PHILADELPHIA: EASTWICK
Eastwick, Philadelphia, before and after federally-financed “urban renewal.”
During the 1930s Eastwick had been redlined, meaning the federal government had deemed it officially unworthy for investment. This was due to the fact that, as official comments noted, there was an “infestation of undesirable racial elements,” as the population was “80% Negro,” and “15% foreign-born” (More on redlining in a previous post).
Despite the gov.’s racially-based disinvestment, Eastwick survived and grew as a tight-knit community. From @schuylkillcorps: “[By the 1950s], Eastwick was home to 278 businesses and 11 factories, which employed many nearby residents. The neighborhood also maintained 40 churches and an animated community hub along Eastwick Avenue. Residents were generally self-sufficient: 72% owned their own homes, and many harvested their own food.”
In 1955, using the provisions and generous funding incentives of the 1949 Federal Housing Act (passage of which the mayor at the time, Bernard Samuel, had actively lobbied for), the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia (RDA) declared the entire area to be a “blighted slum.”
In a 1957 letter to the @phillyinquirer, resident Nancy Hodge pointed out how public conceptions of slums didn't align with the lived experiences in Eastwick:
"Most peoples' conception of slums is a filthy cluttered section breeding disease and criminals. The majority of Eastwick is green grass and trees. The city plans on building project homes to clutter up these green fields, laying a model foundation for a slum area to develop...If the City Council passes this bill, Eastwick residents will be a mass of displaced persons forced to buy other homes, many beyond their means."
Much of this prediction was true: between 1957 and 1958 the RDA used eminent domain to seize and demolish hundreds of homes in the neighborhood, displacing nearly 10,000 people. Ultimately, very little was rebuilt on the site (see third image, graphic from @interfacestudio). While the RDA had promised to rebuild as many units of housing as they had demolished (and moreover to do so in a racially integrated fashion), they did not follow through.
In hindsight, it seems likely that the RDA’s promise was in bad faith. After demolition, the site was sold back to a private developer who later implemented a racial quota to ensure black tenants only comprised 20% of residency, citing prospective white buyers’ unwillingness to live in an integrated neighborhood. Ultimately much of the project was simply abandoned as the developer was unable to find sufficient buyers (what few homes were built were notoriously low-quality, with broken and crumbling foundations).
Most of the neighborhood was simply abandoned and returned to the elements. The grid was overtaken with new growth. Much of this new growth itself was later cleared when the land formerly occupied by the southern portion of the neighborhood, known as Elmwood (distinct from the more northerly Elmwood Park), was paved for the construction of I-95 and surface parking for the airport.
