The “Black Bottom” archeological excavation site at the Community Education Center near 35th and Lancaster (Photos by Tony West).

The archeological exploration of the oldest urban area in West Philly wrapped up on Nov. 17 at the Community Education Center (CEC). The dig revealed traces of the suburb of Greenville, where highways from Lancaster and Chester met rail lines on flat ground at the Market St. bridge across the Schuylkill River. Parts of Greenville, including the excavation site, became known as the “Black Bottom” after 1915.

The Black Bottom was a mostly African American community situated between 32nd and 40th Streets near Market, a neighborhood between what is now the Penn and Drexel campuses to the south and the Powelton and Mantua neighborhoods to the north that was razed over time to make way for “urban renewal” beginning in the 1960s. The area later became what is now considered University City.

Heritage West: West Philadelphia Community Archeology Project, led by Penn Anthropology Professors Meg Kassabaum and Sarah Linn, has been conducting archaeological digs in area since 2019. The project included close study of historical archives of the area, followed by a ground-penetrating radar survey. The team also collected oral histories of the neighborhood from members of the Black Bottom Tribe organization and the Lancaster Ave. 21st Century Business Association.

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For more than 200 years, the 3500 block of Lancaster Avenue has been home to community centers, art spaces, theaters, and residences. The area includes evidence of some of the earliest houses built in West Philadelphia during the 1850s, and a new community archeology project aims to recover forgotten stories of the residents of the historic Black Bottom neighborhood before they were displaced in the 1960s when their homes were demolished to make way for what would become “University City.”

The “Heritage West: The West Philadelphia Community Archaeology Project” is a partnership between several community organizations and institutions, including HopePHL, the Black Bottom Tribe Association, the Community Education Center (CEC), University City Arts League, University of Pennsylvania, and Penn Museum. Using archaeological investigation, archival research, oral histories, and state-of-the-art technology, Heritage West team members are working together to unearth and preserve untold—or erased—histories dating from the 19th century to the present.

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West Philly residents, especially those in Powelton, Mantua, Belmont, Mill Creek, and in the former Black Bottom neighborhoods are invited to a meeting this Tuesday (Apr. 19) to talk about neighborhood history and provide input for an online history map of West Philly. You can bring your old photos and personal stories to share. The meeting will be held at New Africa Center at 4243 Lancaster Avenue, beginning at 6 p.m.

The “Black Bottom” was a predominantly African American neighborhood, located between 40th and 32nd Streets and Powelton Avenue and Curie Boulevard. The neighborhood was mostly razed for urban renewal in the 1960s.