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Explore by Theme: Public Transportation

    An early 20th-century postcard displays the Market Elevated subway at 32nd and Market Streets.
    The Market Street Elevated ("The El")

    The Market Street Elevated or “El” shaped 20th Century West Philadelphia.
    Putting the Market Street Elevated Underground

    Between 1947 and 1955, the Philadelphia Transit Company completed a subway tunnel for the Market Street Elevated west of the Schuylkill and took down the El between 32nd and 45th streets.
    Railroads and Trolleys in Overbrook

    From the mid-19th century onward, the Pennsylvania Railroad’s “Main Line” trains spurred the development of affluent suburbs just northwest of the City of Philadelphia. Overbrook’s residential development benefited immensely from the railroad’s passage through West Philadelphia to the central city. Electric trolleys arrived in Overbrook in 1895.
    Woodland Avenue and Creating Penn’s Pedestrian Campus

    In the 1950s, the City facilitated Penn’s plans to create its modern pedestrian campus by putting the Penn trolleys underground and deeding the footprint of Woodland Avenue to the University. 
    Philadelphia Evening Ledger page illustrating the Market Elevated's impact on West Philadelphia's growth in 1914.
    Social Impacts of the Market Street Elevated, 1900–1930

    From before its opening in 1907, the Market Street Elevated spurred tremendous construction and population growth in West Philadelphia.
    Children pose next to construction equipment near the first constructed section of the Market Elevated.
    Building the Market Street Elevated in West Philadelphia

    The Market Street Subway and Elevated opened in West Philadelphia in 1907, carrying commuters from three stations along the elevated line to 23rd Street, and from there underground to City Hall.
    Market Street Bridge and the Schuylkill River, 1900
    Electric Streetcars and The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company

    At the turn of the last century, the privately formed Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company contracted with the city to build and operate the electrified Market Street Elevated (“The El”), with a component designated for West Philadelphia.