Tacony, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

For other uses, see Tacony (disambiguation).

Tacony is a historic neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia, about 10 miles (16 km) from downtown ("Center City") Philadelphia. It is the oldest continuously occupied neighborhood in Philadelphia. It is bounded by Frankford Avenue on the northwest, Cottman Avenue on the northeast, Levick Street on the southwest, and the Delaware River and Interstate 95 on the southeast. Early Swedish records spelled it Taokanick, a Lenape word for "forest" or "wilderness." Tacony's ZIP code, along with Wissinoming and East Mayfair, is 19135. The neighborhood has a large Italian American and Irish American population. About 18,000 people now live in Tacony.

The Beginning

Tacony entered written history in 1676, with 64 taxable residents recorded as living there. In 1679, Tacony was described in an explorer’s journal as “a village of Swedes and Finns.” (“We drank very good beer here,” the writer continues.)

William Penn eventually inherited what he would call Pennsylvania and issued an order in 1683 for the establishment of a post office. Penn appointed Henry Waldy, of Tacony, a trading post operator, to be postmaster between Tacony and New Castle, Delaware. It was the first post office in Pennsylvania and operated until 1753, when a new postal system was implemented.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy and influential families established country seats along the river in Tacony. The British Army raided farms there for horses during its Revolutionary War occupation of Philadelphia in 1777. Tacony's John Lardner crossed the Delaware with George Washington. Not yet a part of the City of Philadelphia, Tacony was then a district in Oxford Township, Philadelphia County.

By at least 1843, a vacation hotel, offering fresh catch for dinner, was operating along the river at the foot 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, which had first laid tracks through the town in 1834, along the route from its depot at Frankford Avenue and Palmer Street, Kensington, to Trenton, New Jersey. Banned from traversing the District of Kensington southbound to reach downtown Philadelphia, the Philadelphia and Trenton made its southern terminus Tacony, after earlier looking at land near Pennypack Creek. (The greed of the landowner there forced them to choose less-expensive land in Tacony.) The railroad built the handsome Buena Vista station (named for the recent Mexican War victory) and a second hotel at the foot of what would become Disston Street. Through passengers traveling from New York de-trained at Tacony and took the steamboat to Walnut Street, where they could connect with stagecoaches and other rail lines. North-bound passengers did the reverse. Steamboats operating between Philadelphia and Trenton, NJ, and costing only "six-and-a-quarter cents," stopped every half-hour at Tacony. By 1849, freight traffic was continuing through to Philadelphia, but this passenger situation continued until 1866, with Civil War Union soldiers passing through Tacony on their way to and from the war, adding greatly to Tacony’s name-recognition.

P&TRR stockholders purchased farms between the railroad and the river and formed the Tacony Land Association to sell real estate and attract residents. In 1856, Philadelphia’s German Catholic parishes purchased 49 acres (200,000 m²) from the Association and subdivided them into building lots which they sold to cover the establishment of St. Vincent’s Orphanage, still serving the Diocese today at the foot of St. Vincent Street. An 1859 New York Times article related that a group of rowdies, who had come by steamboat to the orphanage grounds for a picnic, caused a major riot when they clashed with militia who were conducting target practice nearby. Fueled by alcohol consumption on both sides, the ensuing violence saw numerous shots fired, 15 to 20 rowdies stabbed, and a number "dreadfully" beaten. Four Philadelphia police officers who responded, also by steamboat, were badly hurt before restoring order.

Also in the 1850s, Tacony, a Canadian-bred gelding owned by a group of Tacony investors, became one of the most famous racehorses of all time, competing against the top horses of the day. Tacony was the first horse to beat the legendary Flora Temple and has since been inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. http://www.canadianhorseracinghalloffame.com/standardbred/1985/Tacony.html

In 1854, the City of Philadelphia consolidated the surrounding county into the city and Tacony became one of its neighborhoods. Philadelphia thus became the only municipality in the US that is both a city and a county.

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 Tacony, 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. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-t/sp5.htm

In 1871, the Philadelphia and Trenton’s right-of-way was purchased by the mammoth Pennsylvania Railroad and became the most important connection in that system, the Philadelphia-to-New York section of today's Northeast Corridor.

