] home industry was based in The Meadows.

Homes ranged from traditional single-family residences with lawns and gardens to traditional Philadelphia-style row houses; sometimes, these two housing styles appeared on the same block. Brick was the predominant material used in construction. Homes were built from the early 19th century until the Second World War caused a shortage of material for new construction.

The city of Philadelphia, which had been under Republican control in the 1940s, shifted in the 1950s toward reform Democrats, whose policies included community redevelopment. At the same time, city planners began to eye Eastwick as a place to relocate low-income black populations being displaced by development projects in North and West Philadelphia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=McKee|first=Guian|date=July 2001|title=Liberal Ends Through Illiberal Means: Race, Urban Renewal, and Community in the Eastwick Section of Philadelphia, 1949-1990|journal=Journal of Urban History|volume=27|pages=563|doi=10.1177/009614420102700501 |s2cid=144193239 }}</ref> Yet although planners described Eastwick as "open land," it actually constituted an integrated community of some 19,000, the majority of whom owned their homes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McKee|first=Guian|date=July 2001|title=Liberal Ends through Illiberal Means: Race, Urban Renewal, and Community in the Eastwick Section of Philadelphia|journal=Journal of Urban History|volume=27|pages=549|doi=10.1177/009614420102700501 |s2cid=144193239 }}</ref> Unsurprisingly, the plan faced opposition.

But it nevertheless went forward. In 1958, Eastwick was declared the largest [[urban renewal]] project in the country, with the [[Korman Company]] making plans to replace the allegedly "poorly maintained and [[blight (urban)|blight]]ed homes" with newer, suburban-style construction in the 1960s and 70s. As [[Guian A. McKee]] writes in his study of Eastwick, the new development came at the expense of the existing community. It thus produced a "tragic irony," seeing as its realization required "the destruction of the area's unique existing community," which was one of the few integrated neighborhoods in Philadelphia at the time.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McKee|first=Guian|date=July 2001|title=Liberal Ends through Illiberal Means: Race, Urban Renewal, and Community in the Eastwick Section of Philadelphia, 1949-1990|journal=Journal of Urban History|volume=27|pages=547|doi=10.1177/009614420102700501 |s2cid=144193239 }}</ref>

Designing the project was the Greek urban planner [[Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis]], mastermind of [[Islamabad]], [[Riyadh]], and Baghdad's [[Sadr City|Revolution City]]. In these cities, he had made a name for himself by integrating city and countryside in a way that he, and state officials, hoped would ease the transition of rural migrants to urban space. Put differently, Doxiadis's designs were seen as anti-communist{{how|date=March 2025}}.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Joyriding in Riyadh|last=Menoret|first=Pascal|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=69}}</ref> In Eastwick, Doxiadis's work took the form of row houses on cul-de-sac streets, with traffic funneled toward peripheral roads.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Big Project Open in Philadelphia|last=Weart|first=William|date=21 January 1962|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The neighborhood was one of only three in Philadelphia that grew in population between 1970 and 1990.<ref name=":0" /> [[File:AUTO JUNKYARDS OFF NETWORK OF ROADS IN SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA - NARA - 552725.jpg|left|thumb|282x282px|Auto junkyards in Eastwick during the 1970s]] The [[John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum]] extends from Eastwick to [[Tinicum Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Tinicum Township, Pennsylvania]]. Eastwick contains a large industrial area where manufacturing and distributing uses take advantage of proximity to the Airport, [[Interstate 95 in Pennsylvania|Interstate 95]], and [[Center City Philadelphia]]. There are many gas tank farms, [[oil]] refineries, and a [[sewage]] treatment plant. The area offers affordable land for industrial uses at reportedly "one-third the cost of outlying suburbs," while enabling companies to remain in the city where employees can utilize [[public transit]].<ref name="nytimes-1998">{{cite news |last=Wallace |first=David |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E6D9163AF932A35751C0A96E958260&sec=&pagewanted=print |title=Commercial Property; Philadelphia's Airport Is a Hub of Development |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1998-02-01 |access-date=2014-11-20 }}</ref>

