Along with the eastern end of South Street, South 4th Street was the commercial center of Philadelphia’s early 20th-century Jewish community. It was known as ‘Der Ferder” (the fourth) in Yiddish, and had been dubbed “Fabric Row” because of the past and present predominance of fabric and garment-related merchandise along the corridor.

Many Jewish immigrants came to Philadelphia from 1880-1914 to to escape the horrors of anti-Jewish riots in Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as religious freedom and economic prosperity like many groups before them.    About ½ of the Jewish immigration went thru Ellis Island, the rest thru Philly thru the Washington Ave Wharf , Baltimore, Boston, and a lesser extent thru New Orleans and Galveston.  A “substantial %” settled in Philly, around the wharfs – became the center of Jewish life in the city.

Many of the stores along Fabric Row began in the late 19th century as pushcarts selling fabric, produce, or other small items. Early 20th-century Fourth Street included kosher butcher shops, fish stores and dairy stores, plus fruit and vegetable carts and stands stretching from Lombard to Carpenter. Many of the original shops on Fabric Row remain, and are entering their third and fourth generation of family ownership.