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University of Pennsylvania

    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. 

    Planning the Modern Research University

    In the first half of the twentieth century, two campus plans—the Cret Report of 1913 and the Martin Report of 1948—called for the creation of a pedestrian campus free of urban congestion.

    University of Pennsylvania Campus circa 1910

    In the early 20th century, the University of Pennsylvania campus was divided by Woodland Avenue.

    A mosaic displaying a bulldozer approaching a row of houses filled with African American residents.
    Black Bottom Memorial Mosaic

    A memorial for the Black Bottom neighborhood—removed for the construction of the University City Science Center in University Redevelopment Unit 3—was displayed on a wall of the University City High School until the school was demolished in 2015. More images of and information about the mural are available on philart.net.

    University Redevelopment Unit 3

    Image shows Market Street between 34th and 40th Streets following demolition for redevelopment projects. The area shown was once the heart of "Black Bottom," a former neighborhood in West Philadelphia.

    Woodland Avenue between 36th and 34th Streets

    Looking northeast on Woodland Avenue between 36th and 34th Streets in the late 1950s.

    Development Projects Altering University of Pennsylvania Campus in 1959

    Phases of the $100-million building program at the University of Pennsylvania are charted on an aerial photograph of the West Philadelphia area.

    Sadie Tanner Mossell in M.A. Academic Gown

    Sadie Tanner Mossell in an academic gown for receiving her Master of Arts degree in Economics.

    The University of Pennsylvania

    The University of Pennsylvania in the 20th and early 21st centuries was shaped in no small way by social and economic conditions in West Philadelphia.

    Black and white portrait photograph of Sadie T.M. Alexander wearing glasses, print jacket, and blouse with large bow.
    Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

    Sadie Alexander broke barriers of race and gender as the first African American woman to achieve many accomplishments, and she worked diligently to open opportunities for others to follow in her footsteps.

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