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1980s

    Aftermath of the MOVE Fire

    Fire-tinged flowers on Pine Street in the aftermath of the fire in which eleven MOVE members died and 51 houses were destroyed on May 13, 1985.

    MOVE

    Though the MOVE organization is notoriously famous by dint of the tragic 1985 MOVE fire, an event that shook the city to its core and ramifies even today, their history in West Philadelphia spans more than forty years, from the mid-1970s to the late-2010s.

    Entire Blocks Destroyed

    Aerial view of the devastation caused by the MOVE fire of May 13, 1985, which killed 11 members of the MOVE organization and destroyed 61 homes in the blocks of Osage and Pine streets above Cobbs Creek Park.

    Leveled Houses on Osage and Pine

    Houses on Osage and Pine Streets destroyed in the 1985 MOVE fire were leveled by the city by summer.

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