New York City is famous for its Puerto Rican population and although Philadelphia doesn’t come near to matching it, the city boasts its own district in Kensington. Of course, not all of the area’s residents have a Puerto Rican heritage, but the Hispanic population is well represented there. Kensington’s decline with the fall of Philadelphia’s industrial sector did not leave the area in great shape, and immigrants have found their own problems adjusting to the city.

But, as a testament to their compañerismo, organizations like the Spanish Merchants Association have sprung up to help them out. The Association began by helping businessmen, but quickly expanded to offer private programs to help the community. The SMA closed its doors in 1986, but it inspired other groups, like the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises (HACE), to take its place.

The Historical Society has its full records, so you can drop by and take a look at its legacy for yourself.

Philadelphia and the surrounding area have boasted a lot of firsts in America, for better and for worse. Among the worse is the first kidnapping for ransom in the nation. In 1874, less than two years before Philadelphia hosted America’s Centennial celebration, two men drove a carriage up Washington Lane, Germantown, hoping to find the children of a wealthy resident for their ransom. They found Charley and Walter Ross, five and four years old, respectively, and lured them into their carriage with candy.

The kidnappers let Walter go after he started crying, but they demanded a $20,000 ransom for Charley. The twenty-three letters that the kidnappers sent fueled the story nationwide. A line from the first letter inspired the title of Carrie Hagen’s We is Got Him, which follows the story of the Ross kidnapping. The Philadelphia Inquirer published a review of Hagen’s book this past Sunday, but courtesy of Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods, PhilaPlace has an interview with the author.

Although it’s certainly not one of Philadelphia’s happier stories, it is one of its more interesting ones and it’s worth a read. And remember, don’t take candy from strangers.

There’s been a lot of talk about the end of the world this year. Harold Camping predicted that the rapture would come on May 21, but now that we’ve dodged that bullet, we’ve been warned to be ready for October. And, of course, 2012 is just after that. The end of the world, it seems, is just around the corner.

Rest assured, this isn’t the first time that the world was supposed to end, and it probably won’t be the last. The great American tradition of predicting the end actually began here in Philadelphia with Johannes Kelpius and the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness.

Johannes Kelpius, as depicted in America's first portrait, held at the Historical Society

The group of forty devotees first came together in Germany around 1690 and expected the millennium to begin in 1694. They set sail for Philadelphia and, after a perilous journey (Kelpius believed the Flying Dutchman passed their ship), settled in the woods along the Wissahickon River to wait for the return of Jesus. Though they never saw Jesus, they did have an encounter with an angel in their time and those in Germantown believed that Kelpius possessed the legendary Philosopher’s Stone, now supposedly lost in the Wissahickon.

Aside from their mysticism, they left a more tangible impact on those they met and helped their Germantown neighbors with education, medicine, and more, including the first hymnal written in America.

But, again, there is no shortage of doomsayers. The Historical Society’s That’s History program on WHYY addressed another group, the Millerites, earlier this summer. You can listen to that show here and prepare yourself for the next big prediction. For more That’s History, tune into WHYY FM at 6:00 on Spetember 13th, and every other Tuesday after that. And, of course, be sure to keep up on your PhilaPlace while there’s still time!