Francisville, Philadelphia

Francisville
Neighborhood of Philadelphia
Matthew Baird Mansion
Francisville
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Philadelphia County
City	Philadelphia
Area code	Area code 215

Francisville is a neighborhood in North Philadelphia, which is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its boundaries are Fairmount Avenue to the south, Girard Avenue to the north, Broad Street to the east, and Corinthian Avenue to the west. In 2000, it had a population of about 4,500. It is sometimes considered to be a part of the Fairmount neighborhood, but Fairmount more specifically lies to Francisville's west. To its south is the Spring Garden neighborhood.

Street grid

Francisville's street grid is unique because some of it is parallel to Ridge Avenue, rather than being oriented North-South. This is because this section was settled before the uniform street grid of Philadelphia had extended that far north. The community was likely a small village on the Ridge Avenue route from Philadelphia proper (today's Center City) to East Falls.

Recent history

In recent years the community has become more activist, with the Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation and Concerned Citizens of Francisville representing the neighborhood in efforts to improve housing and cut down on crime. A city program called the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative has brought the wrecking ball to many properties, with the hopes that building some new structures in the region is a better solution than costly renovations to blighted historic buildings.

SEPTA service

The neighborhood is served by Broad Street Subway stations at Fairmount and Girard, the SEPTA Route 15 trolley on Girard Avenue, in addition to the 2, 33, and 61 bus routes.

Playground

The Francisville Playground is located at 737-39 Francis Street and has a full baseball field, children's play area, two basketball courts and a large community pool.

External links

• Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation (FNDC) homepage
• "North Philly Drug Dealers Say Safe Streets Has Failed," Justin Bedford, Philadelphia Independent
• Francisville Neighborhood Development Plan Archived 11 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine
• "Slum Of All Fears," Daniel Brook, City Paper
• "Unprecedented Effort to Tear Down Thousands of Vacant Buildings," Planning, 2003

http://ruins.wordpress.com/2007/08/03/a-visit-to-william-penns-vineyard/