MOVE 1985

Philadelphia, PA — 1985 RESEARCH

Sheet003

ClassProperty

JurisdictionPhiladelphia Co. PA

Opened1985

StatusRESEARCH

Above the surface — the public claim

A police operation that went catastrophically wrong. Two grand juries, a commission finding of gross negligence, no criminal charges, and a neighborhood rebuilt at public expense. The bombing is treated as the whole of the story.

Below the surface — the record

The deed chains run for forty years past the fire. Eminent domain, a convicted contractor, shoddy rebuilds, buyouts, vacancy, dollar sales, quarter-million resales. The land changed hands on a schedule.

11People killed

61Homes destroyed

0Charged

The question this file is built to answer

Sixty-one deed chains are still unpulled. Is the forty-year pattern of transfers on and around Osage Avenue actually in the deed record, or only in the summaries of it?