Fishtown, Philadelphia

Fishtown
Neighborhood of Philadelphia
Penn Treaty Park in Fishtown
Fishtown
Coordinates: 39°57′54″N 75°08′06″W / 39.965°N 75.135°W / 39.965; -75.135
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Philadelphia County
City	Philadelphia
Area code(s)	215, 267 and 445

Fishtown is a neighborhood in the River Wards section^[1] of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.^[2] Located northeast of Center City Philadelphia, its borders are somewhat disputed today due to many factors, but are roughly defined by the triangle created by the Delaware River, Front Street, and York Street.^[3] Some newer residents expand the area to Lehigh Avenue to the northeast, while some older residents shrink the area to Norris Street.^[4][5] It is served by the Market–Frankford Line rapid transit subway/elevated line of the SEPTA system. Fishtown has long been a largely working class Irish Catholic and Irish American neighborhood, though in recent years it has seen a large influx of young urban professionals and gentrification.^[6]

The name Fishtown derives from one of the original occupations of its residents. Early settlers were fishermen, and over time they controlled the fishing rights to both sides of the Delaware River, from Cape May to the falls at Trenton. The apocryphal local legend traces the name of Fishtown to Charles Dickens, who purportedly visited the neighborhood in March 1842, but records show this to be false, as it was named Fishtown prior to his visit, at least as early as 1808, as evidenced in a newspaper article in The Tickler, an early 19th century Philadelphia newspaper.