Written by:Harry D. Boonin

HISTORY OF THE SOUTH STREET AREA: "When east European Jews began to settle on South Street in the 1880s, the Street had been used for retail trade for many years. The area was predominately Irish, and saloons lined the 500 block of South 5th Street. The most popular of all establishments, however, was the oyster house. Oysters from the Delaware River were served everywhere. Arriving in America with little more than the clothes on their back, immigrants from eastern Europe sought a place to live where the rent was cheap, and around South Street they found rooms at $5.00 a month. Indoor plumbing did not exist, and life was lived outdoors. Most of the immigrants knew no English and dealing with those born here who spoke English as their native language was an ordeal. Therefore, pockets of Italians, Turks, Jews, Poles, and many others quickly appeared. Soon, these newcomers took over the area around 5th & South Streets, and the halls in the area heard a new type of music and saw a new dance, the cakewalk - a strutting dance developed by African Americans in the South where the prize dancers went home with a cake. The "walk" in the 1890s was extremely popular with whites and blacks alike, and it was seen in the many halls in the area. East European Jews soon took over virtually all the stores on South Street - especially men's clothing stores - and S. 4th Street, and it wasn't long before these proved insufficient, and push carts appeared in front of the stores. In 1908, the first movie house opened on South Street - just west of the corner of 5th & South (the Princess). In the 1890s, fruit and vegetables were sold from farmers' wagons lined up on South Street. Later, the farmers' wagons gave way to the push carts, which remained a fixture on S. 4th Street until well after World War II. In the 1960s there was a renaissance in the area, and many of the old stores were replaced with the eclectic shopping and night life that we have today."

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