Wingohocking Creek

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Philadelphia Portal

Wingohocking Creek is a minor tributary of another Philadelphia, Pennsylvania stream known by three names: Frankford Creek, Tacony Creek, and Tookany Creek. The word Wingohocking may be derived from the indigenous Lenni Lenape for "favorite land for planting." Though the stream is small and no longer even visible, having been covered by 1915, the stream still flows under Belfield Avenue and close to the route of Wingohocking Street in the Logan neighborhood of Philadelphia.

In the 1880s, when city of Philadelphia engineers drew up their preliminary drainage maps for Philadelphia's 129 square miles, the conversion of many of the city's smaller streams into sewers was an integral part of the plan. The Wingohocking was converted from about 1905 to 1915. That there were mistakes is apparent: 21-acres of housing in the Logan neighborhood have been evacuated due to threat of collapse due to weakening foundations caused by inadequate engineering when the stream was first covered..

Logan Redevelopment Area, in the southern part of the Logan neighborhood, is the 21-acre area that was completely demolished due to unsafe subsidence caused by engineering deficiencies in the original construction. The city purchased almost all the homes in this large area and demolished them, leaving only a ghostly grid of rectangular streets as a reminder of the former urban landscape. The area is slated for commercial redevelopment.