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Tacony ( del, tèkhane) is a historic neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia, about from downtown ("Center City")
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
. It is bounded by the east side of Frankford Avenue on the northwest, the south side of Cottman Avenue on the northeast, the north side of Robbins Street on the southwest, and the
Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, before ...
and
Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
on the southeast. Tacony's ZIP code, along with Wissinoming, is 19135. The neighborhood has a large
Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
and
Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...
population. A substantial influx of German and German-American inhabitants helped to swell the population after 1855. About 18,000 people now live in Tacony. Although numerous neighborhood borders in Philadelphia are often disputed, because of when and how they developed, were populated, and founded, Tacony is one of the earliest villages along the Delaware River and further inland, in what was at one time a section of "Oxford Township," and would eventually become part of Philadelphia. For that reason it has some of the better defined neighborhood borders which are part of the city records that describe neighborhoods.


History

The name "Tacony" is derived from a
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...
word for "wilderness", it may possibly originate from the Lenape word tèkëne meaning forest or woods. The deed for the land purchase of Hans Kyn (later "Keene" and "Keen"), a Swede, south of modern Cottman Avenue on the river, dated April 26, 1679, entered on the back of a grant from Governor Andros, March 25, 1676, is still in possession of the family. Enock Keene is shown as one of the landowners of Toaconinck Township on Thomas Holme's 1687 survey map. John Keen, great-great grandson of Hans, born at Tacony in 1747, served with General Cadwalader in the Revolutionary War and was wounded at the battle of Princeton. Tacony resident John Lardner crossed the Delaware with General Washington and fought at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. Farmer John Knowles fought in the war and was a prisoner of the British in 1778. In the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy and influential families established country seats along the river in Tacony. The British Army raided several farms and estates there for supplies during its Revolutionary War occupation of Philadelphia in 1777-78. Not yet a part of the City of Philadelphia, Tacony was then a village in Oxford Township, Philadelphia County. By at least 1836, the Buttermilk Tavern, a vacation hotel, offering fresh catch for dinner, was operating along the river south of what became Longshore Street.


Coming of the railroad

The most significant event in the development of Tacony was the acquisition of land there in 1846 for a ferry-wharf by the
Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad was a railroad from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Trenton, New Jersey. Opened in 1832, it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in 1871. The majority of it is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. ...
, which had first laid tracks through the town in 1834, along the route from its depot at modern Frankford Avenue and Montgomery Avenue,
Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...
, to Trenton, New Jersey. Banned from traversing the District of Kensington southbound to connect with other rail lines, the Philadelphia and Trenton built Tacony Depot, an important early transportation hub. The depot and the community which grew around it was, for a short time, called Buena Vista, named for the recent Mexican War victory. A waterfront mansion on the property was converted to the Washington House Hotel at the foot of what would become Disston Street. Through passengers traveling from New York de-trained at Tacony and took a steamboat to Walnut Street, where they could connect with stagecoaches and other rail lines. North-bound passengers did the reverse. Steamboats and steam ferries stopped at Tacony several times a day for over eight decades. The railroad's Kensington Depot continued to be used for freight and some passenger traffic, but the steamboat transfer continued until 1867, when the
Connecting Railway The Connecting Railway was a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, incorporated to build a connection between the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad and the PRR in the city of Philadelphia. Construction and assembly Connecting Railway The PRR c ...
opened from Frankford Junction to Mantua, near the
Philadelphia Zoo The Philadelphia Zoo, located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, is the first true zoo in the United States. It was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859, but its openin ...
, enabling a connection with the
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
. Between 1861 and 1865, Tacony Depot was the major conduit for soldiers from New England, New York, and New Jersey traveling to and from the campaigns of the Civil War, greatly adding to the village's name recognition. German-American Catholics formed the Saint Vincent's Orphan Asylum Society in 1855. They purchased from two farmers and William H. Gatzmer's land association, comprising an area from Princeton Avenue to Cottman Avenue, the railroad to the river. They formed the Tacony Cottage Association, and sub-divided the land into building lots which they sold to cover the establishment of St. Vincent’s Orphanage at the foot of St. Vincent Street. In 1854, the City of Philadelphia consolidated the surrounding county into the city and Tacony became one of its neighborhoods. In 1871, the Philadelphia and Trenton’s right-of-way was leased to the mammoth
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
and became the most important connection in that system, the Philadelphia-to-New York section of today's
Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, ...
.


Ships named for Tacony

Three vessels named "Tacony" saw naval duty, one of them for the South during the Civil War. In 1863, Confederate forces captured the merchant vessel ''Tacony'' and used it as a stealth raider, CSS ''Florida No.2'', to capture 15 additional ships. It was burned when the crew upgraded to a larger vessel. A 2004 book, "Seawolf of the Confederacy," chronicles its exploits. Also in 1863, a gunboat named ''Tacony,'' built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, was commissioned and saw blockade duty against the South. During World War I, a sizeable yacht owned by industrialist Jacob Disston was donated to the government for the length of the war. It was refitted, armed, and assigned to coastal patrol duty as USS ''Tacony''.


Disston moves to Tacony

In 1872, industrialist
Henry Disston Henry Disston (May 24, 1819 – March 16, 1878) was an English American industrialist who founded the Keystone Saw Works in 1840 and developed the surrounding Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia to build housing for his workers. His company be ...
, seeing, among other things, easy access to river and railroad, purchased in Tacony and moved his growing saw and file manufactory,
Disston Saw Works Disston Saw Works was an American company owned by Henry Disston that manufactured handsaws during the mid-19th to early 20th century in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia. The company was initially named Keystone Saw Works and then Hen ...
, to Tacony from cramped quarters in Kensington. (Henry's brother had earlier purchased vacation property from the Cottage Association.) The company became the largest of its kind in the world for a century, employing up to 5,000 workers at one time. A
Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...
article claimed in 1940 that 75 percent of the handsaws sold in the U.S. were made by Disston. West of the railroad, Disston built a paternalistic industrial village which has been the subject of books, academic studies, and Papal and government recognition. Disston is still regarded with reverence in the community and his image figures prominently on a large community mural. Tacony thrived during the industrial age as national and international firms opened branches there. The Tacony Iron Company manufactured the dome of
Philadelphia City Hall Philadelphia City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of the City of Philadelphia. Built in the ornate Second Empire style, City Hall houses the chambers of the Philadelphia City Council and the offices of the Mayor of Philadelphia. ...
and the massive statue of William Penn that it supports. In 1894,
Frank Shuman Frank Shuman (; January 23, 1862 – April 28, 1918) was an American inventor, engineer and solar energy pioneer known for his work on solar engines, especially those that used solar energy to heat water that would produce steam. Career In 1892 ...
, inventor of wire glass and a pioneer in solar power twice featured on the cover of Scientific American built a large inventor's compound on Disston Street and there built the first solar-powered steam engine. From experiments conducted there, he later developed solar-powered steam turbines to irrigate land in Egypt.


Tacony Palmyra Bridge

The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, one of only two Delaware River spans connecting
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
with northeast Philadelphia (the other being the
Betsy Ross Bridge The Betsy Ross Bridge, also known as the Ross Memorial Bridge, is a continuous steel truss bridge spanning the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Pennsauken, New Jersey. It was built from 1969 to 1974, and opened in April 1976, dur ...
further downstream), has its
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
terminus in Tacony. The bridge, which carries
Pennsylvania Route 73 Pennsylvania Route 73 (PA 73) is a long east–west state highway in southeastern Pennsylvania. It runs from PA 61 near Leesport southeast to the New Jersey state line on the Tacony–Palmyra Bridge over the Delaware River in ...
, connects with
New Jersey Route 73 Route 73 is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It runs as an outer bypass of the Camden area from an intersection with U.S. Route 322 (US 322) in Folsom, Atlantic County, north to the Tacony–Palmyra Br ...
in
Palmyra, New Jersey Palmyra is a borough in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,438, an increase of 40 (+0.5%) from the 2010 census count of 7,398, which in turn reflected an incr ...
. It opened in 1929, eliminating the need for ferries, used on that route since 1922. Daily use, 50,000 vehicles; 18.25 million per year.


