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Opened in 1795, Lancaster Avenue was the nation’s first turnpike, a passageway for agricultural goods to get into the city. While plenty of farm products did travel along the highway, its impact on moving people was far more consequential.
In Powelton Village, the avenue cuts diagonally through, bounded by Spring Garden Street, Market Street, 31st Street and 40th Street. But beneath it lies a buried history, one that no longer appears on maps.
Beneath the corridor
Before the turnpike, Lancaster Avenue marked the northern edge of a community known as Black Bottom that once stretched from here south to Sansom Street, and from 32nd to 40th streets. Through the mid-20th century, the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel, and the city’s Redevelopment Authority cleared the neighborhood to make way for expansion, displacing 5,000 residents.
The Black Bottom name has disappeared from maps but not from memory. Black Bottom Tribe – formed by former residents and their descendants – have spent decades pushing for historical markers on the land, and businesses along Lancaster work to keep that history alive. The owners of the Plant and People plant shop and café and The Silk Tent international boutique collaborate with the group to commemorate what once stood here.
On August 3rd 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke here during his “Freedom Now” tour. Last year, local businesses La Pearl Beauty Emporium and The Silk Tent marked the anniversary with the first Freedom Now Fest, backed by the Lancaster Avenue 21st Century Business Association, also known as LA21.
Rather than hosting the event in January on MLK Day, “we came up with the idea of putting it toward the summer, where more people could participate, and we associated it with the [MLK] statue,” Silk Tent owner Rashida Watson said.
The corridor opens up
Nate McIntyre, owner of Bodyrock Bootcamp at 3858 Lancaster for 20+ years, watched the corridor grow. He describes the neighborhood as a streetcar suburb that never fully shed its identity, oscillating between the longtime West Philly residents and the college population. “You can tell when a kid’s walking down the street and they’re just purposely keeping their head down so they don’t make any connections,” he said.
But lately that’s been shifting. New restaurants near 38th Street have drawn people deeper into the neighborhood, which McIntyre sees as doing more to bridge the distance than any institutional efforts. “Keeping the heart of West Philadelphia coming into this block is probably what does a better job of getting these kids assimilated,” he said.
His own gym runs on a similar philosophy. “My whole thing has been back to basics,” McIntyre explained. “I love the lo-fi, the simplicity. I used to play sports and I just hated the pressure. I try to make this so it’s for everybody.”
Right next door to the Bodyrock Bootcamp, Yasmeen Kenya recently opened a wellness boutique. Born and raised in West Philly, Yasmeen is something rare on a corridor in transition: a second generation resident, choosing to stay.
Together with Bodyrock and Plant and People, she hosts Wellness Sundays, a weekly collaboration offering rotating workshops and discounts across the corridor.
Upper Lancaster Avenue: Where the blocks breathe
Plant and People, founded by mother-daughter duo Cherron Perry-Thomas and Amma Thomas, opened at 3925 Lancaster Ave with a specific gap in mind. “A lot of the nicer plant stores are in the suburbs,” Thomas said. “You don’t really have too many in Philadelphia, and especially not in historically Black neighborhoods, owned by Black people.”
There are houseplants, soil, and gardening supplies. There’s a café. There’s also a section called Philly Homegrown, which features a rotating collection of local vendors who pay for shelf space but keep all their sales.
On weeknights, the space is open to community use: arts and crafts, tarot, reproductive justice. Last year, a grant-funded wellness series for teenage boys brought in a therapist, yoga, sound baths, and conversations about the tools needed to navigate daily stress. When Plant and People first opened, people would hesitate at the door, unsure whether a place like this was for them. That’s changed. The children on the block now wave.
A Martin Luther King mural spans the exterior. Perry-Thomas is from Memphis and the family has made the MLK history of this corridor a part of what they do. “Even though we’re not from here,” Thomas said, “we really want to highlight that. We’re glad to be in a space where so many important things happened in Philadelphia.”
Walk Lancaster Avenue Without Missing a Beat
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Triangle at 40th and Lancaster is a respectful starting place. One block off Lancaster onto Powelton Avenue, Baring Street, or Hamilton Street brings the Victorian houses up close.
“There’s so many different hidden gems here,” McIntyre mused. “Many of the spaces used to be old punk rock venues. You’ve got really cool stories that have been inside of this place for a long, long time.”
