Page "History of Philadelphia" Paragraph 43

By the 1880s immigration from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Italy started rivaling immigration from Western Europe.

Many of the immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe were Jewish.

In 1881 there were around 5, 000 Jews in the city, and by 1905 the number had increased to 100, 000.

Philadelphia's Italian population grew from around 300 in 1870 to around 18, 000 in 1900, with the majority settling in South Philadelphia.

Along with foreign immigration, domestic migration by African Americans from the South led to Philadelphia having the largest black population of a Northern U. S. city in this period.

By 1876, nearly 25, 000 African Americans living in Philadelphia, and by 1890 the population was near 40, 000.

While immigrants moved into the city, Philadelphia's rich left for newer housing in the suburbs, with commuting made easy by newly constructed railroads.

During the 1880s much of Philadelphia's upper class moved into the growing suburbs along the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line west of the city.