Tacony, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Encyclopedia
Tacony is a historic neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia
, about 10 miles (16.1 km) from downtown ("Center City") Philadelphia. It is the oldest continuously occupied neighborhood in Philadelphia. It is bounded by Frankford Avenue on the northwest, Cottman Avenue on the northeast, Levick Street on the southwest, and the Delaware River
and Interstate 95 on the southeast. Early Swedish records spelled it Taokanick, a Lenape
word for "forest" or "wilderness." Tacony's ZIP code, along with Wissinoming and East Mayfair, is 19135. The neighborhood has a large Italian American
and Irish American
population. About 18,000 people now live in Tacony.
William Penn
eventually inherited what he would call Pennsylvania and issued an order in 1683 for the establishment of a post office. Penn appointed Henry Waldy, of Tacony, a trading post operator, to be postmaster between Tacony and New Castle, Delaware. It was the first post office in Pennsylvania and operated until 1753, when a new postal system was implemented.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy and influential families established country seats along the river in Tacony. The British Army raided farms there for horses during its Revolutionary War occupation of Philadelphia in 1777. Tacony's John Lardner crossed the Delaware with George Washington. Not yet a part of the City of Philadelphia, Tacony was then a district in Oxford Township, Philadelphia County.
By at least 1843, a vacation hotel, offering fresh catch for dinner, was operating along the river at the foot of what became Longshore Street.
, which had first laid tracks through the town in 1834, along the route from its depot at Frankford Avenue and Palmer Street, Kensington, to Trenton, New Jersey. Banned from traversing the District of Kensington southbound to reach downtown Philadelphia, the Philadelphia and Trenton made its southern terminus Tacony, after earlier looking at land near Pennypack Creek. (The greed of the landowner there forced them to choose less-expensive land in Tacony.) The railroad built the handsome Buena Vista station (named for the recent Mexican War
victory) and a second hotel at the foot of what would become Disston Street. Through passengers traveling from New York de-trained at Tacony and took the steamboat to Walnut Street, where they could connect with stagecoaches and other rail lines. North-bound passengers did the reverse. Steamboats operating between Philadelphia and Trenton, NJ, and costing only "six-and-a-quarter cents," stopped every half-hour at Tacony. By 1849, freight traffic was continuing through to Philadelphia, but this passenger situation continued until 1866, with Civil War Union soldiers passing through Tacony on their way to and from the war, adding greatly to Tacony’s name-recognition.
P&TRR stockholders purchased farms between the railroad and the river and formed the Tacony Land Association to sell real estate and attract residents. In 1856, Philadelphia’s German Catholic parishes purchased 49 acres (198,296.1 m²) from the Association and subdivided them into building lots which they sold to cover the establishment of St. Vincent’s Orphanage, still serving the Diocese today at the foot of St. Vincent Street. An 1859 New York Times article related that a group of rowdies, who had come by steamboat to the orphanage grounds for a picnic, caused a major riot when they clashed with militia who were conducting target practice nearby. Fueled by alcohol consumption on both sides, the ensuing violence saw numerous shots fired, 15 to 20 rowdies stabbed, and a number "dreadfully" beaten. Four Philadelphia police officers who responded, also by steamboat, were badly hurt before restoring order.
Also in the 1850s, Tacony, a Canadian-bred gelding owned by a group of Tacony investors, became one of the most famous racehorses of all time, competing against the top horses of the day. Tacony was the first horse to beat the legendary Flora Temple and has since been inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. http://www.canadianhorseracinghalloffame.com/standardbred/1985/Tacony.html
In 1854, the City of Philadelphia consolidated the surrounding county into the city and Tacony became one of its neighborhoods. Philadelphia thus became the only municipality in the US that is both a city and a county.
Three vessels named "Tacony" saw naval duty, one of them for the South during the Civil War. In 1863, Confederate forces captured the merchant vessel Tacony and used it as a stealth raider, CSS Tacony
, to capture 15 additional ships. It was burned when the crew upgraded to a larger vessel. A 2004 book, "Seawolf of the Confederacy," chronicles its exploits. Also in 1863, a gunboat named Tacony, built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, was commissioned and saw blockade duty against the South. During World War I, a sizeable yacht owned by industrialist Jacob Disston was donated to the government for the length of the war. It was refitted, armed, and assigned to coastal patrol duty as USS Tacony
. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-t/sp5.htm
In 1871, the Philadelphia and Trenton’s right-of-way was purchased by the mammoth Pennsylvania Railroad and became the most important connection in that system, the Philadelphia-to-New York section of today's Northeast Corridor
.
