Hagan Arena
The Michael J. Hagan Arena of Saint Joseph's University is SJU's home court for Men's and Women's basketball; the new arena seats 4,200, 1,000 more than the Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse seated. The renovation adds a concourse, larger offices and locker rooms, a Hall of Fame room, study rooms, basketball center, practice facilities. 700 seats were added to the student section which puts the total at 1,700 and makes this part of the arena more intimidating for opposing teams. Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse was a 3,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Pennsylvania; the arena, home to the Saint Joseph's University Hawks basketball opened in 1949 and was inaugurated on November 26 with a loss to the University of Rhode Island. The first women's varsity home game was a loss to Immaculata University on January 17, 1974; the building was dedicated to all college soldier-heroes on its dedication day, Veterans Day 1949. In addition to serving as an arena for the basketball teams, Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse contains locker rooms for students and other varsity teams, an additional recreation room, squash courts, a swimming pool, a weight room.
On October 26, 1967, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to 3,400 people in the Fieldhouse. Today, a bronze plaque in the lobby recognizes his visit; the Hawks won 34 consecutive games in Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse from the late 1950s through the early 1960s. In the mid-1970s and'90s, the Fieldhouse served as the practice home for the Philadelphia 76ers. There were over 125 sellouts over the last 15 years the Fieldhouse was open; the final game at the Fieldhouse was a win over #8 ranked Xavier University on March 5, 2008. The sell-out crowd included Hawk legends Jameer Nelson and Jack Ramsay. During the 2007 season, it was announced that the Fieldhouse would be closed and transformed with a $25 million renovation project to provide a 21st-century facility for the growing campus; the final game at the Fieldhouse was a win over #8 ranked Xavier University on March 5, 2008. The sellout crowd included Hawk legends Jack Ramsay. During renovations, the Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball team played its home games at the Palestra on the University of Pennsylvania's campus, while the women played on the campus of Philadelphia University.
The Fieldhouse underwent extensive renovations and additions, with many sections of the building being razed for expansion purposes. Work began in the Fall of 2007; the final product of the project added 1,000 seats to the arena, as well as the addition of a new basketball center, concourse and lobby on 54th and Overbrook and concessions. The arena was named after Michael Hagan, a 1985 graduate of Saint Joseph's and Washington Crossing resident who donated $10 million toward the project; the renovation is part of a larger project called With Faith and Strength To Dare: The Campaign For Saint Joseph's University. The Hagan includes the Ramsay Basketball Center, named after legendary coach Jack Ramsay, a two-story, 20,000-square-foot wing with locker rooms, study space, conference rooms, a Hall of Fame room; the first game at Hagan was a win against Drexel University and the Hawks went 8-4 in the first season at Hagan. Ludacris Jay Sean LMFAO Keri Hilson Nappy Roots Mike Posner Chingy Lupe Fiasco Macklemore Mac Miller Avenged Sevenfold Volbeat The Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Four Seasons List of NCAA Division I basketball arenas
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle; the Commonwealth is bordered by Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to the northwest, New York to the north, New Jersey to the east. Pennsylvania is the 33rd-largest state by area, the 6th-most populous state according to the most recent official U. S. Census count in 2010, it is the 9th-most densely populated of the 50 states. Pennsylvania's two most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh; the state capital and its 10th largest city is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of waterfront along the Delaware Estuary; the state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden.
It was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12, 1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the state's largest city of Philadelphia. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washington's headquarters during the bitter winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west. Of a total 46,055 square miles, 44,817 square miles are land, 490 square miles are inland waters, 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie, it is the 33rd-largest state in the United States. Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Of the original Thirteen Colonies, Pennsylvania is the only state that does not border the Atlantic Ocean; the boundaries of the state are the Mason–Dixon line to the south, the Twelve-Mile Circle on the Pennsylvania-Delaware border, the Delaware River to the east, 80° 31' W to the west and the 42° N to the north, with the exception of a short segment on the western end, where a triangle extends north to Lake Erie.
Cities include Philadelphia, Reading and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown and Easton in the central east. The northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest. State College serves the central region while Williamsport serves the commonwealth's north-central region as does Chambersburg the south-central region, with York and the state capital Harrisburg on the Susquehanna River in the east-central region of the Commonwealth and Altoona and Johnstown in the west-central region; the state has five geographical regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Erie Plain. New York Ontario Maryland Delaware West Virginia New Jersey Ohio Pennsylvania's diverse topography produces a variety of climates, though the entire state experiences cold winters and humid summers. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the southeastern corner, has a humid continental climate.
