Kingsessing, Philadelphia

Kingsessing
Kingsessing
Neighborhood of Philadelphia
	The Kingsessing Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia
	Kingsessing
	Coordinates: Coordinates: 39°56′21″N 75°13′18″W / 39.93915°N 75.22165°W
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Philadelphia County
City	Philadelphia
Area code(s)	215, 267, and 445

Kingsessing is a neighborhood in the Southwest section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. On the west side of the Schuylkill River, it is next to the neighborhoods of Cedar Park, Southwest Schuylkill, and Mount Moriah, as well as the borough of Yeadon in Delaware County. It is roughly bounded by 53rd Street to the northeast, Baltimore Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek and 60th Street to the southwest, and Woodland Avenue to the southeast.

History[]

St. James Kingsessing Episcopal Church

The name Kingsessing, also spelled Chinsessing, comes from a Delaware word meaning "a place where there is a meadow". The historic Lenape, 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.

Bartram's Garden, started by colonial botanist John Bartram in the late 1700s, is still operated in this neighborhood. It had an international reputation and is considered the first true botanical garden in the United States.^[1] It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

The S. Weir Mitchell School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.^[2]

Infrastructure and government[]

The United States Postal Service operates the Kingsessing Post Office at 5311 Florence Avenue.^[3]
Grays Ferry Bridge
49th Street station (SEPTA Regional Rail)

Education[]

Public libraries[]

Free Library of Philadelphia operates the Kingsessing Branch at 1201 South 51st Street, below Chester Avenue.^[4]

References[]

^ Bell, Whitfield J., Jr., Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 1, 1743–1768. APS: Philadelphia, 1997, pp. 3–4.
^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ "Post Office Location - KINGSESSING." United States Postal Service. Retrieved on December 4, 2008.
^ "Kingsessing Branch." Free Library of Philadelphia. Retrieved on November 10, 2008.

Sources

Chronology of the Political Subdivisions of the County of Philadelphia, 1683–1854 (Daly, John; Weinberg, Allen (October 1966). Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions (Second ed.). Philadelphia Dept. of Records.)
Information courtesy of ushistory.org
Incorporated District, Boroughs, and Townships in the County of Philadelphia, 1854 By Rudolph J. Walther - excerpted from the book at the ushistory.org website
[1] 'Row House Days' courtesy of ushistory.org

[1] Bell, Whitfield J., Jr., Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 1, 1743–1768. APS: Philadelphia, 1997, pp. 3–4.

[nris-2] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[3] "Post Office Location - KINGSESSING." United States Postal Service. Retrieved on December 4, 2008.

[4] "Kingsessing Branch." Free Library of Philadelphia. Retrieved on November 10, 2008.

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