Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PA)
Archivist:
Helen Remich Dubas
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Let me
introduce myself. My name is Helen
Dubas, and "I’m a Philly Girl."
I often joke that you can take the
girl out of the city, but you can’t
take the city out of the girl. That
really is how I feel about
Philadelphia. Times pass, cities
change, but the happy memories of
days gone by in Philadelphia never
fade.
I
was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in a
section of Philadelphia called
"Fishtown," the year being 1946.
After a few years, four to be exact,
my family "moved up" to tree-lined
streets in the Hunting |
Park
section of Philadelphia. The location
changed, but I continued to be
surrounded by my Danube Swabian heritage. The
new neighborhood was neatly divided,
almost ruler-like, into ethnic pockets
of German, Irish and Italian. Even
the churches were divided in that
fashion, so it is only natural that I went to St.
Henry’s School and Church, where at
least one Sunday Mass was celebrated in
High German. My family remained in that
same row house in the Hunting Park
section until I graduated in 1964 from
Little Flower Catholic High School for
Girls.
Long
before Philadelphia’s slogan "City of
Brotherly Love" was put into place,
Philadelphia was known and continues to
be, the "City of Neighborhoods."
You may have taken note that I mentioned
"Fishtown" and "Hunting Park." That’s
what Philadelphia is all about,
neighborhoods. When you are from Philly,
you are known by three things… your
neighborhood, your parish, or the corner
from which you hung out as a teenager.
Jokingly, you were either Catholic or "a
public." It is for this reason, that
outsiders often have a hard time when
researching their ancestors in
Philadelphia. They know their family
came to Philadelphia, yet find their
addresses to read something like Fox
Chase, Pennsylvania. In reality, Fox
Chase is a neighborhood within the city
limits of Philadelphia. Philadelphia is
known to have 395 neighborhoods,
official and unofficial.
Yes,
Philadelphia is a historical city, a
city of many industries that have come
and gone, a city of beautiful parks and
waterways, but primarily, in my mind,
Philadelphia remains a city proud of her
people, their many customs, and their
ability to join together as one to make
her great. It is a city that many
Danube Swabians called home, and I’m
one of them.
Please
take a look at what is available for
your research on the Destination:
Philadelphia page. As your interest
grows, the Philadelphia page will be
sure to grow with you. We can work
together to make it great, just as our
ancestors participated to put
Philadelphia on the map and provide
happy memories to savor for years to
come, memories that we can pass along as
well.
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