Mantua: New Kind of Neighborhood

Mantua saw a lot of changes over the last four decades but the one most apparent was the spillover of Drexel and University of Pennsylvania students.

Residents are more than welcoming to newcomers, but some feel a disconnect between treatment of the students and treatment of the Mantua residents. Naeem Ali, a 40 year resident of Mantua finds the neighborhood much safer now, because the original residents made it so for the new influx of students.

“Not to make it a color thing, but we never had white people walking around here,” Ali explained. “That’s not a bad thing, it just shows that it’s much safer now than before when white people couldn’t walk around out here.”

Naeem is not the only person who sees Mantua as safer now more than ever for kids, young people and the non-local crowd. Everyone from our One Block felt the same way! Mantua is experiencing a lot of changes. Some changes for better, some for worse.

Aside from the sudden removal of the Mantua mural on the Spring Garden Street Bridge, the residents seem to be on a path to brighter days, even though most of the homes on the beginning blocks are rented by students and now lack the original homeowners’ presence.

By Tara Moore and Jessica Arnold, Group 7, Mantua/Parkside