Dock Creek was a

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

draining much of what is now the eastern half of

Center City, Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the ci ...

, United States. It was a tributary of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

. By 1820, the entire creek had been covered and converted to a sewer. The present-day Dock Street follows the lower course of the stream.

Course

Called Cooconocon by the native

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

people, Dock Creek was near the center of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

's initial settlement in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The area around the mouth of the creek was marshy, and early Philadelphians referred to it as "The Swamp". The creek's source was near present-day Eleventh Street between Arch and Race. It then flowed through a pond around present-day Fifth and

Market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

streets, after which it flowed south and east. At about Fourth and Chestnut, it was joined by another small stream, Munday's Run. Dock Creek then ran southeast, where it was joined by the Little Dock Creek, and through the swamp to the Delaware River.

Colonial history

Penn thought the mouth of the Dock a good site to dock ships, giving rise to the name. He declared that the area should be a harbor forever, but later inhabitants did not follow his plan. By 1704, a

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

was constructed near the mouth of the creek, the first bridge in the colony of Pennsylvania. More bridges followed: at Second Street in 1713, Third Street in 1740, and Walnut Street in 1767. In 1763, the creek's use as an open sewer led residents to describe it as "a Receptacle for the Carcasses of dead Dogs, and other Carrion, and Filth of various kinds, which laying exposed to the Sun and Air putrify and become extremely offensive and injurious to the Health of the Inhabitants." Increased development in the area led settlers to cover the creek above Second Street by 1769. By 1784, it was covered all the way to its outlet at the Delaware.

Conversion to sewer

The mouth of the Dock had become known as "a foul place, especially when the tide was out." The stream became completely buried and served as a sewer for the neighborhood. By the 1840s, the sewer had become inadequate and frequently overflowed into the streets above. Investigators recommended that

Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughou ...

build a culvert under the streets to carry the stream, which they did. By the 1870s, the Dock Street Market was the city's primary's wholesale produce distribution center until its closure in 1959. During

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

in the 1960s, new sewer lines were constructed in the area, and archaeologists investigated the former site of the city's main waterfront. An art project in 2008 through Philadelphia's FringeArts Festival investigated the former course of Dock Creek between Third and Fifth streets, in what is now

Independence National Historical Park Independence National Historical Park is a federally protected historic district in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation's founding history. Administered by the National ...

Notes

References

Books * * Articles * * Newspaper * Websites * *

External links

* {{Society Hill Tributaries of the Delaware River Former rivers Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia Subterranean rivers of the United States