# Kingsessing, Philadelphia > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kingsessing,_Philadelphia > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kingsessing,_Philadelphia.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsessing%2C_Philadelphia > Source revision: 1354773121 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) This article is about the neighborhood within the former Kingsessing Township. For the former Kingsessing Township, see [Southwest Philadelphia](/source/Southwest_Philadelphia). **Kingsessing** is a [neighborhood](/source/Neighbourhood) in the [Southwest](/source/Southwest_Philadelphia) section of [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia,_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,_Philadelphia,_Pennsylvania) and [Elmwood Park](/source/Elmwood_Park,_Philadelphia), as well as the borough of [Yeadon](/source/Yeadon,_Pennsylvania) in [Delaware County](/source/Delaware_County,_Pennsylvania). It is roughly bounded by the [SEPTA Regional Rail](/source/SEPTA_Regional_Rail) [Media/Wawa Line](/source/Media/Wawa_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 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,_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,_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,_Philadelphia_shooting) - [New Sweden](/source/New_Sweden) - [Newkirk Viaduct Monument](/source/Newkirk_Viaduct_Monument) ## References 1. Winberg, Michaela (2018-07-06). ["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/) January 25, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-01-25. 1. Dunn, Mary Maples & Dunn, Richard S. (1982). ["The Founding, 1681–1701"](https://archive.org/details/philadelphia300y00weig). *Philadelphia: A 300 Year History*. Weigley, Russell F.; Wainwright, Nicholas B.; Wolf, Edwin II (eds.). New York: W. W. Norton. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-393-01610-9. 1. ["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 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2021-11-22. 1. ["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. 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. Philadelphia Research Initiative (2011-06-01), ["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), p. 12, [archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230825122200/https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/philadelphia_research_initiative/PhiladelphiaPopulationEthnicChangespdf.pdf) August 25, 2023 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved July 4, 2023 1. "[Post Office Location - KINGSESSING](http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office/52563?p=5&s=pa&service_name=post_office&z=kingsessing)[dead link]." *United States Postal Service*. Retrieved on December 4, 2008. 1. "[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 (ushistory.org) --- 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.