# Kingsessing, Philadelphia

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This article is about the neighborhood within the former Kingsessing Township. For the former Kingsessing Township, see [Southwest Philadelphia](/source/Southwest_Philadelphia).

Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, United States

Kingsessing Neighborhood of Philadelphia The Kingsessing Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia Kingsessing Country United States State Pennsylvania County Philadelphia City Philadelphia Area codes 215, 267, and 445

**Kingsessing** is a [neighborhood](/source/Neighbourhood) in the [Southwest](/source/Southwest_Philadelphia) section of [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia%2C_Pennsylvania), [Pennsylvania](/source/Pennsylvania), United States. On the west side of the Schuylkill River, it is next to the neighborhoods of [Cedar Park](/source/Cedar_Park%2C_Philadelphia%2C_Pennsylvania) and [Elmwood Park](/source/Elmwood_Park%2C_Philadelphia), as well as the borough of [Yeadon](/source/Yeadon%2C_Pennsylvania) in [Delaware County](/source/Delaware_County%2C_Pennsylvania). It is roughly bounded by the [SEPTA Regional Rail](/source/SEPTA_Regional_Rail) [Media/Wawa Line](/source/Media%2FWawa_Line) to the northeast, Baltimore Avenue to the northwest, [Cobbs Creek](/source/Cobbs_Creek) and 60th Street to the southwest, and Woodland Avenue to the southeast.

## History

[St. James Kingsessing](/source/St._James_Kingsessing) Episcopal Church

The name Kingsessing, also spelled Chinsessing, comes from a [Lenape](/source/Lenape_language) word meaning "a place where there is a meadow".[1][2] The [Lenape](/source/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](/source/Hans_M%C3%A5nsson), a Swedish settler, received a patent for an 1,100-acre plantation along the [Schuylkill River](/source/Schuylkill_River) between the current location of 60th Street and [Woodlands Cemetery](/source/Woodlands_Cemetery), extending as far west as [Cobb's Creek](/source/Cobbs_Creek%2C_Philadelphia).[3][4]

[Bartram's Garden](/source/Bartram's_Garden), started by colonial botanist [John Bartram](/source/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.[5] It has been designated as a [National Historic Landmark](/source/National_Historic_Landmark).

[Mount Moriah Cemetery](/source/Mount_Moriah_Cemetery_(Philadelphia)) 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](/source/Elmwood_Park%2C_Philadelphia).

The [S. Weir Mitchell School](/source/S._Weir_Mitchell_School), [Regent-Rennoc Court](/source/Regent-Rennoc_Court) and [Anna Howard Shaw Junior High School](/source/Anna_Howard_Shaw_Junior_High_School) are on the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places).[6]

## Demographics

As of 2011, Kingsessing is 83.2% black.[7]

## Infrastructure and government

- The [United States Postal Service](/source/United_States_Postal_Service) operates the Kingsessing Post Office at 5311 Florence Avenue.[8]

- [Grays Ferry Bridge](/source/Grays_Ferry_Bridge)

- [49th Street station (SEPTA Regional Rail)](/source/49th_Street_station_(SEPTA_Regional_Rail))

- [Schuylkill River Trail](/source/Schuylkill_River_Trail)

## Education

### Public libraries

[Free Library of Philadelphia](/source/Free_Library_of_Philadelphia) operates the Kingsessing Branch at 1201 South 51st Street, below Chester Avenue.[9]

## See also

- [2023 Kingsessing, Philadelphia shooting](/source/2023_Kingsessing%2C_Philadelphia_shooting)

- [New Sweden](/source/New_Sweden)

- [Newkirk Viaduct Monument](/source/Newkirk_Viaduct_Monument)

- [Philadelphia portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Philadelphia)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Winberg, Michaela (July 6, 2018). ["How 43 Philly neighborhoods got their names"](https://billypenn.com/2018/07/06/how-43-philly-neighborhoods-got-their-names/). *Billy Penn at WHYY*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20250125191014/https://billypenn.com/2018/07/06/how-43-philly-neighborhoods-got-their-names/) from the original on January 25, 2025. Retrieved January 25, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Dunn, Mary Maples](/source/Mary_Maples_Dunn); [Dunn, Richard S.](/source/Richard_Slator_Dunn) (1982). "The Founding, 1681–1701". In [Weigley, Russell F.](/source/Russell_Weigley); Wainwright, Nicholas B.; [Wolf, Edwin II](/source/Edwin_Wolf_II) (eds.). [*Philadelphia: A 300 Year History*](https://archive.org/details/philadelphia300y00weig). New York: W. W. Norton. pp. 3–4. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-393-01610-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-393-01610-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Craig1_3-0)** ["Peter Stebbins Craig, "Hans Månsson and his Steelman Family," *Swedish Colonial News,* Volume 1, Number 10. Fall 1994"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090129102400/http://www.colonialswedes.org/Forefathers/Steelman.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.colonialswedes.org/Forefathers/Steelman.html) on January 29, 2009. Retrieved November 22, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["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"](https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2356&context=swensonsag).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** 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.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-nris_6-0)** ["National Register Information System"](https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP). *[National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places)*. [National Park Service](/source/National_Park_Service). July 9, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Philadelphia Research Initiative (June 1, 2011), [*A City Transformed: The Racial and Ethnic Changes in Philadelphia Over the Last 20 Years*](https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/philadelphia_research_initiative/PhiladelphiaPopulationEthnicChangespdf.pdf) (PDF), p. 12, [archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230825122200/https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/philadelphia_research_initiative/PhiladelphiaPopulationEthnicChangespdf.pdf) (PDF) from the original on August 25, 2023, retrieved July 4, 2023

