| Kingsessing | |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Pennsylvania |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Philadelphia |
| Subdivision Type3: | City |
| Subdivision Name3: | Philadelphia |
| Mapsize: | 300px |
| Pushpin Map: | Philadelphia |
| Area Code: | 215, 267, and 445 |
Kingsessing is a neighborhood in the Southwest section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. On the west side of the Schuylkill River, it is next to the neighborhoods of Cedar Park, Southwest Schuylkill, and Mount Moriah, as well as the borough of Yeadon in Delaware County. It is roughly bounded by 53rd Street to the northeast, Baltimore Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek and 60th Street to the southwest, and Woodland Avenue to the southeast.
The name Kingsessing, also spelled Chinsessing, comes from a Delaware word meaning "a place where there is a meadow". The historic Lenape, or Delaware as the English called them, had a village of the same name that roughly occupied the same site as where the current neighborhood was later developed. When the township was organized to encompass where the Lenape and a later Swedish village stood, it also was named as Kingsessing.
In 1669 Hans Månsson, a Swedish settler, received a patent for an 1,100-acre plantation along the Schuylkill River between the current location of 60th Street and Woodlands Cemetery, extending as far west as Cobb's Creek.[1] [2]
Bartram's Garden, started by colonial botanist John Bartram in 1728, is still operated in this neighborhood. It had an international reputation and is considered the first true botanical garden in the United States.[3] It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.
The S. Weir Mitchell School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Kingsessing is 83.2% black.
Free Library of Philadelphia operates the Kingsessing Branch at 1201 South 51st Street, below Chester Avenue.[5]