In Philadelphia's earliest years, Sharswood had not yet developed as a neighborhood and was part of a larger area of farmland known as the Penn District. Sharswood gets its name from
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania justice
George Sharswood, who once lived in the area. The area was first developed in the 19th century as a
streetcar suburb and a home for Irish and German brewery workers who found employment along the banks of the Schuylkill River. The west side of Sharswood was once known as Engelside, because of the Bergner & Engel brewery at 32nd and Thompson Street. A number of notable African-American artists lived in Sharswood, including
James B. Davis of
The Dixie Hummingbirds and
Dox Thrash. Many more artists including
Charlie Parker,
John Coltrane and
Odean Pope frequented the area around Ridge and Columbia Avenue, known for its jazz clubs and nightlife, when visiting or touring in Philadelphia. The
Negro Motorist Green Book recommended a number of hotels, restaurants and other establishments in the neighborhood. Sharswood was
racially segregated from surrounding white neighborhoods, and it was dangerous for Black residents of Sharswood to travel to neighborhoods like
Swampoodle, north of Lehigh Ave, and
Fairmount, south of Girard Ave. According to J.M. Brewer's 1934 map of Philadelphia and another map produced by the federal government's
Home Owners' Loan Corporation, Sharswood was
redlined. According to the area description form that accompanies the 1937 HOLC map of Philadelphia, Sharswood and its adjacent neighborhoods were populated primarily by laborers and mechanics making an average of $900 to $1800 annually ($19,190 to $38,381 in 2023 dollars), with a high number of families on
public assistance and a
homeownership rate below 10%. Longtime residents say that lawyers, doctors and teachers also lived in the neighborhood.
Roberts Vaux Junior High School was built in the neighborhood between 1936 and 1938.
Malcolm X briefly lived and worked at a house on the corner of 25th and W Oxford Street for about 6 months in 1954, while serving as the
Nation of Islam's minister for Temple 12, located at 1643 North Bailey Street. The
1964 Columbia Avenue Riot began just north of Sharswood, and spilled over into the neighborhood, devastating local businesses, exacerbating racial tensions and accelerating
white flight. In 1967, construction on the
Norman Blumberg Apartments was completed between 24th and 22nd, Jefferson, and W Oxford Streets. In 1968, the
People's Neighborhood Medical Center opened on 1410 North 24th Street to provide low cost preventative healthcare to low income residents of North Philadelphia. The medical center was founded by
Charles P. Vaclavik, a
Quaker doctor from
Uniontown, Pennsylvania. In the early 1970s, the medical center expanded and employed multiple doctors as well as a dentist. It attracted government funding through the
Model Cities Program, as well as other grants. Under Vaclavik's leadership, the medical center took an active role in the community and advocated for addressing the
social determinants of health in addition to the practice of medicine. In the later half of the 20th century, the neighborhood suffered from population decline,
deindustrialization and disinvestment, becoming one of the poorest neighborhoods in Philadelphia with a high rate of
vacancy and
violent crime. Between 1977 and 1983, Vaux Junior High's
chess team, the Bad Bishops, won an unprecedented seven consecutive national junior high school chess championships. In 1979, the team was invited to the
White House and attended an international competition in
Yugoslavia. Incomes in the neighborhood stagnated during the 20th century. In 1999, Sharswood had a median income of $18,773 ($34,599.45 in 2023 dollars). The closure of Vaux Junior High School was initially meant to be temporary, but plans to reopen it as a public school were scrapped. == Sharswood-Blumberg Neighborhood Transformation Plan ==