What is Northern Liberties in Philadelphia, and how did it get its name?
The word “Liberties” refers to a land policy of William Penn common in Britain and the British colonies. This policy worked as follows: the first purchasers of large tracts of land received a bonus of two percent of the acreage in Philadelphia. However, the city bounds were fixed at 1280 acres, so it was necessary to make grants for free, or liberty lands, in the surrounding county. Presently we think of Northern Liberties as the land north of Vine Street to Girard Avenue, and from 6th Street to the Delaware River.
The word “Liberties” refers to a land policy of William Penn common in Britain and the British colonies. This policy worked as follows: the first purchasers of large tracts of land received a bonus of two percent of the acreage in Philadelphia. However, the city bounds were fixed at 1280 acres, so it was necessary to make grants for free, or liberty lands, in the surrounding county. Presently we think of Northern Liberties as the land north of Vine Street to Girard Avenue, and from 6th Street to the Delaware River. Source: Workshop of the World: A Selective Guide to the Industrial Archeology of Philadelphia, 1990, p.
