The Spring Garden Civic Association identifies the boundaries of their neighborhood as “between Spring Garden St. and Fairmount Avenue. and between Broad St. and Pennsylvania Ave./Fairmount Park.” [1] By this definition, the neighborhood occupies adjacent U.S. census tracts 134.01 and 134.02 and, based on our observations, it does seem that this area – bordered as it is by a large park and three major roads – neatly forms a continuous community. [2] Julia R. Masterman Middle and High School is on the southern border of this neighborhood, at the intersection of Spring Garden and 17th street. Adjacent to the school are two large public buildings: the Strong Home and Environmental Inspection Agency on the eastern side and the headquarters of the city's electricial worker's union on the western side. Restaurants and other businesses line Spring Garden street for a few blocks east and west of Masterman. It is only by walking north, toward Fairmount Ave, that one gets the sense of being in a residential neighborhood.
“Behind” Masterman – walking north – the neighborhood has a very quiet, residential feel. Most of the buildings are beautiful 19th century townhouses and many of the streets are tree lined. Businesses here are mostly small, such as corner stores and cafes. On our tour of the neighborhood, we walked along residential streets for a while and encountered several residents. Most spoke of the extraordinary transformation that has taken place over the past few years. One man we encountered on 15th street, between Green Street and Mount Vernon talked about the violence that plagued the neighborhood in the 80s and 90s, when cocaine kingpin Richie Ramos based his operations in Spring Garden. Ramos is most famous, we learned, for throwing a grenade into a police station. This man said that there was an open drug market in Spring Garden at that time; now, the worst crimes that occur are break-ins of parked, unoccupied cars. Another woman we met talked about the large amount of restaurants and housing developments that have sprung up in her ten years of living in Spring Garden and described the neighborhood as a good place to live. A young mother of one year old twins corroborated this perspective, saying that the community is close-knit and provides a good deal of support for single mothers. Only one interview subject challenged this perception of Spring Garden as a nice place to live: an 83 year old man who emphasized a recent shooting in the neighborhood and also regaled us with decades-old stories of juvenile delinquency in schools. He is not a current resident of the neighborhood, it should be noted – he moved away years ago and had just returned that day, he said, to visit – so his perceptions might be a bit out of date. He was correct, though, about the recent shooting. Violence is still a reality in Philadelphia, even in gentrifying neighborhoods.
The highlight of our neighborhood walk was undoubtedly our encounter with Justino Navarro, the President of the Spring Garden Civic Association. We were very fortunate to happen upon him in the gorgeous Roberto Clemente Park which, along with the block-long community garden across the street, is definitely the center of this community. As a community leader, Justino was eager to talk to us about the history of the neighborhood and what his organization has been doing over the past few decades to help the neighborhood keep its unique character in the face of change. Justino talked to us for a while about housing issues in Spring Garden. He pointed out that many of the beautiful townhouses on a nearby street were broken into subsidized housing units, and that his organization plays a major role in ensuring that the low income housing in Spring Garden is never substandard. He talked about how the community had fought the development of high rise apartments, which would have seriously altered the feel of the neighborhood. Justino seemed most enthusiastic, however, about the role his organization had played in the founding of the enormous, extremely well-maintained community garden. In the 1990s, the city demolished a block of row houses in Spring Garden as they had been the center of Ramos' drug ring. Instead of letting the area remain an empty lot, or waiting for the city to develop it, Justino and his organization created a community garden. Almost twenty years later, many people have a stake in the garden and it truly is a lush and beautiful place. Unfortunately, Justino said, the rising housing prices in the neighborhood have caused the property of the community garden to become more valuable, and since the land is still owned by the city they could technically sell it to developers. Preventing this from happening is one of the major aims of the civic association these days.
Justino also described to us the neighborhood's immigrant past. Fifty years ago, he said, the neighborhood was largely Puerto Rican and was called the “little barrio” by locals. Over time the demographics shifted, however, and there are not many people of Puerto Rican descent left. A quick search on social explorer bears this out. In 1960, the census said that 30% of residents in census tract 134 – which encompassed what is now census tracts 134.01 and 134.02 – had a “Puerto Rican or Spanish surname”. By 1970 this number had dropped to 25% and by 1990 only 14.76% percent of residents identified as Hispanic. This corroborated Justino's narrative, which claimed that longtime homeowners began to sell their properties and move north in the 1960s to cash in on the rising housing prices. In 2012, census tract 134.02 – which occupies the eastern part of the neighborhood, closer to Broad Street – is only 8.1% Hispanic, and census tract 134.01 – the western part of the neighborhood, closer to Fairmount Park – is only 1.19% percent Hispanic. According to Justino though, the majority of Hispanic people who still live in Spring Garden are still Puerto Rican.
