The interview & storytelling team was responsible for reaching out to local residents of Fairhill to get an accurate account of the history of the area, what daily life is like for the residents & what the residents want to see in their neighborhood. We have provided quotes from the interviews conducted by our interview & storytelling team, which gives you an insight into community residents' thoughts and helps you understand the sense of community and identity. 

Community Strength - Provided by Kathy Barnes

"Hartranft has a strong sense of community. One of the most important stories is about the John F. Hartranft Elementary School building. When the older Hartranft elementary school building had to be demolished, there was debate on where it should be. The school building was outdated and too small, we needed a bigger site. Residents who lived next to St. Edwards on 8th St volunteered to give up their homes and properties in order for the new building to be constructed, they sacrificed their properties in order for children in the community to receive an education. The reason why the school is now called the Hartranft Community School is because of that large sacrifice the community residents made to empower the future generations"

Vibrant Social Past - Provided by Jacqueline Lopez

"Now is like people are not family anymore maybe and before the kids would always be outside there was no type of Internet computer no games none of that so the kids were outside the majority of the time. Now kids I rarely see kids outside playing really really really the Internet has kept kids indoors I don't know life has changed so much these siber kids are I don't know i don't know they they are not fortunate like we were. We were poor we didn't have nothing, and I wouldn't give up my childhood for nothing"

The Golden Block - Provided by Jacqueline Lopez

"That literally is the name of that strip the golden block. It was mainly on all the stores owners for the majority were all Hispanic that was the golden block that everybody would hang out there and so this day every Father's Day or Labor Day they had a Fifth and Indy reunion in Huntington Park and everybody from back in the days will go that day and reminisce"

Boys and Girls Club - Provided by George Clark

"Yeah well I think you know coming up you know as a youth you know as I mentioned you know we had the boys and Girls Club but what happened is when you become a certain age where you're 19 and you're 20 you're 21 you know that's when there wasn't really a lot of social positive places where you can go with the exception of going to the bar and if you look at it now you know when I think about what's down on Delaware Ave with you know all of the pool where you could shoot pool now and all the stuff that you can do but at that time as I said before you know young adults didn't have a place to go you know so everything was kind of geared more for the children"

Need of a Unified Community - Provided by Roosevelt Davis

"Things changed in this neighborhood around the late 80’s and early 90’s. When I was younger we all had a sense of pride in this neighborhood, no one tried to hurt anyone. There was no need to go downtown, everything we needed was right here on Germantown Ave (our banks, theatres, stores, doctors, schools) Of course there were some problems, but as a community, we were able to solve them. Now no one really knows each other or talks to each other. Everyone now seems to be an individual and not a member of the larger community. This is why we see a rise in crime, no one trusting each other, it's because we don't really know each other. I always try to be welcoming to people, that's how we make a change"

Need of Community Empowerment - Provided by Roosevelt Davis

"The neighborhood of Hartranft needs a community center, and the residents of Hartranft need a community center, not want, NEED. But it seems as if some leaders in the community and City Hall do not think that opening our community center is a priority. We have done everything that the city has requested from us to have our community center reopened, but there still hasn’t been any substantial movement or action. We can’t continue to rely on city leaders to try to fix everything for us, because they are the ones to tell us there isn't even a problem. The only reason why we were even able to get that far to talk to city leaders is because of the organizing and unification of residents and members of the Hartranft Playground Alliance were able to mobilize"