Swampoodle, Philadelphia

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox settlement | background_color=    |image_skyline=Image:Shibe Park rooftop bleachers 1913.jpg |imagesize= |image_caption=Rooftop bleachers overlooking [[Shibe Park]] (Connie Mack) Stadium in Philadelphia's Swampoodle Neighborhood, circa 1913. |image_flag= |name=Swampoodle |settlement_type = [[List of Philadelphia neighborhoods|Neighborhood of Philadelphia]]  | mapsize = 300px | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Philadelphia | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_mapsize = | coordinates = {{Coord|39.995|-75.167|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]] }}

'''Swampoodle''' is an older neighborhood in [[North Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States. Swampoodle was defined as the vicinity of the junction of three railroad lines near Lehigh Avenue and 22nd Streets.<ref>[http://www.phila.gov/phils/docs/otherinfo/pname3.htm Philadelphia Neighborhood List, City of Philadelphia.]</ref> [[Image:Connie Mack Stadium 1955.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Shibe Park]] in Philadelphia's Swampoodle Neighborhood, now a part of Allegheny West, circa 1955.]] The neighborhood was the home of Connie Mack Stadium, long known as [[Shibe Park]]. The stadium was located at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue. Connie Mack Stadium was once the home of the [[Philadelphia Athletics]] of the [[American League]] (AL) and the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]].<ref name="Old neighborhood 2000">{{cite news |url=http://articles.philly.com/2000-10-08/news/25586236_1_street-corner-guys-family-pictures/2|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131070745/http://articles.philly.com/2000-10-08/news/25586236_1_street-corner-guys-family-pictures/2|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013|title=Swampoodle Life Back When The "Old Neighborhood" Swarms With Memories |author=Bruch, Laura J. |date=8 October 2000 |newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> Owners of homes bordering the stadium would make money parking cars<ref name="Old neighborhood 2000" /> or renting porch and roof space.<ref name="baseball 2012">{{cite book|last=Rooney|first=John|title=Bleachers In the Bedroom: the Swampoodle Irish and Connie Mack|year=2012|publisher=Zip Publishing/The Educational Publisher |isbn=978-1622490066}}</ref><ref name="bleachers 1984">{{cite news |title=Bleachers in the bedroom |author=Rooney, John J. |date=August 1984 |magazine=Philadelphia Magazine |pages=84–85 }}</ref> Formerly an [[Irish people|Irish]] neighborhood, as of 2012 it had been absorbed into [[Allegheny West, Philadelphia|Allegheny West]], a poor African-American enclave that had suffered post-industrial decline and [[disinvestment]].

There are several accounts of how the neighborhood came to be named Swampoodle. One source says that the name refers to the swampiness and frequent formation of puddles near 22nd Street and Lehigh Avenue[[Swampoodle, Washington, D.C.|.]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Winberg |first=Michaela |date=2018-07-06 |title=How 43 Philly neighborhoods got their names |url=http://billypenn.com/2018/07/06/how-43-philly-neighborhoods-got-their-names/ |access-date=2025-06-02 |website=Billy Penn at WHYY |language=en-US}}</ref> The term is also slang for low-lying land and may have been used because [[Cohocksink Creek]] ran through the area. Others have countered that the area is actually elevated.<ref name="DailySwampoodle1990">{{cite news|last=Sheehan|first=Kathy|title=A city of pigeons, puddles, and Penn pals |date=16 October 1990|work=[[Philadelphia Daily News]]|page=13 }}</ref>

==Location==

Finkel defines Swampoodle as "Junction of three railroad lines, vic. [vicinity] Lehigh Avenue and 22nd Streets." He gives "(before 1926)" as the time period during which the name is attested in the sources that he and his contributors consulted.<ref name="Finkel 1995">* {{cite book | editor-last = Finkel | editor-first = Kenneth | title = Philadelphia Almanac and Citizens' Manual | edition = 1995 | publisher = Library Company of Philadelphia | year = 1995 | location = [[Philadelphia]] | pages = 156–170 | isbn = 0-914076-89-2 }}</ref> The Philadelphia Information Locator Service list, augmented from the Finkel 1995 list, repeats the same definition.<ref name="Phila Locator">{{cite web | author = Philadelphia Information Locator Service | title = Philadelphia Neighborhoods and Place Names | publisher = City of Philadelphia | date = 1998-05-20 | url = http://www.phila.gov/phils/Docs/otherinfo/placname.htm | access-date = 2007-05-30 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070523123527/http://www.phila.gov/phils/Docs/otherinfo/placname.htm| archive-date= 23 May 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> However, the junction of three railroads to which they refer would apparently be the junction at [[North Philadelphia (SEPTA Regional Rail station)|North Philadelphia station]], which clearly has been well east of 22nd Street since the 1890s or earlier.

==Proposed SEPTA Swampoodle Connection==

SEPTA's proposed [[Swampoodle Connection]] was named for the old neighborhood as recently as the 1980s.

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Neighborhoods in Philadelphia]] [[Category:Upper North Philadelphia]] [[Category:Irish-American culture in Philadelphia]]