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Philadelphia Before I-95: Uncovering The Lost Wealth And Neighborhoods Destroyed By The Delaware Expressway, Don Edmonds

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This case study investigates the demolished structures and lost wealth due to the construction of the Delaware Expressway (I-95) along Philadelphia’s Center City waterfront. The history of the Delaware Expressway is embedded in a larger freeway-building era in the United States that led to the destruction of urban neighborhoods throughout the country. Yet the neighborhoods that once occupied these corridors have fallen out of the collective memory, and there exists a lack of research analyzing the original conditions of these areas before freeways permanently changed them. This thesis seeks to understand the historical context of freeways in the United States …