The neighborhood has been the site of controversy for a number of issues. Some blocks are located in a flood plain, leading to flooded, abandoned homes and vacant lots that are often used for illegal dumping. Issues of environmental regulation and [[brownfields]] cleanup have also figured into the history of Eastwick. The Philadelphia metropolitan area's main post office, formerly housed next to [[30th Street Station]], moved to a larger, auto-oriented facility in Eastwick in 2006. This move was long criticized by neighborhood groups.

===1946 Eastwick General Electric plant strike=== From January 15 until March 18, 1946, a surging crowd of more than 3,000 electrical strikers protested around Eastwick and the area's former [[General Electric]] plant in connection with a court injunction prohibiting mass picketing at the plant by Judge [[Thomas D. Finletter]], which led with a total of 25,000 demonstrators.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/171094086/|title=Eastwick agree on mass picketing in General Electric Eastwick plant|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=February 26, 1946|access-date=March 10, 2022|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/278560435/|title=3,000 pickets crash, police lines in Philly GE strike|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=February 28, 1946|access-date=March 10, 2022|language=en-US}}</ref> The protests later turned into a "siege of violence" three days after the protests started. There were reports of 20 injuries, 17 protestors detained by officers, and reports{{by whom|date=March 2025}} of protestors giving hateful speeches, including the [[Nazi salute]]{{why|date=March 2025}}, forcing nearly 300 officers to break up the violence.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/192931040/|title=Deadly protest in GE Eastwick plant sends multiple injuries and arrests|work=[[The Pittsburgh Press]]|date=February 28, 1946|access-date=March 10, 2022|language=en-US}}</ref>

The strike came to a conclusion on March 18, 1946, when employees returned back to the plant.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/355568004/|title=War with General Electric Eastwick plant concludes|work=[[The News-Item]]|date=March 18, 1946|access-date=March 10, 2022|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Demographics== {{more citations needed section|date=March 2020}} As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=2008-01-31 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref> of 2000, there were 14,424 people living in the neighborhood. The racial makeup was 36.70% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 57.47% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 2.68% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], and 0.69% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]]. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 1.91% of the population. The median income for a household in the neighborhood was $33,320.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}

==Transportation== [[File:Eastwick Station June 2014.jpg|thumb|right|Eastwick station along SEPTA Regional Rail's Airport Line]] Eastwick is served by [[SEPTA Subway-Surface Lines|SEPTA Subway-Surface]] Route 36, which runs through the neighborhood and terminates at [[80th Street–Eastwick station]]. This station is within walking distance of the [[Eastwick station]] on [[SEPTA Regional Rail]]'s [[Airport Line (SEPTA)|Airport Line]]; it is the only station on the line between the airport stations and [[Penn Medicine Station]].

==Education== [[Free Library of Philadelphia]] operates the Eastwick Branch, which serves Eastwick and other subdivisions, at 2851 Island Avenue.<ref>"[http://libwww.freelibrary.org/branches/branch.cfm?loc=ESW Eastwick Branch]." ''[[Free Library of Philadelphia]]''. Retrieved on January 3, 2008.</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060924064258/http://www.ahs.dep.state.pa.us/newsreleases/default.asp?ID=3504&varQueryType=Detail PA DEP Joins City of Philadelphia and Eastwick Community in Celebrating Cleanup Agreements], 2005 *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060914124557/http://www.philaplanning.org/plans/areaplans/eastwickbr.pdf Blight Recertification Report]}}, City Planning Commission, 2006 *[http://libwww.library.phila.gov/branches/history.cfm?loc=ESW Branch History], Free Library *[http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/14679036.htm "New postal center opens to support,"] Henry J. Holcomb, ''Philadelphia Inquirer''

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