The southern portion of the state has a humid subtropical climate. The largest city, has some characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware and Maryland to the south. Summers are hot and humid. Moving toward the mountainous interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increases, snowfall amounts are greater. Western areas of the state locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the entire state receives plentiful precipitation throughout the year; the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, such as 30 recorded tornadoes in 2011; as of 1600, the tribes living in Pennsylvania were the Algonquian Lenape, the Iroquoian Susquehannock & Petun and the Siouan Monongahela Culture, who may have been the same as a little known tribe called the Calicua, or Cali. Other tribes who entered the region during the colonial era were the Trockwae, Saponi, Nanticoke, Conoy Piscataway, Iroquois Confederacy—possibly among others.
Other tribes, like the Erie, may have once held some land in Pennsylvania, but no longer did so by the year 1600. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their colonial lands in America; the Dutch were the first to take possession. By June 3, 1631, the Dutch had begun settling the Delmarva Peninsula by establishing the Zwaanendael Colony on the site of present-day Lewes, Delaware. In 1638, Sweden established the New Sweden Colony, in the region of Fort Christina, on the site of present-day Wilmington, Delaware. New Sweden claimed and, for the most part, controlled the lower Delaware River region (parts of present-day Delaware, New Jersey, Pe
Penn Quakers
The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports; the school has won three NCAA national championships in one in women's fencing. Mark DeRosa played varsity baseball for the Penn Quakers from 1994 to 1996; the football team has competed since 1876. It has won eighteen national championships when the school competed in what is now known as the FBS. Since the formation of the Ivy League in 1956, Penn has won 17 Ivy League Football Championships.. Penn has been undefeated 8 times. Eighteen former players have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In addition to the varsity squad, the Penn Quakers are a charter member of the Collegiate Sprint Football League, having played the sport since 1934. Before the NCAA began its tournament in 1959, the annual national champion was declared by the Intercollegiate Association Football League — from 1911 to 1926 — and the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association, from 1927 to 1958.
From 1911 to 1958, Penn won ten national championships. The Penn men's swimming team was founded in 1894, they have won the Ivy League championships five times: in 1940. Penn's competes at Sheerr Pool in the Pottruck fitness facility. Penn Quaker Wrestling dates back to 1905, where the first intercollegiate wrestling championship was held in Weightman Hall Gym located on University of Penn campus. Princeton and Columbia joined Penn in founding the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, which the team competes in. Coached by Hall of Fame coach and Penn alumnus Roger Reina C'84; the Penn Quaker Wrestling team competes in the historic Palestra Arena. Penn has won the Ivy League title in 2001, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2017. Penn has 4 NCAA team national championships. Men's Fencing: 1953, 1969, 1981 Women's Fencing: 1986 See also: Ivy League NCAA team championships List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships Olympic Boycott Games – held at the University of Pennsylvania Penn Relays The Red and the Blue Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Sports in Philadelphia#Collegiate sports National Collegiate Athletic Association#Football television controversy
Wrestling
Wrestling is a combat sport involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting and takedowns, joint locks and other grappling holds. The sport can either be genuinely competitive. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position. There are a wide range of styles with varying rules with both traditional historic and modern styles. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into other martial arts as well as military hand-to-hand combat systems; the term wrestling is attested as wræstlunge. Wrestling represents one of the oldest forms of combat; the origins of wrestling go back 15,000 years through cave drawings. Babylonian and Egyptian reliefs show wrestlers using most of the holds known in the present-day sport. Literary references to it occur as early as the ancient Indian Vedas. In the Book of Genesis, the Patriarch Jacob is said to have wrestled with an angel; the Iliad, in which Homer recounts the Trojan War of the 13th or 12th century BC contains mentions of wrestling.
