Port Richmond: Once Bustling, Now Quiet

As we made our second expedition into the neighborhood of Port Richmond, we realized we were excited and eager rather than apprehensive like we had been before. We once again parked the car and walked down Allegheny Ave. We scoped out potential story ideas, took pictures and jotted down notes as we walked. The streets were quiet but we could imagine that at one time in its prime, this neighborhood had been bustling with people walking to work, or to school, and stopping at one of the many local shops for breakfast and lunch.

According to the historical information found on myportrichmond.com, the neighborhood of Port Richmond was once full of working-class European immigrants who worked as ship builders and coal traders, peaking especially during war times. These workers often walked to work and cars were not common. However, today the neighborhood is less active and many of the citizens work outside of the town, taking either their own personal cars or public transportation. While many of the locally owned businesses are still up and running throughout the neighborhood of Port Richmond, there are many small business that have closed and been left abandoned. For example, there is a small strip of businesses on Richmond Avenue that still have signs up and decorations in the windows, but they are old and dusty, the signs are falling apart and have faded, and it appears as if no one has entered the buildings in years. These closed and abandoned shops are now a visible reminder for the citizens of Port Richmond that the city has been hit hard by the economic crisis or maybe  the lack of family generation efforts to carry on the family business dwindled down to its closing.

According to the 2000 Census information, Port Richmond had 57,922 residents, of which only 40 percent were employed and the median household income was $20,903, which at the time was only a few thousand dollars above the poverty level. Unfortunately, more recent data has not been released for the Port Richmond neighborhood, but the global economic crisis has in all likelihood severely affected the neighborhood as well as the city of Philadelphia and the entire nation.

Stephanie Hobson & Amy Fuhrmeister
Group 7 PortRichmond