Mount Airy, Philadelphia

Stone cottage in Mount Airy, Philadelphia. The community is known for its elegant examples of 18th and 19th century residential architecture.

For other uses, see Mount Airy.

Mount Airy is a neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

Geography

Boundaries

Mount Airy is bounded as follows:

• on the northwest by the Cresheim Valley (part of Fairmount Park) (beyond which lies Chestnut Hill);
• on the west by the Wissahickon Gorge (part of Fairmount Park) (beyond which lie Roxborough and Manayunk);
• on the southeast by Germantown (no precise boundary); and
• on the northeast by Stenton Avenue (beyond which lie Cedarbrook and West Oak Lane).

ZIP codes

The USPS does not officially correlate neighborhood names to Philadelphia ZIP codes (all are called simply "Philadelphia" or "Phila"). However, the 19119 ZIP code is almost entirely coterminous with the cultural-consensus boundaries of Mount Airy.

Relationship to Germantown

There is no "official" boundary between Mount Airy and Germantown. The most common consensus is that Johnson Street is the de facto boundary; however, Washington Lane could also be viewed as a boundary. The question is moot, however, as the two neighborhoods blend together very gradually. Historically the entire area was part of the German Township. Many buildings in Mount Airy carry the identity and even the name of Germantown in one way or another. For example, the Unitarian Church of Germantown, the Germantown Jewish Center, the Germantown Christian Assembly, and the Germantown Montessori School are all in Mount Airy, yet belong culturally to Germantown as well. Parts of the Battle of Germantown in 1777 occurred throughout Mount Airy and Germantown. The special relationship linking the two has its roots in the time before the Act of Consolidation, when Germantown was a borough separate from the City of Philadelphia, and its rural environs were what is now Mount Airy.

History

William Allen, prominent Philadelphia merchant and Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, created his summer estate and built his mansion on Germantown Avenue at Allens Lane in 1750, and the area eventually took the building's name, Mount Airy, as its own. Before this, the area which makes up the modern neighborhood of Mount Airy, was part of two sections of the original Germantown Township (which covered all of Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill) — Cresheim and Beggarstown.

The village or Dorfshaft of Krisheim or Cresheim has its origins in the original land divisions of Germantown Township in 1689. It was a section of the township that was allotted to group of original Germantown settlers who acquired rights to land either directly or indirectly from William Penn. It covered the area from Stenton to Wissahickon Avenues, Mermaid Lane to roughly Sedgwick Street. The name is derived from a town known today as Kriegsheim in the Palatine in Germany which was the hometown of a few German Quaker families that settled in Germantown in the 1680s. Throughout much of the 18th century, this area of Germantown Township was known in the land and tax records as simply Cresheim or Cresham. It was at the beginning of the 19th century that the name Mount Airy began to replace Cresheim.

Beggarstown (also Beggars-town or Beggar Town), an area centered along Germantown Avenue between Gorgas Lane and Cliveden Street, was formed out of the so-called "Sidelands" of Germantown. The Sidelands were a section of Germantown Township that had been set aside so that the owners of lots in the center of Germantown could have access to an equal share of land in the entire village of Germantown section of Germantown Township. The portion that Beggarstown grew out of covered the area from Upsal Street to roughly Sedgwick Street and Stenton and Wissahickon Avenues. As the Germantown village filled up, settlers began to move northwest along Germantown Avenue. By the 1730s and 1740s, the Sidelands area was subdivided into smaller house lots. An account published in 1770 states that the area received its name as a result of its first resident's begging for money to build his house which later became the home of the Germantown Church of the Brethren. The name for this area disappeared by the late 19th century and was variously called Pelham, Germantown or Mount Airy.

Much of modern Mount Airy was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, spreading out from Germantown Avenue and two railroad lines. Large three-story, gray-stone Victorian, colonial revival, and Norman and Cotswold-style houses and mansions, with stained glass windows and slate roofs are situated on many of the area's tree-lined streets, and dominate districts like West Mount Airy's Pelham section (a Wendell and Smith development from 1890s) and East Mount Airy's Gowen Avenue (the James Gowen Estate development from 1880s), Sedgwick Farms (an Ashton S. Tourison development from 1905), and Stenton (a Frank Mauran development from 1905) areas.

Demographics

Racial integration

The area is recognized by many civil rights groups as one of the first successfully integrated neighborhoods in America. Mount Airy continues to be the most well-blended neighborhood in Philadelphia, and was recently cited in Oprah Winfrey's O magazine for its racial diversity and neighborhood appeal. The community has also been recognized by US News & World Report for racial harmony and balance.

