Kingsessing is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

in the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

section of

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 ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. On the west side of the Schuylkill River, it is next to the neighborhoods of Cedar Park and Elmwood Park, as well as the borough of Yeadon in Delaware County. It is roughly bounded by the

SEPTA Regional Rail The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by SEPTA and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its suburbs and satellite town ...

Media/Wawa Line The Media/Wawa Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail service that runs from Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia west to Wawa Station, Wawa in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Delaware County. It uses the West Chester Branch, which connects ...

to the northeast, Baltimore Avenue to the northwest,

Cobbs Creek Cobbs Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of Darby Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It forms an approxima ...

and 60th Street to the southwest, and Woodland Avenue to the southeast.

History

The name Kingsessing, also spelled Chinsessing, comes from a

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

word meaning "a place where there is a meadow". The historic

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 ...

, 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. Mount Moriah Cemetery 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. In 1669

Hans Månsson Hans Månsson (1612–1691) was a Swedish soldier and a convicted criminal who was sent to New Sweden along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States in 1641. After serving six years on a tobacco plantation, he was f ...

, a Swedish settler, received a patent for an 1,100-acre plantation along the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...

between the current location of 60th Street and

Woodlands Cemetery The Woodlands is a National Historic Landmark District on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. It includes a Federal-style mansion, a matching carriage house and stable, and a garden landscape that in 1840 was transformed int ...

, extending as far west as Cobb's Creek.

Bartram's Garden Bartram's Garden is a 50-acre public garden and National Historic Landmark in Southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, situated on the banks of the Tidal Schuylkill River. Founded in 1728 by botanist John Bartram (1699–1777), it is the oldest Bot ...

, started by colonial botanist

John Bartram John Bartram (June 3, 1699 – September 22, 1777) was an American botanist, horticulturist, and explorer, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for most of his career. Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus said he was the "greatest natu ...

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. It has been designated as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

. The

S. Weir Mitchell School The S. Weir Mitchell Elementary School is an historic, American elementary school that is located in the Kingsessing neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is part of the School District of Philadelphia. It was added to the National Reg ...

Regent-Rennoc Court Regent-Rennoc Court is an historic, American apartment complex that is located in the Southwest Schuylkill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. History and architectural f ...

and

Anna Howard Shaw Junior High School The Hardy Williams Academy, formerly the Anna Howard Shaw Junior High School, is a historic junior high school building located in the Southwest Schuylkill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was added to the National ...

are on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Demographics

As of 2011, Kingsessing is 83.2% black.

Infrastructure and government

* The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

operates the Kingsessing Post Office at 5311 Florence Avenue. *

Grays Ferry Bridge Grays Ferry Bridge (previously spelled as Gray's Ferry Bridge) has been the formal or informal name of several floating bridges and four permanent ones that have carried highway and rail traffic over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The bri ...

49th Street station (SEPTA Regional Rail) 49th Street station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Philadelphia. It is located at 1104 South 49th Street in the Kingsessing section of Southwest Philadelphia, and serves the Media/Wawa Line. In 2013, this station saw 62 boardings and 52 ali ...

Schuylkill River Trail The Schuylkill River Trail ( , ) is a multi-use trail along the banks of the Schuylkill River in southeastern Pennsylvania. Partially complete, the trail is ultimately planned to run about from the river's headwaters in Schuylkill County, Penns ...

Education

Public libraries

Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...

operates the Kingsessing Branch at 1201 South 51st Street, below Chester Avenue.Kingsessing Branch
" ''

''. Retrieved on November 10, 2008.

References