Have you heard the story about the fox and rabbit that met one early morning? Well here’s a happy version for everyone to enjoy.
Stat
Busy Fox Night
Lots of fox activiy this morning from 00:09 AM until 6:07 AM. Here are splices from 7 video clips.
Posted in General
Deer on Sprague St
Here’s a short video clip of a deer causually walking along Spargue St at 12:58 AM early on Dec.3rd.
Posted in Mt Airy - Philadelphia, Wildlife
E Sharpnack St
E_Sharpnack_Need_for_NCO_Summary
E Mt Airy is seeing an increse in redevelopment whcih may include demolition of older 2-story houses and construcion of new 3-story houses which often overshadow their neighbors.
This paper briefly reviews E Mt Airy’s develpment history and uses recent construction on E Sharpnack St to assess the role that zoning plays in the the building boom in our older neighborhoods.
Posted in General
Philadelphia’s and German Township’s Boundaries in 1681
Two historic maps to take a look at today. Have you seen Thomas Holme’s 1681 map of modern day SE Pennnsylvania?
Thomas Holme (link) began his Map of the Improved Part of the Province of Pennsylvania in 1681. You can view and/or download this surprisingly detailed map from the Library of Congress at this link and at the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Nework (link).
For casual historical observers this 342-year-old map offers several surprises when you take a close look at it.
Philadelphia County included modern day Montogomery County as well as parts of Berkes County. Who knew? Montgomery County was created in 1784 out of land originally part of Philadelphia County (link).
Our area, outlined in blue, was called German Township in 1681. It was later called Germantown and even later it was subdivided into Germantown Borough and Germantown Township. Finally, in 1854 Germantown Borough and Germantown Township were consolidated into the City of Philadelphia as part of the City – County Consolidation.
While no roads are shown, a single land owner is identified and the Wissahickon and Wingohocking Creeks are clearly visible on this map.
This 2nd map may be informative for those not familiar with Philadelphia’s City – County Consoldiation in 1854 (Link). 
Using Philadelphia’s Detailed City Atlases to Research Development in the Upper Northwest
Would you like to see how the Upper Northwest or any other part of Philadelphia looked in the 1860s, 1890s, 1910s or some other pre-1930 time period? If yes, then you may be very interested in the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network’s interactive historic map site. (Link)
What can you do on the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory site? As an example, let’s look at Smedley’s 1862 Atlas for Philadelphia find out what Chestnut Hill’s map looked like in 1862? This screen shot shows the Index for Smedley’s Atlas.
Posted in General, Historic Germantown Township, Pa., Mt Airy - Philadelphia, Zoning
Tagged Chestnut Hill, Mt Airy
Visualizing NW Philadelphia’s Development
The Maps Mania blog had an interesting post about Mapping the Growth of America (link). I decided to download the source data from this link to generate this animated GIF.
The Historical Settlement Data Compilation for the US (HISDAC-US) includes a Built Up Area (BUA) layer that provides the year of initial development for 250 meter grids in 5 year increments from 1810 until 2015. These 150 meter grids are equivalent to 15.44 acres.
Here is a link to a PDF of these maps which lets the user progress through the maps at there own pace.
Posted in General
Jason Box’s Video: 5 Factors Behind Global Heatwave – 2023
Excellent video on climate science physics behind the 2023 global heatwave.
Global Warming – James Hansen Told the Senate About it in 1988
The Philadelphia Inquirer has an important story about James Hansen’s testimony to the Senate on June 24, 1988 (link). Well worth reading.
