Top: View of North Marshall Street, looking north from Poplar Street; Bottom: Pushcarts mural on 900 block of N.  Marshall Street, between Poplar and Girard

What’s in a name??  Today, my old neighborhood is considered a part of Northern Liberties, but when I lived on the 900 block of North Marshall Street, the boundary of Northern Liberties was from Front and Girard west to 6th Street and south to Spring Garden Street. We never knew what our area was called. North Central Philadelphia was an easy answer.  In doing research at the Library Company of Philadelphia, I found a map that listed a small area from 6th Street to Broad as Penn’s Land.  Did that make it different from Penn’s Woods which is the meaning of Pennsylvania?

The redevelopment of Northern Liberties is amazing. Take a ride down 2nd Street, a veritable throughway to Center City from Cheltenham Avenue at the far northern end of the city, to see the changes. Beginning at Girard Avenue, is the Piazza at Schmidt’s where the old Brewery stood. Condos and glass buildings sit on either side of the street. The place is busy with eateries and neighborhood stores all the way to Spring Garden Street.  New restaurants pop up along Girard Avenue towards 5th Street. Real estate on 6th Street is listed with prices unimaginable two years ago. Has the upturn reached Marshall Street, 7th Street, and further west towards Broad Street? Not yet.

Wouldn’t it be terrific to have Marshall Street finally become the central “off -street-parking” shopping area that it was deemed to be in the 1950s when the Redevelopment Authority designated it as part of the East Poplar slum area?  The neighborhood beginning at Marshall and Poplar and continuing west now looks like a well-kept residential Philadelphia place. Houses have trees and small gardens. Where do those neighbors shop? Should they drive to 2nd and Girard where eventually supermarkets will be part of the Schmidt’s Brewery area? Why not give Marshall Street a chance to also be redeveloped as a thriving city market for the surrounding neighborhoods?  The possibilities are endless. As a walkable street, it can be a place where ethnic and local foods can be sold; a place for street fairs, local organizations, and, yes, places for people to live in the Greater Northern Liberties.

Elaine Krasnow Ellison was born on Marshall Street and lived there until her marriage.  She is author of over 80 books, including Voices From Marshall Street: Jewish Life in a Philadelphia Neighborhood 1920-1960 (co-authored with Elaine Jaffe). She is a community advisor and a member of the PhilaPlace advisory committee. You can read her account of growing up on Marshall Street, “Life in a Bazaar,” at philaplace.org.

Max Krasnow selling yard goods outside his shop at 977 North Marshall Street. Courtesy Elaine Ellison.

Neighborhood boys standing in front of the Cambridge Dress Shop, 988 N. Marshall Street. Courtesy Elaine Ellison.

A. L. Klein clothing store, 922 North Marshall Street, 1975. Photo by Irv Orenstein.

Man in front of shoe store, North Marsall Street, 1975.  Photo by Irv Orenstein.

Boy on North Marshall Street, 1975. Photo by Irv Orenstein.

For more  Marshall Street photographs and to add your own story, visit PhilaPlace.org