Indian epics Mahabharata contain references to martial arts including wrestling. In ancient Greece wrestling occupied a prominent place in literature; the ancient Romans borrowed from Greek wrestling, but eliminated much of its brutality. During the Middle Ages wrestling remained popular and enjoyed the patronage of many royal families, including those of France and England. Early British settlers in America brought a strong wrestling tradition with them; the settlers found wrestling to be popular among Native Americans. Amateur wrestling flourished throughout the early years of the North American colonies and served as a popular activity at country fairs, holiday celebrations, in military exercises; the first organized national wrestling tournament took place in New York City in 1888. Wrestling has been an event at every modern Olympic Games since the 1904 games in St. Louis, Missouri; the international governing body for the sport, United World Wrestling, was established in 1912 in Antwerp, Belgium as the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles.
The 1st NCAA Wrestling Championships were held in 1912, in Ames, Iowa. USA Wrestling, located in Colorado Springs, became the national governing body of U. S. amateur wrestling in 1983. Some of the earliest references to wrestling can be found in wrestling mythology; the Epic of Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh established his credibility as a leader, after wrestling Enkidu. Greek mythology celebrates the rise of Zeus as ruler of the earth after a wrestling match with his father, Cronus. Both Heracles and Theseus were famous for their wrestling against beast; the Mahabharata describes a malla-dwandwa between the accomplished wrestlers Jarasandha. Rustam of the Shahnameh is regarded by Iranian pahlevans as the greatest wrestler. In Pharaonic Egypt, wrestling has been evidenced by documentation on Egyptian artwork. Greek wrestling was a popular form of martial art, at least in Ancient Greece. Oil wrestling is the national sport of Turkey and it can be traced back to Central Asia. After the Roman conquest of the Greeks, Greek wrestling was absorbed by the Roman culture and became Roman wrestling during the period of the Roman Empire.
Shuai jiao, a wrestling style originating in China, which according to legend, has a reported history of over 4,000 years. Arabic literature depicted Muhammad as a skilled wrestler, defeating a skeptic in a match at one point; the Byzantine emperor Basil I, according to court historians, won in wrestling against a boastful wrestler from Bulgaria in the eighth century. In 1520 at the Field of the Cloth of Gold pageant, Francis I of France threw fellow king Henry VIII of England in a wrestling match; the Lancashire style of folk wrestling may have formed the basis for Catch wrestling known as "catch as catch can." The Scots formed a variant of this style, the Irish developed the "collar-and-elbow" style which found its way into the United States. A Frenchman "is credited with reorganizing European loose wrestling into a professional sport", Greco-Roman wrestling; this style, finalized by the 19th century and by wrestling was featured in many fairs and festivals in Europe. Greco-Roman wrestling and contemporary freestyle wrestling were soon regulated in formal competitions, in part resulting from the rise of gymnasiums and athletic clubs.
On continental Europe, prize money was offered in large sums to the winners of Greco-Roman tournaments, freestyle wrestling spread in the United Kingdom and in the United States after the American Civil War. Wrestling professionals soon increased the popularity of Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling became an event at the first modern Olympic games, in Athens in 1896. Since 1908, the event has been in every Summer Olympics. Freestyle wrestling became an Olympic event, in 1904. Women's freestyle wrestling was added to the Summer Olympics in 2004. Since 1921, United World Wrestling has regulated amateur wrestling as an athletic discipline, while professional wrestling has become infused with theatrics but still requires athletic ability. Today, various countries send national wrestling teams to the Olympics, including Russi
Spectrum (arena)
The Spectrum was an indoor arena in Philadelphia, United States. Opened in the fall of 1967 as part of what is now known as the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, after several expansions of its seating capacity it accommodated 18,168 for basketball and 17,380 for ice hockey, arena football, indoor soccer, box lacrosse; the last event at the Spectrum was a Pearl Jam concert on October 31, 2009. The arena was demolished between November 2010 and May 2011. Opened as the Spectrum in fall 1967, Philadelphia's first modern indoor sports arena was built to be the home of the expansion Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, to accommodate the existing Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA; the building was the second major sports facility built at the south end of Broad Street in an area known as East League Island Park and now referred to as the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Ground was broken on the arena on June 1, 1966, by Jerry Wolman and then-Philadelphia Mayor James Tate as the home of the NHL's expansion Philadelphia Flyers.