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** "[Post Office Location - KINGSESSING](http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office/52563?p=5&s=pa&service_name=post_office&z=kingsessing)[*[dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]." *United States Postal Service*. Retrieved on December 4, 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** "[Kingsessing Branch](http://libwww.freelibrary.org/branches/branch.cfm?loc=KNG)." *[Free Library of Philadelphia](/source/Free_Library_of_Philadelphia)*. Retrieved on November 10, 2008.

**Sources**

- [*Chronology of the Political Subdivisions of the County of Philadelphia, 1683–1854*](http://www.phila.gov/phils/Docs/Inventor/graphics/wards/wards1.htm) (Daly, John; Weinberg, Allen (October 1966). [*Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions*](https://archive.org/details/genealogy-of-philadelphia-county-political-subdivisions-1687-1960) (Second ed.). Philadelphia Dept. of Records.)

- [Information](https://web.archive.org/web/20070101192729/http://ushistory.org/philadelphia/incorporated.html) (ushistory.org)

- [Incorporated District, Boroughs, and Townships in the County of Philadelphia, 1854 By Rudolph J. Walther](https://web.archive.org/web/20070101192729/http://ushistory.org/philadelphia/incorporated.html) - excerpted from the book at the ushistory.org website

- [Row House Days](http://www.rowhousedays.com) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180829005854/http://www.rowhousedays.com/) August 29, 2018, at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (ushistory.org)

v t e Communities of Philadelphia Former municipalities are below. Sections and Neighborhoods Center City Avenue of the Arts Broad Street Chinatown Fitler Square Franklin Square Jewelers' Row Logan Square Old City Penn's Landing Rittenhouse Square Society Hill South Street Washington Square West South Bella Vista Central South Philadelphia Devil's Pocket Dickinson Square West East Passyunk Crossing Fabric Row FDR Park Girard Estate Grays Ferry Greenwich Hawthorne Italian Market Little Saigon Lower Moyamensing Marconi Plaza Moyamensing Newbold Packer Park Passyunk Square Pennsport Point Breeze Queen Village Southwark Southwest Center City Sports Complex West Passyunk Wharton Whitman Wilson Park Southwest Angora Bartram Village Clearview Eastwick Elmwood Park Hog Island Kingsessing Mount Moriah Paschall Southwest Schuylkill West Avenue of Technology Belmont Village Carroll Park Cathedral Park Centennial District Cedar Park Cobbs Creek Dunlap Garden Court Haddington Haverford North Mantua Mill Creek Overbrook Overbrook Farms Overbrook Park Parkside Powelton Village Saunders Park Spruce Hill Squirrel Hill 30th Street Station University City Walnut Hill Woodland Terrace Wynnefield Wynnefield Heights North Lower North Badlands Belfield Brewerytown Callowhill Cecil B. Moore El Centro de Oro / Fairhill Fairmount Francisville Hartranft Ivy Hill Ludlow N3RD Street North Central Northern Liberties North Philadelphia East North Philadelphia West Poplar Sharswood South Lehigh Spring Garden Stanton Strawberry Mansion Yorktown Upper North Allegheny West Badlands Franklinville Glenwood Hunting Park Nicetown–Tioga Olde Kensington Swampoodle West Kensington Olney-Oak Lane East Oak Lane Feltonville Fern Rock Koreatown Logan Ogontz Olney West Oak Lane Northwest Lower Northwest Andorra East Falls Manayunk Parkland Roxborough Wissahickon Upper Northwest Beggarstown Cedarbrook Chestnut Hill Germantown Morton Mount Airy Wister Northeast Near Northeast Burholme Castor Gardens Crescentville Fox Chase Frankford Holme Circle Holmesburg Juniata Lawndale Lexington Park Mayfair Oxford Circle Rhawnhurst Ryers Tacony Wissinoming Far Northeast Academy Gardens Ashton-Woodenbridge Bustleton Byberry Crestmont Farms Millbrook Modena Park Morrell Park Normandy Parkwood Pennypack Somerton Torresdale Upper Holmesburg Winchester Park River Wards Bridesburg Fishtown Harrowgate Kensington Olde Richmond Port Richmond Former Municipalities Cities Philadelphia (Center City) Boroughs Aramingo Bridesburg Frankford Germantown Manayunk West Philadelphia Whitehall Districts Belmont Kensington Moyamensing Northern Liberties Penn Richmond Southwark Spring Garden Townships Blockley Bristol Byberry Delaware Germantown Kingsessing Lower Dublin Moreland Northern Liberties Oxford Passyunk Penn Roxborough Footnotes As a consolidated city-county Philadelphia is its own county seat.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kingsessing, Philadelphia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsessing%2C_Philadelphia) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsessing%2C_Philadelphia?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.