Walnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Walnut Hill is a neighborhood in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is roughly located between 45th Street and 52nd Street, bounded by Market Street and Locust Street. Most of the neighborhood is in the northwestern part of the University City District. It is northeast of Cedar Park and northwest of Spruce Hill.

It is a racially mixed neighborhood with large numbers of African Americans, Middle Easterners, and Italian Americans, although the western part of the neighborhood is almost entirely African American. There is a growing Black Muslim presence, owing to the Masjid Jam'ia mosque at 43rd and Walnut Streets (affiliated with UPenn's Muslim Student Organization), the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects mosque at 45th and Walnut Streets, and Masjid Al Birr Wat Taqwa mosque on 52nd and Market Streets. There are a number of establishments that sell Halal food.

The neighborhood was largely built from the turn of the century through the 1940s, with a large growth spurt immediately following the construction of the SEPTA Market-Frankford Line. It is mostly 2 and 3-story rowhouses.

As 52nd Street is often considered to be the geographic and psychological "heart" of West Philadelphia, those living in the western reaches of Walnut Hill may be less likely to identify with the neighborhood and more likely to describe their neighborhood as simply "West Philly."

West Philadelphia High School is located in Walnut Hill and The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College is close by, if not technically within the boundaries of the neighborhood.

External links

* [http://westphillydata.library.upenn.edu/infoR_Neigh_WalnutHill.htm West Philadelphia Data and Information Resources] - University of Pennsylvania