The first event at the arena was the Quaker City Jazz Festival on September 30, 1967, produced by Larry Magid. The first sporting event at the arena was an October 17, 1967 boxing match featuring Joe Frazier vs. Tony Doyle. From 1967 through 1972, fifteen fight cards were held at the Spectrum; the NBA's 76ers moved there from Convention Hall as a second major league sports tenant. Lou Scheinfeld, former President of the Spectrum, explained that the name "Spectrum" was selected to evoke the broad range of events to be held there. "The'SP' for'sports' and'South Philadelphia,"E' for'entertainment,"C' for'circuses,"T' for'theatricals,"R' for'recreation,' and'UM' as'um, what a nice building!" Scheinfeld said that a seat in the city's first superbox cost $1,000 a year: "For every Flyers game, Sixers game, you name it, you got 250 events for $1,000." The Flyers won their first home game in this arena by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1–0. Bill Sutherland scored the arena's first goal. On March 1, 1968, wind blew part of the covering off the Spectrum's roof during a performance of the Ice Capades, forcing the building to close for a month while Mayor Tate fought with then-Philadelphia County District Attorney Arlen Specter over responsibility for the construction of the roof, the damage was repaired.
The 76ers moved their home games to Convention Hall and to the Palestra, but neither of those arenas had ice rinks at the time, there were no other NHL-quality sites in the Philadelphia area. Thus the Flyers hurriedly moved their next home game to Madison Square Garden in New York followed by a meeting with the Boston Bruins played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto before establishing a base at Le Colisée in Quebec City, home of their top minor league team, the AHL Quebec Aces, for the remainder of their regular season, marking the first NHL games in Quebec City in over four decades, years before the Quebec Nordiques joined the NHL. In 1993, the Flyers played a day game against the Los Angeles Kings during a blizzard. A piece of flying debris smashed out one of the concourse windows, cancelling the game just after the first period. In the 1970s, the venue's location on Broad Street and the reputation for fisticuffs that the Flyers had developed led to the nickname "Broad Street Bullies." A plaque inside The Spectrum stated that it held the world record for the fastest conversion from Hockey to Basketball.
The Spectrum, along with the Met Center and The Forum, was one of the first sports arenas to have a scoreboard with a messageboard. Furthermore, the messageboards on the Spectrum scoreboard were the first dot matrix screens in pro hockey or basketball, capable of photos and replays as well as messages; this was replaced in 1986 with ArenaVision, which consisted of six 9-by-12-foot rear-projection videoscreens at the top and a four-sided American Sign and Indicator scoreboard at the bottom. Inside the videoscreens were General Electric projectors located 15 feet away from each screen; the Flyers won their first Stanley Cup at the Spectrum on May 19, 1974, defeating the Boston Bruins, 1–0, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals in front of a then-capacity crowd of 17,007. The most important and emotional hockey game—or sporting event of any kind—ever held there, came at the height of the Cold War on January 11, 1976, when the Flyers became the first NHL team to defeat the vaunted hockey team of the Soviet Central Red Army.
Two games in the inaugural Canada Cup hockey tournament were held at the Spectrum in September of that year, as the U. S. took on Czechoslovakia and the USSR. Ten NHL or NBA playoff championship series were hosted at the Spectrum; the Flyers competed in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987. The 76ers played in the NBA Finals in 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983; the 1976 and 1992 NHL, 1970 and 1976 NBA All-Star Games were held here. The AHL Phantoms won their first Calder Cup title on Spectrum ice before a sellout crowd of 17,380 on June 10, 1998, by defeating the Saint John Flames, 6–1; the Spectrum is the only venue to host the NBA and NHL All-Star Games in the same season, doing so in 1976, when it hosted that year's Final Four. It is one of a handful of venues to host the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals at the same time, doing so in 1980 (all four major Philadelphia teams would reach the championship r
Franklin Field
Franklin Field is the home of the Penn Relays, is the University of Pennsylvania's stadium for football and field, lacrosse and for soccer, field hockey and baseball. It is used by Penn students for recreation, for intramural and club sports, including touch football and cricket, is the site of Penn's graduation exercises, weather permitting. Franklin Field is located in Philadelphia, at the eastern edge of Penn's campus, across the Schuylkill River from Center City. Deemed by the NCAA as the oldest stadium still operating for football, it was the site of the nation's first scoreboard in 1895, the nation's first stadium with an upper deck of seats in 1922, was the site of the first radio broadcast of a football game in 1922 on WIP and the first television broadcast of a football game by Philco. From 1958 until 1970, the stadium was the home field of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. Franklin Field was built for US$100,000 and dedicated on April 20, 1895, for the first running of the Penn Relays.
