Overbrook, as it was. A brief history of the Overbrook neighborhood of Philadelphia, focusing on changes in the natural landscape. By Adam Levine Under contract with JASTECH Development Services (Copyright 2005 and 2024) Introduction How an urban neighborhood develops, and at what pace, depends on a number of interrelated factors. Among the many factors that affected the development of the Overbrook section of West Philadelphia was the taming of the area’s natural topography by an overlay of urban infrastructure. This act of engineering hubris by 19th-century urban planners, coinciding as it did with large tracts of available farmland and easy rail transportation into the city, made the area attractive to real estate developers looking to create a suburb of upscale homes. The following report focuses mostly on Overbook Farms, the first section of Overbrook to be converted from farmland to residential housing. This area is particularly interesting from the environmental standpoint, because of the documentation available detailing changes made in the original topography of the neighborhood during the course of its development. Under the limited scope of the present contract, I thought it best to begin here, but this report should be considered just a preliminary survey of the changes in Overbrook over time. Similar topographical information could be uncovered for the sections of the neighborhood that developed later; and the entire story might, in time, be brought up to the present with a discussion of the social changes that have changed the racial face of Overbrook since 1950.