Grays Ferry, also known as Gray's Ferry, is a neighborhood

Neighbourhood

A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...

 in South Philadelphia

South Philadelphia

South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west.-History:...

 bounded (roughly) by 25th Street on the east, the Schuylkill River

Schuylkill River

The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...

 on the west, Vare Avenue on the south, and Grays Ferry Avenue on the north. The section of this neighborhood west of 34th Street is also known as The Forgotten Bottom. Grays Ferry shares borders with Southwest Center City

Southwest Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Southwest Center City is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia bordering Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The neighborhood is bordered on the north by South Street, on the south by Washington Avenue, on the west by the Schuylkill River, and by Broad Street on the east...

 to the North, Point Breeze

Point Breeze, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Point Breeze is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is generally bound by 25th Street to the west, Washington Avenue to the north, Broad Street to the east, and Mifflin Street to the south, although the sections between 18th Street and...

 to the East, and Girard Estate

Girard Estate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Girard Estate, also known as Girard Estates, is part of South Philadelphia. Its boundaries stretch from Mifflin Street on the north to the south side of Pollock Street on the south, and from the west side of Broad Street on the east to 22nd Street on the west...

 to the South. Gray’s Ferry is across from where Mill Creek debouch

Debouch

Debouch is a term used in river and stream geography, and the military.-Geography:In fluvial geography, a debouch is a place where a body of water pours forth from a narrow opening...

es at about 43rd street.

History

The area developed because it was an important crossing of the Schuylkill River

Schuylkill River

The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...

, called Mahdee's River. The river is now spanned by several bridges, including the Gray's Ferry Bridge

Gray's Ferry Bridge

The modern Gray's Ferry Bridge is a four-lane divided highway bridge, built in 1976, which carries Grays Ferry Avenue across the Schuylkill River and AMTRAK tracks in the Grays Ferry neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Gray's Ferry:...

 and several rail bridges.

Prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854

Act of Consolidation, 1854

The Act of Consolidation, more formally known as the act of February 2, 1854 , was enacted by General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and approved February 2, 1854 by Governor William Bigler...

, this neighborhood was part of Moyamensing Township

Moyamensing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Moyamensing was originally a township on the fast land of the Neck, lying between Passyunk and Wicaco. It was incorporated into the Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania and is today primarily a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.-History:The...

. Moyamensing was originally chartered by the Dutch governor Alexander d'Hinoyossa, and in 1684, 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...

 confirmed the title.

This neighborhood was once the site of the Schuylkill Arsenal.

In the 18th century, Gray's Ferry was the southernmost of three ferries that crossed the Schuylkill River to Philadelphia. The neighborhood's namesake ferry originally belonged to a Benjamin Chambers in the 17th century. By 1747 George Gray had taken over the ferry, and established the nearby Gray's Inn and Gray's Garden, which were popular in the 1790s.

Demographics

• Black, 56%; White, 39%; Other, 5%.
• More than 30% of the residents are under 18.
• Currently the neighborhood, which represents less than 1% of the city’s population, houses more than 10% of the city’s Section 8
  Section 8 (housing)
  Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 , as repeatedly amended, authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of approximately 3.1 million low-income households...
  
   residents.

Tasker Homes and Greater Grays Ferry Estates

The Tasker Homes (also known as the Tasker Housing Project) were located at 29th and Morris Streets and visible from the Schuylkill Expressway

Schuylkill Expressway

The Schuylkill Expressway , locally known as the Schuylkill, is a freeway through southwestern Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia, and the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania...

. The housing project

Public housing

Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...

 was a site of high-crime and a point of tension for residents in Grays Ferry. Originally, the housing project had 1100 units and followed the city's general model of high-density, low-income housing.

During Mayor John Street

John F. Street

John Franklin Street was the 97th Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. He was first elected to a term beginning on January 3, 2000, and was re-elected to a second term beginning in 2004...

's administration, the Philadelphia Housing Authority

Philadelphia Housing Authority

The Philadelphia Housing Authority is a municipal authority providing Public housing services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.It is the 4th largest housing authority in the United States and is the largest landlord in Pennsylvania.-Board of Commissioners:...

 began a program to remove blighted, high-density, crime-ridden housing projects and replace them with low-density, townhome-style public housing. In 2004, the Tasker Homes were demolished and replaced with the Greater Grays Ferry Estates. The new townhomes have increased tensions between working-class residents and recipients of Section 8 housing

Section 8 (housing)

Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 , as repeatedly amended, authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of approximately 3.1 million low-income households...

 within the neighborhood. The reasons most often cited are memories of the problems with Tasker Homes, as well as the fact that many residents—white and black—do not meet income requirements for the housing.

Racial tension

Over the years the neighborhood has been the scene of numerous instances of racial violence. The Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...

s living in the neighborhood's modest row homes

Terraced house

In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...

 clashed with African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

s living in the demolished Tasker Homes and newly built Greater Grays Ferry Estates‎. (There have been riots and beatings and, sometimes, killings. Tensions peaked in 1997, when Nation of Islam

Nation of Islam

The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...

 leader Louis Farrakhan

Louis Farrakhan

Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. is the leader of the African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam . He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of...

threatened to join marchers to protest racial violence against the Irish.)

As the housing market has boomed in Philadelphia, the neighborhood has begun to see some resurgence. Where the former housing projects intersect with the neighborhood, a group of neighbors have started turning an empty lot into a new park at 30th and Oakford, and the area is beginning to see a trickle of young, gay people overflowing from the nearby Graduate Hospital area.

External links

• Grays Ferry official community website
• Greater Grays Ferry Estates Homeowners Association website
• Official Tasker Housing Project Website - Information on the former Tasker Housing Project from the city of Philadelphia.
• South Philly Review The place where you live: Grays Ferry
• Philadelphia City Paper A Prayer for Grays Ferry
• Grays Ferry Redevelopment Area Plan, from 1968
• Grays Ferry Near Philadelphia, a sketch from 1789.
• Historic Photographs of Grays Ferry, PhillyHistory.org