The Field supplemented and replaced the venue called University Grounds, located a few blocks west on a block bounded by Spruce Street, 38th Street, Pine Street, Woodland Avenue and 37th Street T-intersection. Its location was given as "37th and Spruce". Permanent Franklin Field construction did not begin until after the turn of the century. Weightman Hall gymnasium, the stadium, permanent grandstands were designed by architect Frank Miles Day & Brother and were erected from 1903 to 1905 at a cost of US$500,000; the field was 443 feet wide. The site featured a ¼-mile track, a football field, a baseball diamond. Beneath the stands were indoor tracks and indoor training facilities. In 1916, university officials, led by George Neitzche, planned with the city to build a new 100,000-seat half-sunken stadium for $750,000 at Woodland Ravine, a depression on the southeastern side of Woodland Cemetery. Plans called for a new train station called Union Station which would feature a Pennsylvania Railroad stop and a stop on a proposed elevated subway line connected to the Market–Frankford Line.
Architecture firm Koronski & Cameron created a rendering but plans collapsed. Five years it was decided instead to expand Franklin Field; the current stadium structure was built in the 1920s, designed by Day & Klauder, after the original wooden bleachers were torn down. The lower tier was erected in 1922; the old wood stands were razed following the Penn Relays and the new concrete lower tier and seating for 50,000 were built. The second tier was added in 1925, again designed by Day & Klauder, when it became the second two-tiered stadium in the United States; the first football radio broadcast originated from Franklin Field in 1922. It was carried by Philadelphia station WIP; this claim is pre-empted by an earlier live radio broadcast emanating from Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, on October 8, 1921, a full year before Franklin Field's claim to fame. Harold W. Arlin announced the live broadcast of the Pitt-West Virginia football game on October 8, 1921, on radio station KDKA; the first commercial football television broadcast in 1939 came from Franklin Field.
The 1936 Democratic National Convention was concluded at Franklin Field, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his acceptance speech after being renominated for a second term. In the university's football heyday—when Penn led the nation in attendance—the 65,000-seat stadium was expanded each fall with temporary stands to seat 78,000. Today, Franklin Field, named after Penn's founder, Benjamin Franklin, seats 52,958. Franklin Field switched from grass to AstroTurf in 1969, it was the first National Football League stadium to use artificial turf. The stadium's fifth AstroTurf surface was installed in 1993; the current Sprinturf field replaced the AstroTurf in 2004. Franklin Field was considered a candidate to host games for the 1994 World Cup. FIFA required. Had Philadelphia been selected and Franklin Field used, the stadium would have had to return to a grass surface, or use a temporary grass field as was done at two World Cup sites—Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.
Franklin Field has hosted the annual Penn Relays Carnival, the largest track-and-field meet in the U. S. for over 100 years. The first Penn Relays was held in 1895. Frank B. Ellis, chairman of Penn's track committee, was looking for an event to mark the dedication of the school's new stadium, Franklin Field. Two years earlier, during his senior year at Penn and Princeton competed in a one-mile relay race in which four runners from each school each ran a quarter of a mile; that race had been an outgrowth of intramural relay races held at Penn. Ellis and others arranged a series of relay races to take place on Saturday afternoon, April 20, 1895. 64 competitors from eight colleges, six prep schools and two high schools took part. Eight two-team races were run with Harvard beating Penn in the mile-relay feature in 3:34.4. The Relays were featured in the April 1961, premiere of ABC's Wide World of Sports; the 2nd USSR-United States Track and Field dual meet was held at Franklin Field on July 18 and 19, 1959.