, seeing, among other things, easy access to river and railroad, purchased 390 acres (1.6 km²) in Tacony and moved his growing saw and file manufactory there from cramped quarters in Kensington. (Henry's brother had earlier purchased vacation property from the Land Association.) This historic company became the largest of its kind in the world for a century, employing up to 5,000 workers at one time. A Time Magazine article claimed in 1940 that 75 percent of the handsaws sold in the U.S. were Disston.
West of the railroad, Disston built a paternalistic industrial village which has been the subject of books, academic studies, and Papal and government recognition. Mr. Disston is still regarded with reverence in the community and his image figures prominently on a large community mural. http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/tacony/disston.html
Tacony thrived during the industrial age as national and international firms opened branches there. The Tacony Iron Company manufactured the dome of Philadelphia’s historic City Hall and the massive statue of William Penn that it supports. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_City_Hall
In 1894, Frank Shuman, inventor of wire glass and a pioneer in solar power twice featured on the cover of Scientific American, built a large inventor's compound on Disston Street and there built the first solar-powered steam engine. From experiments conducted there, he later developed solar-powered steam turbines to irrigate land in Egypt. http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/tacony/shuman.html
.
, one of only two Delaware River spans connecting New Jersey
with northeast Philadelphia (the other being the Betsy Ross Bridge
further downstream), has its Pennsylvania
terminus in Tacony. The bridge, which carries Pennsylvania Route 73
, connects with New Jersey Route 73 in Palmyra, New Jersey
. It opened in 1929, eliminating the need for ferries, used on that route since 1922.
, a Philadelphia politician, Fairmount Park commissioner, and early developer of Florida, carried on Henry's paternalistic vision for Tacony.
William H. Gatzmer, b. 1808, president of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, who brought the railroad's southern terminus to Tacony. Gatzmer and others formed the Tacony Land Association, mentioned above. He lived in a riverfront home just north of the Buena Vista Station, on land that would later become Warner Cement's property.
Frank Shuman, world renowned for his invention of wire glass and his development of solar power, lived and experimented in Tacony, 1895-1918.
Eight Tacony residents died in the Vietnam War:
Al Schmid
, hero of the US Marine Corps and WWII recipient of the Navy Cross, played by John Garfield in the 1945 movie, "Pride Of The Marines," lived at 6508 Tulip Street.
Joseph C. "Goople" McCloskey, 1920-1990, athlete, Philadelphia Police Officer, a founding officer of the Philadelphia Police Athletic League, mentored thousands of Tacony youth over 4 decades through PAL sports programs. Tacony residents are currently raising money for a sculpture in his honor.
http://www.goople27thpal.com/
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Joe-Gooples-McCloskey-Memorial/130177213705473
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C._%22Goople%22_McCloskey
Frank Legacki
, who won 5 NCAA swimming championships while competing for the University of Michigan, and who went on to a distinguished business career, grew up at 6600 Glenloch Street.
Harry Silcox, 1932-2009, athlete; star basketballer for Temple University; author of books and academic studies on Tacony, the Disston company and family, Philadelphia politics, Black studies, and other topics; principal for decades of Northeast Philadelphia's Abraham Lincoln High School.
James Street - named for James Buckalew, P&T RR and Land Association investor, who also named Jamesburg, NJ, along the P&TRR line.
Keystone Street - for Henry Disston and Sons' Keystone Saw and File Works
Marsden Street - for Disston's smelter, Jonathan Marsden, who lived in a house that still stands, n/e corner Longshore and Keystone.
Princeton Avenue - named by General Cook, P&TRR and Tacony Land Association investor, who hailed from Princeton, NJ
Longshore Street - ran to James Longshore's farm, west of Frankford Avenue
Northeast Philadelphia
Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Northeast and the Great Northeast, is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 Census, the Northeast has a sizable percentage of the city's 1.547 million people — a population of between 300,000 and 450,000,...