The neighborhood is predominantly African-American with a population of 28,873. 67.9% of residents are Black or African-American, 27.4% White/Caucasian and 4.7% from other races or from 2 or more races. [2] There is a large Jewish community in Mount Airy, and the Germantown Jewish Centre is located in West Mount Airy. Also a Hare Krishna community is located on West Allens Lane. Mount Airy has long been the neighborhood of choice for the city's elite African Americans. Mount Airy is also one of Philadelphia's most diverse neighborhoods and is known for its diversity within the city.

Other demographic facets

In addition to racial integration, Mount Airy is sometimes noted for the presence of many of its residents having advanced degrees. This could explain why Mount Airy's residents tend to be more engaged in Philadelphia City politics, which may give Mount Airy a leg-up when it comes to resources and city services. The political tone of the neighborhood is predominantly liberal. Mount Airy is favored as a neighborhood of choice for city politicians, judges, and others who are required to reside within the city's limits. One prominent Mount Airy politician is former Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz.

West Mount Airy has a reputation for being affluent, similar to Chestnut Hill, and the East more working class, although counter-examples abound. In general, the affluence of the neighborhood increases with proximity to Fairmount Park and Chestnut Hill. West Mount Airy has a small commercial district of its own centered around Greene Street and Carpenter Lane; East Mount Airy has a more diffuse distribution of corner stores, and commercial corridors along Chew and Stenton Avenues.

Education

Public schools in the neighborhood include C. W. Henry, Henry H. Houston Elementary School, Eleanor Cope Emlen, J. E. Hill, Leeds Middle School, and the Academy of the Middle Years (AMY) Northwest. Mount Airy's neighborhood public high school is Martin Luther King High School which is located in East Germantown. Private schools include the Waldorf School of Philadelphia, Project Learn School (a K-8 Parent/Teacher cooperative), and Holy Cross Catholic School.

Many children living in Mount Airy go to school outside the neighborhood. Many of them take public transportation to these magnet schools. For example, the R7 and R8 go from East and West Mount Airy respectively to center city and Masterman. Some of Philadelphia's most highly regarded magnet schools, such as Girls' High, CAPA, Central and Masterman traditionally have a disproportionate number of students from Mount Airy. This also occurs in many of the area private schools, such as Germantown Friends School, Greene Street Friends School, Abington Friends School in nearby Jenkintown and Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy in nearby Merion Station and Chestnut Hill Academy in nearby Chestnut Hill.

Public libraries

Free Library of Philadelphia operates the Lovett Square Branch at 6945 Germantown Avenue.

Transportation

A commute to Center City takes approximately twenty minutes without heavy traffic. The large suburban shopping and office districts around King of Prussia, Plymouth Meeting, and Conshohocken are also within about twenty minutes drive of Mount Airy. Mount Airy is also served by public transportation. The SEPTA Regional Rail lines offer an option for getting into Center City. The R8 runs through West Mount Airy, and the R7 through East Mount Airy. The neighborhood is also served by bus routes 18, 23 (formerly a trolley line), 53 (formerly a trolley line), H, XH and L.

Shopping

Mount Airy's main commercial district lies along cobblestoned Germantown Avenue, which also serves as the boundary between East and West Mount Airy, with a smaller commercial center at the intersection of Carpenter and Greene Streets. Like Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy has a large array of mom-and-pop-style boutiques and eateries. The style of this shopping district along "The Ave." gives it a small-town feel, although there are also a few chain stores, including an Acme Supermarket and a Wawa. Mount Airy is also home to Weavers Way Co-Op, a long-running co-op grocery store and two local, tented farmers' markets. Booklovers enjoy Big Blue Marble Bookstore, an independent bookstore catering to neighbors' interests, and Walk a Crooked Mile Books, a large used-book store housed in the Mount Airy R7 train station.

A number of commercial properties in Mount Airy have received economic development grants and façade rehabilitation assistance from Mount Airy USA, a neighborhood non-profit community economic development organization.

The Sedgwick Theater in Mount Airy, a 1920's Art Deco movie theatre

Notable institutions

• The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) is located at Germantown Ave. and Allen's Lane. The seminary is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S., and also serves as its Region 7 headquarters. The seminary is very active in the life of the community, hosting adult education classes, political meetings, serving as a polling station, giving office space to East Mt. Airy Neighbors (community association), and providing leadership on neighborhood issues.
• The Sedgwick Theater, a 1920s Art Deco movie theater, is one of the few remaining in Philadelphia.

External links

• Mt. Airy Historical Awareness Committee, Mount Airy Bibliography, 4th Edition, 2004
• East Mount Airy Neighbors
• Mt. Airy USA
• Mount Airy Business Association
• West Mount Airy Neighbors
• Films at the Sedgwick
• Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia