Black Bottom

Black Bottom was a predominantly African American neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was razed for urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. Situated in West Philadelphia generally north and east of 40th and Chestnut Streets, on the northern edge of the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, the Black Bottom was a portion of Hamilton Village nicknamed for its racial and economic status (wealthier, white residents lived at the "top", in areas farther west.) In the decades preceding Philadelphia's consolidation in 1854, the area was home to taverns and businesses catering largely to the stagecoach and cattle droving trades. After the Civil War, it developed into one of West Philadelphia's affluent streetcar suburbs. The...