Re: [UC] gentrification of west philadelphia

[Krfapt]

In a message dated 1/12/2004 10:20:10 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: was CREATED as a gentrified suburb when it was carved out of the surrounding farmland. Not really. It's true that the earliest non-farm stuff, mostly dating back before the Civil War and now largely gone, was primarily for upper middle class people. Even there, though, the most affluent -- the captains of industry and finance -- were largely attracted to the "Main Line" developments of the Pennsylvania Railroad.   The big wave of development and the majority of the building in our neighborhood was for what we would now call "blue collar" folks who could move out of the tenaments in places like Old City because streetcar lines were built and they no longer had to live close enough to their work to walk. The houses were large -- creating the delusion in the minds of many who want to think they now live in housing meant to be elegant -- because a) families were bigger, and b) to make ends meet, many prospective property owners looked for places that would let them take in roomers and/or boarders (a practice especially common among immigrants who rented to newcomers from "the old country").   For those who are interested, another factor that led to the development of this and other single-family areas outside of Center City was the "invention" of the amortizing mortgage. Before the Civil War, people could borrow money to buy property but it was normally on something like a 5-year note that had to be paid off at the end of the period. The amortizing mortgage was conceived as a way to promote responsible fiscal behavior among working people. They "joined" a mutual savings society and made regular deposits. Belonging to the society made them eligible to apply for a self-amortizing long-term loan to use to buy a house.   Al Krigman