Disston moves to Tacony

In 1872, industrialist Henry Disston, seeing, among other things, easy access to river and railroad, purchased 390 acres (1.6 km²) in Tacony and moved his growing saw and file manufactory there from cramped quarters in Kensington. (Henry's brother had earlier purchased vacation property from the Land Association.) This historic 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 article claimed in 1940 that 75 percent of the handsaws sold in the U.S. were 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. Mr. Disston is still regarded with reverence in the community and his image figures prominently on a large community mural. http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/tacony/disston.html

Tacony thrived during the industrial age as national and international firms opened branches there. The Tacony Iron Company manufactured the dome of Philadelphia’s historic City Hall and the massive statue of William Penn that it supports. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_City_Hall In 1894, Frank Shuman, 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. http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/tacony/shuman.html

Carnegie Library

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.

Tacony Palmyra Bridge

The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, one of only two Delaware River spans connecting New Jersey with northeast Philadelphia (the other being the Betsy Ross Bridge further downstream), has its Pennsylvania terminus in Tacony. The bridge, which carries Pennsylvania Route 73, connects with New Jersey Route 73 in Palmyra, New Jersey. It opened in 1929, eliminating the need for ferries, used on that route since 1922.

Notable people

After Henry Disston's death in 1878, his wife, Mary Steelman Disston, and their son, Hamilton Disston, a Philadelphia politician, Fairmount Park commissioner, and early developer of Florida, carried on Henry's paternalistic vision for Tacony.

William H. Gatzmer, b. 1808, president of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, who brought the railroad's southern terminus to Tacony. Gatzmer and others formed the Tacony Land Association, mentioned above. He lived in a riverfront home just north of the Buena Vista Station, on land that would later become Warner Cement's property.

Frank Shuman, world renowned for his invention of wire glass and his development of solar power, lived and experimented in Tacony, 1895-1918.

• Frank Shuman's Inventors Compound, 1895-1918

Eight Tacony residents died in the Vietnam War:

• Pvt. William H. Carpenter, Jr., USMC
• Cpl. Clement J. Grassi, USMC
• Lance Cpl. James P. Harkanson, USMC
• Lance Cpl. Robert A. Ryan, USMC
• Cpl. Donald J. Hertrich, USA
• Maj. Rev. Aloysius P. McGonigal, USA
• Sgt. Edward F. Zackowski, USA
• Staff Sgt. Bernard F. Kissel, USAF

Al Schmid, hero of the US Marine Corps and WWII recipient of the Navy Cross, played by John Garfield in the 1945 movie, "Pride Of The Marines," lived at 6508 Tulip Street.

Joseph C. "Goople" McCloskey, 1920-1990, athlete, Philadelphia Police Officer, a founding officer of the Philadelphia Police Athletic League, mentored thousands of Tacony youth over 4 decades through PAL sports programs. Tacony residents are currently raising money for a sculpture in his honor. http://www.goople27thpal.com/ http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Joe-Gooples-McCloskey-Memorial/130177213705473 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C._%22Goople%22_McCloskey

Frank Legacki, who won 5 NCAA swimming championships while competing for the University of Michigan, and who went on to a distinguished business career, grew up at 6600 Glenloch Street.

Harry Silcox, 1932-2009, athlete; star basketballer for Temple University; author of books and academic studies on Tacony, the Disston company and family, Philadelphia politics, Black studies, and other topics; principal for decades of Northeast Philadelphia's Abraham Lincoln High School.

Street Names

Disston Street - for Disston's saw works.

James Street - named for James Buckalew, P&T RR and Land Association investor, who also named Jamesburg, NJ, along the P&TRR line.

Keystone Street - for Henry Disston and Sons' Keystone Saw and File Works

Marsden Street - for Disston's smelter, Jonathan Marsden, who lived in a house that still stands, n/e corner Longshore and Keystone.

Princeton Avenue - named by General Cook, P&TRR and Tacony Land Association investor, who hailed from Princeton, NJ

Longshore Street - ran to James Longshore's farm, west of Frankford Avenue

Tacony Eagles

Tacony has a minor league football team called the Tacony Eagles. The Tacony Eagles were incorporated as a team on February 13, 2008. The team's home field is at American Legion Playground located at Robbins Street & Torresdale Avenue.

Notable Buildings

• Mary Disston School
• Tacony Music Hall

External links

• http://historictacony.blogspot.com/
• AOH Division 39 Philly
• Tacony Civic Association
• http://www.saintleos65.com/
• Tacony Historical Society
• Tacony Town Watch
• Tacony Eagles
• Big North East Football Federation
• Historic Photographs of Tacony