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Drexel and the Creation of the University City Science Center
Part of
University Redevelopment Area Unit 3
Drexel Campus Expansion and the University Redevelopment Area
Drexel University

    Author
    John L. Puckett
    1963–1967

    The Drexel Institute had only a peripheral and grudging involvement in the creation of the University City Science Center, a project of the West Philadelphia Corporation (WPC) in Unit 3.

    The Drexel Institute was only marginally involved in the creation of the University City Science Center, a project of the West Philadelphia Corporation (WPC) in Unit 3, which included the blocks between 34th and 38th Streets from Powelton and Lancaster Avenues on the north to Chestnut Street on the south. Drexel’s president, William Hagerty, James Creese’s successor, resented Drexel’s second-class status vis-à-vis Penn in the WPC, the Science Center, and the larger cosmos of West Philadelphia urban renewal.

    The Drexel Institute had only a peripheral and grudging involvement in the creation of the University City Science Center, a major project of the West Philadelphia Corporation. Though William Hagerty, James Creese’s successor as Drexel’s president, undoubtedly recognized some benefits to Drexel in Unit 3, he resented the Institute’s second-class status in West Philadelphia’s urban renewal cosmos. “The Penn trustees made [Penn’s] participation in the Science Center contingent on their holding ‘no less than 51 percent of the stock,’” write Puckett and Lloyd. The University’s president, Gaylord P. Harnwell, “assured William Hagerty…that Penn ‘would not build any of its own academic buildings north of Market Street or otherwise in the area designated for the Science Center.’” Hagerty was mindful that Penn not only controlled 51 percent of the stock but also held a vastly disproportionate share vis-à-vis any of the other shareholders, including Drexel; for example, by the spring of 1967, Penn held 2,000 shares versus 100 shares for each of 18 other Delaware Valley “higher eds and meds” in the Science Center—more than all the others combined. And Penn controlled the lion’s share of major appointments, including the Science Center Corporation’s officers and the executive director.[1] 

    Accordingly, Penn, not Drexel, saw its community relations virtually destroyed by the 1970s and its reputation tarnished by the removal of displaced residents for decades thereafter. Drexel’s community relations problems occurred in Unit 5.[2]  

    Neighborhoods
    University City
    Decades
    1960s
    [1] John L. Puckett and Mark Frazier Lloyd, Becoming Penn: The Pragmatic American University, 1950–2000 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press), Becoming Penn, 102.
    [2] Puckett and Lloyd, Becoming Penn, 103–107, 343–344.

    Continue reading University Redevelopment Area Unit 3
    The West Philadelphia Corporation

    The West Philadelphia Corporation, a non-profit coalition formed by local “higher eds and meds,” created and marketed the neighborhood of “University City.”

    Drexel and the Creation of the University City Science Center

    The Drexel Institute had only a peripheral and grudging involvement in the creation of the University City Science Center, a project of the West Philadelphia Corporation (WPC) in Unit 3.

    A mosaic displaying a bulldozer approaching a row of houses filled with African American residents.
    Collateral Damage in Unit 3

    The University of Pennsylvania’s role in the creation of the University City Science Center in RDA Unit 3, a working-poor, majority-African American neighborhood known locally as the “Black Bottom,” severely damaged its community relations for decades to come.

    Continue reading Drexel Campus Expansion and the University Redevelopment Area
    Drexel and Penn in University RDA Unit 1

    The Drexel Institute of Technology’s successful efforts to receive half of University Redevelopment Area Unit 1—originally designated exclusively for the University of Pennsylvania’s campus expansion—asserted the Institute’s importance as a rising educational institution in West Philadelphia.

    Drexel and the Creation of the University City Science Center

    The Drexel Institute had only a peripheral and grudging involvement in the creation of the University City Science Center, a project of the West Philadelphia Corporation (WPC) in Unit 3.

    Drexel and Community Conflict in Unit 5

    Drexel unveiled a plan in 1964 for expanding its holdings and building dormitories in Powelton Village and the planned projects were protested by community members until the mid-1970s.

    Continue reading Drexel University
    The Foundation of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry

    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 Evolution of Drexel’s Academic Program in the 20th Century

    Over the course of the twentieth century, the academic program of the Institute grew to comprise an array of coeducational undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering, science, and technology, with engineering as the flagship discipline.

    Administrative and Financial Difficulties of the 1980s and 1990s

    From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, Drexel was plagued by sharply declining enrollments and hostilities between faculty and university administrators.

    Turnaround under Constantine Papadakis

    Drexel President Constantine Papadakis guided Drexel out of near bankruptcy and into a new millennium by refocusing the University as a student-centered institution emphasizing three essentials: “co-op, urban location, technology.”

    Upward and Eastward Expansion

    Drexel’s plans for expansion under president John Fry focus on building upward in the campus core and—in a visionary plan for long-term development—eastward over the old Pennsylvania Railroad railyards.

    Commercial Building Boom

    In the 2010s Drexel launched a building boom of mixed-use commercial developments along Chestnut Street and on streets that intersected with the campus.

    Neighborhood and Community Development

    Under President John Fry, Drexel adopted a two-prong approach to neighborhood community development—creating a university-assisted middle school and a neighborhood center to connect community partners with Drexel resources.

    Drexel and Penn in University RDA Unit 1

    The Drexel Institute of Technology’s successful efforts to receive half of University Redevelopment Area Unit 1—originally designated exclusively for the University of Pennsylvania’s campus expansion—asserted the Institute’s importance as a rising educational institution in West Philadelphia.

    Drexel and the Creation of the University City Science Center

    The Drexel Institute had only a peripheral and grudging involvement in the creation of the University City Science Center, a project of the West Philadelphia Corporation (WPC) in Unit 3.

    Drexel and Community Conflict in Unit 5

    Drexel unveiled a plan in 1964 for expanding its holdings and building dormitories in Powelton Village and the planned projects were protested by community members until the mid-1970s.