, about 10 miles (16.1 km) from downtown ("Center City") Philadelphia. It is the oldest continuously occupied neighborhood in Philadelphia. It is bounded by Frankford Avenue on the northwest, Cottman Avenue on the northeast, Levick Street on the southwest, and the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
and Interstate 95 on the southeast. Early Swedish records spelled it Taokanick, a Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
word for "forest" or "wilderness." Tacony's ZIP code, along with Wissinoming and East Mayfair, is 19135. The neighborhood has a large Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
and Irish American
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
population. About 18,000 people now live in Tacony.
The Beginning
Tacony entered written history in 1676, with 64 taxable residents recorded as living there. In 1679, Tacony was described in an explorer’s journal as “a village of Swedes and Finns.” (“We drank very good beer here,” the writer continues.)William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
eventually inherited what he would call Pennsylvania and issued an order in 1683 for the establishment of a post office. Penn appointed Henry Waldy, of Tacony, a trading post operator, to be postmaster between Tacony and New Castle, Delaware. It was the first post office in Pennsylvania and operated until 1753, when a new postal system was implemented.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy and influential families established country seats along the river in Tacony. The British Army raided farms there for horses during its Revolutionary War occupation of Philadelphia in 1777. Tacony's John Lardner crossed the Delaware with George Washington. Not yet a part of the City of Philadelphia, Tacony was then a district in Oxford Township, Philadelphia County.
By at least 1843, a vacation hotel, offering fresh catch for dinner, was operating along the river at the foot of what became Longshore Street.
Coming of the Railroad
The most significant event in the development of Tacony was the acquisition of land there in 1846 for a ferry-wharf by the Philadelphia and Trenton RailroadPhiladelphia and Trenton Railroad
The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad was a railroad from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Trenton, New Jersey that became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. The majority of it is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.-History:...
, which had first laid tracks through the town in 1834, along the route from its depot at Frankford Avenue and Palmer Street, Kensington, to Trenton, New Jersey. Banned from traversing the District of Kensington southbound to reach downtown Philadelphia, the Philadelphia and Trenton made its southern terminus Tacony, after earlier looking at land near Pennypack Creek. (The greed of the landowner there forced them to choose less-expensive land in Tacony.) The railroad built the handsome Buena Vista station (named for the recent Mexican War
Mexican War
Mexican War may refer to:*Mexican War of Independence *Mexican–American War *French intervention in Mexico *Mexican Revolution *Mexican Civil War *Cristero War *Mexican Drug War...
victory) and a second hotel at the foot of what would become Disston Street. Through passengers traveling from New York de-trained at Tacony and took the steamboat to Walnut Street, where they could connect with stagecoaches and other rail lines. North-bound passengers did the reverse. Steamboats operating between Philadelphia and Trenton, NJ, and costing only "six-and-a-quarter cents," stopped every half-hour at Tacony. By 1849, freight traffic was continuing through to Philadelphia, but this passenger situation continued until 1866, with Civil War Union soldiers passing through Tacony on their way to and from the war, adding greatly to Tacony’s name-recognition.
P&TRR stockholders purchased farms between the railroad and the river and formed the Tacony Land Association to sell real estate and attract residents. In 1856, Philadelphia’s German Catholic parishes purchased 49 acres (198,296.1 m²) from the Association and subdivided them into building lots which they sold to cover the establishment of St. Vincent’s Orphanage, still serving the Diocese today at the foot of St. Vincent Street. An 1859 New York Times article related that a group of rowdies, who had come by steamboat to the orphanage grounds for a picnic, caused a major riot when they clashed with militia who were conducting target practice nearby. Fueled by alcohol consumption on both sides, the ensuing violence saw numerous shots fired, 15 to 20 rowdies stabbed, and a number "dreadfully" beaten. Four Philadelphia police officers who responded, also by steamboat, were badly hurt before restoring order.
Also in the 1850s, Tacony, a Canadian-bred gelding owned by a group of Tacony investors, became one of the most famous racehorses of all time, competing against the top horses of the day. Tacony was the first horse to beat the legendary Flora Temple and has since been inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. http://www.canadianhorseracinghalloffame.com/standardbred/1985/Tacony.html
In 1854, the City of Philadelphia consolidated the surrounding county into the city and Tacony became one of its neighborhoods. Philadelphia thus became the only municipality in the US that is both a city and a county.