Justino also described to us the neighborhood's immigrant past. Fifty years ago, he said, the neighborhood was largely Puerto Rican and was called the “little barrio” by locals. Over time the demographics shifted, however, and there are not many people of Puerto Rican descent left. A quick search on social explorer bears this out. In 1960, the census said that 30% of residents in census tract 134 – which encompassed what is now census tracts 134.01 and 134.02 – had a “Puerto Rican or Spanish surname”. By 1970 this number had dropped to 25% and by 1990 only 14.76% percent of residents identified as Hispanic. This corroborated Justino's narrative, which claimed that longtime homeowners began to sell their properties and move north in the 1960s to cash in on the rising housing prices. In 2012, census tract 134.02 – which occupies the eastern part of the neighborhood, closer to Broad Street – is only 8.1% Hispanic, and census tract 134.01 – the western part of the neighborhood, closer to Fairmount Park – is only 1.19% percent Hispanic. According to Justino though, the majority of Hispanic people who still live in Spring Garden are still Puerto Rican.
Despite the fact that the neighborhood's Latino background is a thing of the past, evidence this history is visible everywhere. At 17th and Mount Vernon St there is a mural of the Statue of Liberty with a Puerto Rican flag on its crown. Another mural, at 17th and Wallace, is a tribute to the seminal Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Last but not least, the park is named after the great Puerto Rican baseball player and activist Robert Clemente. While the demographics have changed over the years, the neighborhood's connection to Latino and specifically Puerto Rican culture is still very visible, even to a first-time visitor to Spring Garden.
The process of gentrification has certainly priced people out of the neighborhood over the years, and this has played a role in the lower amount of Puerto Ricans. There does not seem to have been a long-term drop off in black residents, although their numbers have fluctuated. In 1960, the area was 17% black and in 2012 census tract 134.02 was 13.16% black. The year with the lowest number of black residents in the neighborhood seems to have been1980, when the census recorded that 9.98% of the residents of Spring Garden identified as black. The number of white residents has stayed somewhat consistent, reaching its nadir in 1980 at 68% and its peak in 1960, at 80%. Today the white population is around 80% if you take the average of the two districts, with 71.66% living in 134.02 and 91.35% in 134.01.
Economically, the neighborhood has changed tremendously over the past few decades. In 1980, 40% of residents in Spring Garden were living below the poverty level, compared to 10% today. This trend has been associated with rising housing prices and lower crime rates. It seems that many of the neighborhood's longtime residents and their families have been priced out, and are unfortunately unable to enjoy the safer streets and newer, higher quality businesse
How does Masterman fit into this community? From what we found, people in the community see the school as somewhat separate. Although Justino talked about students from Masterman using the baseball fields in Roberto Clemente Park, the fact is that Masterman, as a magnet school, is not the neighborhood school and most of the students are not Spring Garden residents. One lady we talked to had a son who went there years ago, and described it as the “good” school in the area, compared to Benjamin Franklin High School, which serves the neighborhood. Residents we talked to generally had a good deal to say about the community, but little about the schools.
Economically, the neighborhood has changed tremendously over the past few decades. In 1980, 40% of residents in Spring Garden were living below the poverty level, compared to 10% today. This trend has been associated with rising housing prices and lower crime rates. It seems that many of the neighborhood's longtime residents and their families have been priced out, and are unfortunately unable to enjoy the safer streets and newer, higher quality businesse
How does Masterman fit into this community? From what we found, people in the community see the school as somewhat separate. Although Justino talked about students from Masterman using the baseball fields in Roberto Clemente Park, the fact is that Masterman, as a magnet school, is not the neighborhood school and most of the students are not Spring Garden residents. One lady we talked to had a son who went there years ago, and described it as the “good” school in the area, compared to Benjamin Franklin High School, which serves the neighborhood. Residents we talked to generally had a good deal to say about the community, but little about the schools.