Fishtown is a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Located immediately northeast of Center City, its borders are somewhat disputed today due to many factors, but are roughly defined by the triangle created by the Delaware River, Frankford Avenue, and York Street. Newer residents of the area consider it to go all the way up to Lehigh Avenue, while some older residents maintain the upper border to be Norris Street.
The name "Fishtown" is derived from the area's former role as the center of the shad fishing industry on the Delaware River. The name comes from the fact that a number of 18th and early 19th century German & German-American families bought up the fishing rights on both sides of the Delaware River from Trenton Falls down to Cape May, NJ. Also, in the early 18th century, an English colonist was fabled to have caught the largest Shad in the world in the Delaware River.
The apocryphal local legend traces the name of Fishtown to Charles Dickens who purportedly visited the neighborhood in March 1842, but records show this to be false, as it was named Fishtown prior to his visiting.
Learn more about this city.
City of Fishtown, PA official site
City of Fishtown, PA Chamber of Commerce
City of Fishtown, PA newspaper
State of Pennsylvania official site