Notable people

*
Chris Daukaus Chris Daukaus (; born September 25, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist and former police officer who competes in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the older brother of former UFC fighter Kyle Daukaus. ...
- UFC
heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the W ...
fighter *
Henry Disston Henry Disston (May 24, 1819 – March 16, 1878) was an English American industrialist who founded the Keystone Saw Works in 1840 and developed the surrounding Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia to build housing for his workers. His company be ...
- Industrialist, founded Keystone Saw Works in 1840. *
Hamilton Disston Hamilton Disston (August 23, 1844 – April 30, 1896)"He Died Without Warning", ''The Washington Post'' (May 1, 1896). was an industrialist and real-estate developer who purchased 4 million acres (16,000 km²) of Florida land in 1881, an are ...
- Industrialist and real-estate developer. * Chick Hartley - Major League Baseball outfielder, played for the New York Giants in 1902. *
Frank Legacki Frank Legacki (1939 – October 22, 2020) was an American championship swimmer. He won two individual, one relay, and two team NCAA swimming championships between 1959 and 1961 and set American records in the 50-yard freestyle. He was also a two-t ...
- Championship swimmer. * Al Schmid - United States Marine who was awarded the Navy Cross. *
Frank Shuman Frank Shuman (; January 23, 1862 – April 28, 1918) was an American inventor, engineer and solar energy pioneer known for his work on solar engines, especially those that used solar energy to heat water that would produce steam. Career In 1892 ...
- Inventor, engineer and solar energy pioneer.


Notable buildings

The
Hamilton Disston School The Hamilton Disston Elementary School is an historic K-8 school which is located in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Part of the School District of Philadelphia, it was added to the National Register of Historic Plac ...
, Mary Disston School, and Tacony Music Hall are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. The Tacony Library opened November 27, 1906. The land was a gift of the Disston Family, and the building was a gift of
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in ...
. Important historic industrial complexes survive on the Delaware River waterfront, including: *
Disston Saw Works Disston Saw Works was an American company owned by Henry Disston that manufactured handsaws during the mid-19th to early 20th century in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia. The company was initially named Keystone Saw Works and then Hen ...
* Tacony Worked Mills, 5250 Unruh Avenue, Tacony, Philadelphia, PA, 1886, designed by Walter Harvey Geissinger, a prolific architect of industrial buildings in Philadelphia, who founded a firm that eventually became known as
The Ballinger Company Ballinger is an interdisciplinary design firm, one of the first in the United States to merge the disciplines of architecture and engineering into a professional practice. The firm's single office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania houses a staff of o ...
.


Parks and Recreation Centers

The following are located within the boundaries of Tacony: Vogt Recreation Center, Joseph F. Vogt Playground, Disston Park, Disston Recreation Center,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
Playground, Frank J. G. Dorsey Memorial Playground, Senator William Vincent Mullin Playground, and Lardner's Point Park.Lardner's Point Park
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Sports teams


Disston AA

The Disston AA FC, nicknamed "The Sawmakers" was a U.S. soccer team sponsored by the
Disston Saw Works Disston Saw Works was an American company owned by Henry Disston that manufactured handsaws during the mid-19th to early 20th century in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia. The company was initially named Keystone Saw Works and then Hen ...
from 1909 to 1921. The team played for several years in local Philadelphia leagues before joining the
National Association Football League The National Association Football League (also spelled ''National Association Foot Ball League'') (NAFBL) was a semi-professional U.S. soccer league which operated between 1895 and 1898. The league was reconstituted in 1906 and continued to oper ...
. It was a perennial contender in both league and cup play.


Citations


Sources

*


External links


Visit Tacony - Welcome to Historic Tacony

Historical Society of Tacony

Tacony Civic Association

Historic Photographs of Tacony

Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680, Volume 13
{{Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Irish-American neighborhoods Little Italys in the United States Northeast Philadelphia Company towns in the United States