In the 1970s, the University of Pennsylvania turned inward from West Philadelphia, unable and unwilling to restore its frayed community relations in the face of an unprecedented rise in violent crime.
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.
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.
Anthony J. Drexel created the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry—the 1891 forefather of Drexel University—with the goal of providing working-class students with a balanced education and path of upward mobility.
The West Philadelphia Corporation, a non-profit coalition formed by local “higher eds and meds,” created and marketed the neighborhood of “University City.”
The University City Science Center was the nucleus of the West Philadelphia Corporation's University City branding initiative. Gaylord P. Harnwell, president of the University of Pennsylvania (1953-1970), appears at the far left.
Postmarked on August 25, 1916, this postcard foreshadowed the next century of expansion when describing the University as a place "where some 30 buildings have been erected and are constantly increased."
