Strawberry Mansion: The Jewish Community of North Philadelphia (Images of America: Pennsylvania)

A section of North Philadelphia, Strawberry Mansion
is nestled high on the banks of the Schuylkill River,
adjacent to the large expanses of Fairmount Park, with many wonderful venues such as Woodside Park. The area became the setting for America’s premiere Jewish Community in the 20th century, with over 50,000 inhabitants. Strawberry Mansion was the first Jewish suburb within an urban setting. Affectionately known as “the Mansion,” it was only a trolley car ride away from the South Philadelphia
immigrant district. Jewish families migrated from one
neighborhood to another as they advanced economically in American society during the early 1900s. By the mid-1950s, the decision to discontinue the once heavily traveled route #9 trolley car marked the decline and eventual demise of Strawberry Mansion as a Jewish enclave.