Spruce Hill, Philadelphia
Spruce Hill is a neighborhood in the University City section of West Philadelphia. It is between 40th and 46th streets, and it stretches from Market Street south to Woodland Avenue. With a population of over 16,000, it is a racially and ethnically diverse part of the city where much historic architecture is preserved.
It was built as a streetcar suburb for Center City between 1850 and 1910. Among its most prominent developers was financier Clarence Howard Clark Sr., who built dozens of rowhouses, donated land for the Walnut Street West Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, settled a tax assessment by founding the 9.1-acre Clark Park, and established his mansion on the grassy block that today holds the Penn Alexander public elementary school.
A statue of Charles Dickens, cast in 1890 by Francis Edwin Elwell, stands in Clark Park; it is one of just two known statues of the author.Education
The School District of Philadelphia operates Penn Alexander School and the Paul Robeson High School for Human Services. The Spruce Hill Christian elementary and middle school is on Baltimore Avenue. The University of Pennsylvania campus extends into Spruce Hill and the University of the Sciences campus is also in the neighborhood.Public libraries
The Free Library of Philadelphia Walnut Street West Branch serves Spruce Hill.