Three vessels named "Tacony" saw naval duty, one of them for the South during the Civil War. In 1863, Confederate forces captured the merchant vessel Tacony and used it as a stealth raider, CSS Tacony
CSS Tacony
CSS Tacony was originally a bark captured by the Confederate cruiser CSS Clarence during the American Civil War and converted into a Confederate cruiser for commerce raiding.The CSS Clarence, commanded by Lt. Charles W...
, to capture 15 additional ships. It was burned when the crew upgraded to a larger vessel. A 2004 book, "Seawolf of the Confederacy," chronicles its exploits. Also in 1863, a gunboat named Tacony, built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, was commissioned and saw blockade duty against the South. During World War I, a sizeable yacht owned by industrialist Jacob Disston was donated to the government for the length of the war. It was refitted, armed, and assigned to coastal patrol duty as USS Tacony
USS Tacony
USS Tacony is a name used more than once by the United States Navy, and may refer to:* USS Tacony , a gunboat in commission from 1864 to 1867 which saw action during the American Civil War...
. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-t/sp5.htm
In 1871, the Philadelphia and Trenton’s right-of-way was purchased by the mammoth Pennsylvania Railroad and became the most important connection in that system, the Philadelphia-to-New York section of today's Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...
.
Disston moves to Tacony
In 1872, industrialist Henry DisstonHenry Disston
Henry Disston was an English American industrialist who founded the Keystone Saw Works in 1840 and developed the surrounding neighborhood of Tacony in Philadelphia, beginning in 1872. He was the father of industrialist Hamilton Disston.-Early life and rise to prominence:Disston was born in...
, seeing, among other things, easy access to river and railroad, purchased 390 acres (1.6 km²) in Tacony and moved his growing saw and file manufactory there from cramped quarters in Kensington. (Henry's brother had earlier purchased vacation property from the Land Association.) This historic company became the largest of its kind in the world for a century, employing up to 5,000 workers at one time. A Time Magazine article claimed in 1940 that 75 percent of the handsaws sold in the U.S. were Disston.
West of the railroad, Disston built a paternalistic industrial village which has been the subject of books, academic studies, and Papal and government recognition. Mr. Disston is still regarded with reverence in the community and his image figures prominently on a large community mural. http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/tacony/disston.html
Tacony thrived during the industrial age as national and international firms opened branches there. The Tacony Iron Company manufactured the dome of Philadelphia’s historic City Hall and the massive statue of William Penn that it supports. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_City_Hall
In 1894, Frank Shuman, inventor of wire glass and a pioneer in solar power twice featured on the cover of Scientific American, built a large inventor's compound on Disston Street and there built the first solar-powered steam engine. From experiments conducted there, he later developed solar-powered steam turbines to irrigate land in Egypt. http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/tacony/shuman.html
Carnegie Library
The Tacony Library opened November 27, 1906. The land was a gift of the Disston Family, and the building was a gift of Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
.
Tacony Palmyra Bridge
The Tacony-Palmyra BridgeTacony-Palmyra Bridge
The Tacony–Palmyra Bridge is a combination steel arch, double-leaf bascule bridge across the Delaware River, connecting New Jersey Route 73 in Palmyra, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Route 73 in the Tacony section of Philadelphia. The bridge has a total length of 3,659 feet and spans 2,324 feet . It...
, one of only two Delaware River spans connecting New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
with northeast Philadelphia (the other being the Betsy Ross Bridge
Betsy Ross Bridge
The Betsy Ross Bridge is a continuous truss bridge spanning the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Pennsauken, New Jersey. It was originally planned as the Delair Bridge, after a paralleling vertical lift bridge owned by Pennsylvania Railroad , but was instead named for Betsy Ross, reputed creator...
further downstream), has its Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
terminus in Tacony. The bridge, which carries Pennsylvania Route 73
Pennsylvania Route 73
Pennsylvania Route 73 is a 62.51 miles long east–west state highway in southeastern Pennsylvania. It runs from Pennsylvania Route 61 in Leesport to the New Jersey state line on the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge in Philadelphia, where it continues as New Jersey Route 73.Predating the Interstate...
