History

Searching For The Lost South Philadelphia Improvements Under The 25th Street Elevated

On the west side of South Philly, the 25th Street Elevated rail viaduct clearly defines it the boundaries of the Grays Ferry and Point Breeze neighborhoods. Over a dozen trains, including oil trains like the one that derailed over the Schuylkill River recently, rumble its weathering 86-year-old bones every day. Chris Dougherty goes back a century to find the Elevated’s origins in the heyday of the rail industry—and civic reform