Kingsessing, Philadelphia

{{about|the neighborhood within the former Kingsessing Township|the former Kingsessing Township|Southwest Philadelphia}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox settlement | background_color=    |image_skyline=Phila FLP Kingsessing01.jpg |imagesize= |image_caption=The Kingsessing Branch of the [[Free Library of Philadelphia]] |image_flag= |name=Kingsessing |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|39.93915|-75.22165|format=dms|display=title}}  |postal_code_type= |postal_code= |area_codes=[[Area codes 215, 267, and 445|215, 267, and 445]] }} '''Kingsessing''' is a [[neighbourhood|neighborhood]] in the [[Southwest Philadelphia|Southwest]] section of [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States. On the west side of the Schuylkill River, it is next to the neighborhoods of [[Cedar Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Cedar Park]] and [[Elmwood Park, Philadelphia|Elmwood Park]], as well as the borough of [[Yeadon, Pennsylvania|Yeadon]] in [[Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Delaware County]]. It is roughly bounded by the [[SEPTA Regional Rail]] [[Media/Wawa Line]] to the northeast, Baltimore Avenue to the northwest, [[Cobbs Creek]] and 60th Street to the southwest, and Woodland Avenue to the southeast.

==History== [[File:St James Kingsessing Philadelphia PA.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|[[St. James Kingsessing]] Episcopal Church]] The name Kingsessing, also spelled Chinsessing, comes from a [[Lenape language|Lenape]] word meaning "a place where there is a meadow".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Winberg |first=Michaela |date=2018-07-06 |title=How 43 Philly neighborhoods got their names |url=https://billypenn.com/2018/07/06/how-43-philly-neighborhoods-got-their-names/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Billy Penn at WHYY |language=en-US |archive-date=January 25, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125191014/https://billypenn.com/2018/07/06/how-43-philly-neighborhoods-got-their-names/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1=Dunn | first1=Mary Maples | authorlink1=Mary Maples Dunn | last2=Dunn | first2=Richard S. | author-link2=Richard Slator Dunn | chapter=The Founding, 1681–1701 | title=Philadelphia: A 300 Year History | date=1982 | publisher=W. W. Norton | location=New York | isbn=978-0-393-01610-9 | editor-last1=Weigley | editor-first1=Russell F. |editor-link1=Russell Weigley| editor-last2=Wainwright | editor-first2=Nicholas B. | editor-last3=Wolf | editor-first3=Edwin II | editor-link3=Edwin Wolf II | url=https://archive.org/details/philadelphia300y00weig | pages=3–4}}</ref> The [[Lenape]], or Delaware as the English called them, had a village of the same name that roughly occupied the same site as where the current neighborhood was later developed. When the township was organized to encompass where the Lenape and a later Swedish village stood, it also was named as Kingsessing.

In 1669 [[Hans Månsson]], a Swedish settler, received a patent for an 1,100-acre plantation along the [[Schuylkill River]] between the current location of 60th Street and [[Woodlands Cemetery]], extending as far west as [[Cobbs Creek, Philadelphia|Cobb's Creek]].<ref name = "Craig1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.colonialswedes.org/Forefathers/Steelman.html |title=Peter Stebbins Craig, "Hans Månsson and his Steelman Family," ''Swedish Colonial News,'' Volume 1, Number 10. Fall 1994 |access-date=2021-11-22 |archive-date=2009-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129102400/http://www.colonialswedes.org/Forefathers/Steelman.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2356&context=swensonsag|title=Peter Stebbins Craig, "The 1693 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware: Chapter 3: The Wicaco Congregation," ''Swedish American Genealogist,'' vol 10, no 1, March 1990; pp. 1-16}}</ref>

[[Bartram's Garden]], started by colonial botanist [[John Bartram]] in 1728, is still operated in this neighborhood. It had an international reputation and is considered the first true botanical garden in the United States.<ref>Bell, Whitfield J., Jr., ''Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society'', vol. 1, 1743–1768. APS: Philadelphia, 1997, pp. 3–4.</ref> It has been designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]].

[[Mount Moriah Cemetery (Philadelphia)|Mount Moriah Cemetery]] was founded next to Cobbs Creek in 1855. The neighborhood near the cemetery is also known as Mount Moriah, part of which is in [[Elmwood Park, Philadelphia|Elmwood Park]].

The [[S. Weir Mitchell School]], [[Regent-Rennoc Court]] and [[Anna Howard Shaw Junior High School]] are on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

==Demographics== As of 2011, Kingsessing is 83.2% black.<ref>{{Citation |last=Philadelphia Research Initiative |title=A City Transformed: The Racial and Ethnic Changes in Philadelphia Over the Last 20 Years |date=2011-06-01 |url=https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/philadelphia_research_initiative/PhiladelphiaPopulationEthnicChangespdf.pdf |pages=12 |access-date=July 4, 2023 |archive-date=August 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230825122200/https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/philadelphia_research_initiative/PhiladelphiaPopulationEthnicChangespdf.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Infrastructure and government== * The [[United States Postal Service]] operates the Kingsessing Post Office at 5311 Florence Avenue.<ref>"[http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office/52563?p=5&s=pa&service_name=post_office&z=kingsessing Post Office Location - KINGSESSING]{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}." ''United States Postal Service''. Retrieved on December 4, 2008.</ref> * [[Grays Ferry Bridge]] * [[49th Street station (SEPTA Regional Rail)]] * [[Schuylkill River Trail]]

==Education==

===Public libraries=== [[Free Library of Philadelphia]] operates the Kingsessing Branch at 1201 South 51st Street, below Chester Avenue.<ref>"[http://libwww.freelibrary.org/branches/branch.cfm?loc=KNG Kingsessing Branch]." ''[[Free Library of Philadelphia]]''. Retrieved on November 10, 2008.</ref>

==See also== *[[2023 Kingsessing, Philadelphia shooting]] *[[New Sweden]] *[[Newkirk Viaduct Monument]] {{Portal|Philadelphia}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

;Sources *[http://www.phila.gov/phils/Docs/Inventor/graphics/wards/wards1.htm ''Chronology of the Political Subdivisions of the County of Philadelphia, 1683–1854''] ({{cite book |last1=Daly |first1=John |last2=Weinberg |first2=Allen |title=Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions |date=October 1966 |publisher=Philadelphia Dept. of Records |edition=Second |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogy-of-philadelphia-county-political-subdivisions-1687-1960}}) *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070101192729/http://ushistory.org/philadelphia/incorporated.html Information] (ushistory.org) *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070101192729/http://ushistory.org/philadelphia/incorporated.html Incorporated District, Boroughs, and Townships in the County of Philadelphia, 1854 By Rudolph J. Walther] - excerpted from the book at the ushistory.org website *[http://www.rowhousedays.com Row House Days] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829005854/http://www.rowhousedays.com/ |date=August 29, 2018 }} (ushistory.org)

[[Category:Neighborhoods in Philadelphia]] [[Category:Kingsessing, Philadelphia| ]]