, connects with New Jersey Route 73 in Palmyra, New Jersey
Palmyra, New Jersey
Palmyra is a Borough in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the borough population was 7,091.Palmyra was originally incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 19, 1894, from portions of Cinnaminson Township and Riverton...
. It opened in 1929, eliminating the need for ferries, used on that route since 1922.
Notable people
After Henry Disston's death in 1878, his wife, Mary Steelman Disston, and their son, Hamilton DisstonHamilton Disston
Hamilton Disston , was an industrialist and real-estate developer who purchased four million acres of Florida land in 1881, an area larger than the state of Connecticut, and reportedly the most land ever purchased by a single person in world history...
, a Philadelphia politician, Fairmount Park commissioner, and early developer of Florida, carried on Henry's paternalistic vision for Tacony.
William H. Gatzmer, b. 1808, president of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, who brought the railroad's southern terminus to Tacony. Gatzmer and others formed the Tacony Land Association, mentioned above. He lived in a riverfront home just north of the Buena Vista Station, on land that would later become Warner Cement's property.
Frank Shuman, world renowned for his invention of wire glass and his development of solar power, lived and experimented in Tacony, 1895-1918.
Eight Tacony residents died in the Vietnam War:
- Pvt. William H. Carpenter, Jr., USMC
- Cpl. Clement J. Grassi, USMC
- Lance Cpl. James P. Harkanson, USMC
- Lance Cpl. Robert A. Ryan, USMC
- Cpl. Donald J. Hertrich, USA
- Maj. Rev. Aloysius P. McGonigal, USA
- Sgt. Edward F. Zackowski, USA
- Staff Sgt. Bernard F. Kissel, USAF
Al Schmid
Al Schmid
Al Schmid was born on 20 October 1920, as Albert Andrew Schmid in Burholme, Pennsylvania. Schmid was a United States Marine who was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions at the Battle of the Tenaru during the Battle of Guadalcanal...
, hero of the US Marine Corps and WWII recipient of the Navy Cross, played by John Garfield in the 1945 movie, "Pride Of The Marines," lived at 6508 Tulip Street.
Joseph C. "Goople" McCloskey, 1920-1990, athlete, Philadelphia Police Officer, a founding officer of the Philadelphia Police Athletic League, mentored thousands of Tacony youth over 4 decades through PAL sports programs. Tacony residents are currently raising money for a sculpture in his honor.
http://www.goople27thpal.com/
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Joe-Gooples-McCloskey-Memorial/130177213705473
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C._%22Goople%22_McCloskey
Frank Legacki
Frank Legacki
Frank Legacki, Jr. is a former championship swimmer. He won two individual, one relay and two team NCAA swimming championships between 1959 and 1961 and set American records in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly...
, who won 5 NCAA swimming championships while competing for the University of Michigan, and who went on to a distinguished business career, grew up at 6600 Glenloch Street.
Harry Silcox, 1932-2009, athlete; star basketballer for Temple University; author of books and academic studies on Tacony, the Disston company and family, Philadelphia politics, Black studies, and other topics; principal for decades of Northeast Philadelphia's Abraham Lincoln High School.
Street Names
Disston Street - for Disston's saw works.James Street - named for James Buckalew, P&T RR and Land Association investor, who also named Jamesburg, NJ, along the P&TRR line.
Keystone Street - for Henry Disston and Sons' Keystone Saw and File Works
Marsden Street - for Disston's smelter, Jonathan Marsden, who lived in a house that still stands, n/e corner Longshore and Keystone.
Princeton Avenue - named by General Cook, P&TRR and Tacony Land Association investor, who hailed from Princeton, NJ
Longshore Street - ran to James Longshore's farm, west of Frankford Avenue
Tacony Eagles
Tacony has a minor league football team called the Tacony Eagles. The Tacony Eagles were incorporated as a team on February 13, 2008. The team's home field is at American Legion Playground located at Robbins Street & Torresdale Avenue.External links
- http://historictacony.blogspot.com/
- AOH Division 39 Philly
- Tacony Civic Association
- http://www.saintleos65.com/
- Tacony Historical Society
- Tacony Town Watch
- Tacony Eagles
- Big North East Football Federation
- Historic Photographs of Tacony