Stars who competed included Parry O'Brien, Ray Norton, Al Cantello, Hayes Jones, Tamara Press, Vasili Kuznetsov, Dyrol Burleson, Greg Bell, a young Wilma Rudolph, future long-jump great Igor Ter-Ovanesyan. Franklin Field hosted the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in June 1961, the first time the championship was held on the East Coast. Seven records were set, the Universi
University City, Philadelphia
University City is a contested name for the easternmost region of West Philadelphia and signifies a neighborhood of Philadelphia encompassing several universities. It is the easternmost part of West Philadelphia, situated directly across the Schuylkill River from Center City; the University of Pennsylvania was instrumental in coining the name "University City" as part of a 1950s urban-renewal and gentrification effort. Today, Drexel University and the University of the Sciences call University City home; the eastern side of University City is home to the Penn and Drexel campuses, several medical institutions, independent centers of scientific research, 30th Street Station, Cira Centre, Cira Centre South. The western side contains Victorian and early 20th-century housing stock and is residential; the University City neighborhood consists of 25,783 females. The area population has grown 2.6% from 2000 to 2014 and 0.7% from 2010 to 2014. There are 11,555 blue collar workers; the area is ethnically and economically diverse, although the compositions of its 12 census tracts vary widely.
Before the European colonization of the Americas, this area, along with much of the Atlantic's coast from western Connecticut to Delaware, was part of the home of the Lenape people, known as Lenapehoking. University City, like Philadelphia, thus signify what colonizers and their descendants have renamed the area. In 1677, William Warner purchased 1,500 acres from the local Indian tribe and named it Blockley after his native parish in England. Blockley Township had a poor reputation in the 19th century. "It was an ideal hideout for shadowy characters and evil-doers who crossed the river in skiffs after a thieving or smuggling job south of the city. As late as 1850 it was considered hazardous to be abroad alone in this area." The Blockley Almshouse known as Philadelphia General Hospital, was there. Though Blockley was founded five years before Philadelphia, people soon referred to it as "West Philadelphia". Parts of Blockley were carved out to form the District of West Philadelphia. In 1735, Andrew Hamilton, a "Philadelphia Lawyer", purchased 300 acres in Blockley Township.
The area came to be known as Hamilton Village and The Woodlands, a sprawling botanical garden and mansion, was built there. The gardens is now the Woodlands Cemetery, while much of the rest of Hamilton Village is covered by the 40th Street retail corridor. A small section on the northern side of this area was once known as Greenville. Situated near Lancaster Ave. Powelton Ave. and Market St. Greenville served as a waypoint for travelers and cattle drivers, many taverns and inns were established; the area expanded in all directions with many German immigrants and offered much more than simple taverns. By the mid-20th century, the Greenville area had changed again, to a neighborhood, colloquially referred to as the Black Bottom, signifying the neighborhood's racial and economic status. Much of this neighborhood was destroyed as part of a gentrification plan in the 1960s; the arrival of electrified streetcars in the 1890s kick-started development to the west of 43rd Street, bridges and a tunnel in the first decade of the 20th century allowed people to commute into Center City.
This led to rapid development within the borders of University City and far beyond. It was around this time that the "local" neighborhood names like Spruce Hill and Cedar Park were established. In the mid-1950s, two realtors and Penn graduates coined the name "University City" in an attempt to attract Penn faculty back to the neighborhoods near Penn; the boundaries were defined as extending from the "Schuylkill River to 52nd Street, from Haverford Avenue to the Media-line railroad tracks south of Kingsessing Avenue — though over the years many have viewed it as a smaller domain". This has led to some community tension. University City's boundaries, as defined by the non-profit University City District organization and the City of Philadelphia, are the Schuylkill River to the east. Within these boundaries are the local neighborhoods of Cedar Park, Garden Court, Spruce Hill, Squirrel Hill, Powelton Village, Walnut Hill, Woodland Terrace; the boundaries encompass several historic districts, including the West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb Historic District, the ZIP codes 19104, 19139, 19143.
University City has a history of strained town and gown relations with the University of Pennsylvania, the city's largest private employer and the second-largest private employer in Pennsylvania. During the 1960s, Penn led a series of gentrification and redevelopment programs that have changed the character of the area; some locals call this "Penntrification", suggesting that the efforts benefit only those with a relationship to Penn. Some, including local anarchists, believe. Since Penn's massive investment in community relations over the last 25 years it is now considered a model by institutions worldwide, on how a university can better relate to its surrounding residents and contribute to quality of life and economic development.. Opened in 2001, the Penn Alexander is neighborhood public elementary school which Penn helped to build and subsidizes, it is open to students inside a "catchment" defined by the School District of Philadelph
University City: SEPTA Regional Rail
