06-06-2007, 11:09 PM
|
 |
El Destructor II
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: 11th& Sansom
Posts: 23,322
|
|
Moving Connie Mack
Quote:
McCollum grew up in the ’50s down the block from Cecil B. Moore, back when it was called Fun Filled and then Connie Mack. She climbed its jungle gym, swam in its pool, and took dance and pottery lessons there. The rec was the heart of life in the thriving community, particularly during the summer months...Back then the neighborhood was home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, sustained by the presence of legendary Connie Mack Stadium at 21st and Lehigh, and two powerhouse Catholic churches nearby...“This was always a classy community,” says McCollum. “The homes were owned. People were employed. We had a lot of businesses around here.”
But when the stadium closed in 1970, things changed.
“Black and white—Italians, Irish, Jewish, those were the dominant groups in this neighborhood,” says McCollum. “They all rallied around baseball, and once the stadium was gone, they were gone.”
The churches lost parishioners and downsized. Unemployment rose. The rec center remained active, but shifted its focus to athletics over other programs.
|
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=14776
__________________
"You down wit OPM?"
Fumo: "Yeah, you know me!"
|
