Cresheim Creek is a creek in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising at Wyndmoor in Springfield Township (in a park near the USDA's Agricultural Research Service Eastern Regional Research Center, adjacent to the border between Montgomery County and Northwest Philadelphia), it runs about 2.7 miles (4.3 km) southwest, passing through part of Northwest Philadelphia and forming the boundary between Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill, before emptying into the Wissahickon Creek at Devil's Pool not far south of the Valley Green Inn.
The Cresheim Valley below Germantown Avenue is part of Fairmount Park. The former railbed within it (see section below) is also an easement for PECO powerlines, which take advantage of the former railbed's grading and open space. In October 2013, the City of Philadelphia extended Fairmount Park ownership of the creek valley almost to the Philadelphia-Montgomery border at Stenton Avenue as part of the Wissahickon East Project, with ongoing and future efforts such as streambed cleanup and invasive species removal to restore the 6 acres (2.4 ha) of newly acquired land.[1][2]
Cresheim Valley Drive runs beside the creek from Stenton Avenue until southwest of the Chestnut Hill West Line tracks, where the road bends away to become Emlen Street. The stone pergola that stands at the southwest corner of the intersection of Germantown Avenue and Cresheim Valley Drive contains plaques honoring both the early German settlers of the Cresheim Valley and Samuel Newman Baxter, chief arborist of Fairmount Park from 1915 to 1945.
A dirt parking area off Cresheim Valley Drive, southwest from the Chestnut Hill West railroad bridge, marks the trailhead for a set of walking paths that follow the creek for some distance downstream to its outlet.
- ^ Vella, Vinny (December 29, 2013). "15-year dream now reality in East Mount Airy". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ "WEP Consensus Summary" (PDF). Wissahickon East Project. Retrieved 29 December 2013.