Mantua, Philadelphia

Mantua Avenue
Neighborhood of Philadelphia
Facing south at the intersection of Mantua Avenue and 34th Street, located at the northern border of Mantua. Directly behind the viewer is a bridge which leads to the Philadelphia Zoo.
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Philadelphia County
City	Philadelphia
ZIP Code	19104
Area code(s)	Area code 215

Mantua is a neighborhood in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located north of Spring Garden Street, east of 40th Street, south of Mantua Avenue, and west of 31st Street. The neighborhood's northern and western reaches are predominantly working-class and African American, although its southern border with Powelton Village has seen recent gentrification and an influx of Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania student renters.

Part of this neighborhood was purchased from the Lenni Lenape Indians in 1677 by William Warner. In 1692, a young Welsh carpenter, William Powel, opened a ferry over the Schuylkill River at the foot of the present Spring Garden Bridge. Lancaster Pike and Haverford Road were the first routes providing access from the west.

Mantua was named in 1809 by Judge Richard Peters, who designed a grid of lots with 36th St. and Haverford Ave. as the center. He named the area for a city in Italy.

Powelton Village, the neighborhood just south of Mantua, was named for the family of William Powell, whose son purchased additional land. By the mid-1880's, Powelton Village was a fashionable area, becoming part of Philadelphia after the Consolidation Act of 1854.

Prior to the 1940s, Mantua was a predominantly white, Lutheran neighborhood. However, these decades mark the time when black families began moving into the area’s boundaries. The 1950s are what is seen as the peak of the neighborhood, which boasted a stunning commercial district on Haverford Avenue.

Beginning in the early- to mid-1960s, the 19,000 neighborhood residents started seeing the beginnings of gang warfare. Despite the prevalence of crime and violence on the streets, community activists like Herman Wrice and Andrew Jenkins came together to form the Young Great Society and the Mantua Community Planners.