The Geographical Society of Philadelphia invites you to participate in presenting the story of Pier 53 also known as Washington Avenue Green by the Delaware River.
The pier stands since 1873 when the Washington Avenue Immigration Station began its operations. Arriving immigrants first disembarked at Lazaretto Station at Essington for health inspection, then continued up the Delaware River by ship for another eight miles to Pier 53 in South Philadelphia, the final entry point.
Join Susan McAninley, our board member Gabriela Cesarino, and YOU, the descendants of Philly immigrants share their perspectives, and journeys.
Gabriela Cesarino will present the history of the area: immigration in the US during the 18th Century, the plans and construction of the facility, the most active years until its demolition in 1915, what happened to the site until today, and the future plans.
Susan McAninley has made it her business to find and preserve stories from the descendants of immigrants who came through Pier 53 in South Philadelphia at the turn of the 20th century. Susan will tell us about some of the immigrant stories that she has been collecting through the years. She will also give us an update on the Washington Avenue Green project.
YOU...we would love to hear from the descendants of immigrants who came through Pier 53 in South Philadelphia! How, when, your ancestors arrived in Philadelphia?
If you would like to share your family's story, please contact our Executive Director, Dilek Karabucak at [email protected] prior to the presentation.
Susan McAninley is a Philadelphia native. She has a B.F.A. from University of the Arts, and has worked as an art director, designer, and teacher, with a brief stint as a writer and a radio talk show producer. Although a graphic artist by profession and training, her interest in genealogy goes back decades.
The Pier 53 Project is something she started in 2012 when the Washington Avenue Green Park was officially opened. She lives seven blocks away in Pennsport in South Philadelphia and became interested in the local history of the waterfront. She was delighted to find that both her
grandfathers first set foot in America on Pier 53.
She's started collecting stories of some of the million or so immigrants who arrived between 1876 and 1926, using publicly available records and accounts from descendants. Each story is a core sample of history from 1876 until the mid-1920’s, chronicling the history of Philadelphia and the immigrant experience in America.
For the past five years, Susan has been giving presentations to various community and genealogy groups, showing the history of Pier 53 and some of the results of the stories collected. She is currently working on an eight-minute-long video about Pier 53. It’s in the editing stage and should be released early in 2021.
For more information about Pier 53, here is the website:
www.washingtonavenuegreen.com
Gabriela Krantz Cesarino, AICP, is the Planning and Urban Design Principal at Terra Studio, an architecture and planning firm in Center City, Philadelphia. She has held various positions in the fields of city planning, urban design, and historic preservation in private and public organizations in São Paulo, Brazil, and Philadelphia. Gabriela has taught planning and urban design at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple, Drexel, the University of São Paulo and Mackenzie University. An author of Theaters of Brazil and various magazine articles about urban design, history of cities and urban studies, she has a Bachelor of Architecture and Urbanism – University of São Paulo; Master of City Planning – University of Pennsylvania and Master of Architecture – Mackenzie University. She is also a Ph.D. Candidate in Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo.
