Why Are There Abandoned Factories In My Neighborhood?

The following curriculum was written to be a six to seven day supplement to be used in an eleventh grade United States History course. The unit offers a teacher in or around the Philadelphia area an opportunity to localize the nations history and apply it to trends that occurred throughout a large part of our countries history. Throughout the six lessons, the students will investigate the industrial history of Philadelphia and by the end of the unit, the students should have a strong grasp on the reasons why industry became the backbone of Philadelphia’s economy and subsequently disappeared leaving many of the cities neighborhoods in shambles in its wake. Following the unit, the students will be allotted two weeks to create a model displaying their vision of the future of what city neighborhoods should look like which will be displayed in the school library.