After several years of incubation, Philadelphia’s technology and design community has been officially commemorated by the City of Philadelphia with the renaming of North Third Street to “N3RD Street.”
N3RD Street is a play on “N. 3rd” Street, stretching from Market Street north to Girard Avenue through the neighborhoods of Old City and Northern Liberties. More than 30 technology and design firms and other creative organizations are based along N3RD Street.
The N3RD Street name began as an inside joke between John Fazio, Chris Alfano and Danny Harvith, of Northern Liberties-based web development firm Jarvus Innovations, and Alex Hillman, co-founder of the Old City co-working space Indy Hall. Both Jarvus and Indy Hall call N3RD Street home.
Jarvus and Hillman trace the lineage of Philadelphia’s nerd culture back to Ben Franklin. Franklin is a patron saint of innovative nerds not only in Philadelphia but across the country. Franklin’s influence on N3RD Street is so strong that he was cited in the official legislation as “America’s first nerd.”
Jarvus hosted a picnic at Liberty Lands Park in Northern Liberties on April 11 centered around the official naming ceremony. Several City officials attended, including Managing Director Richard Negrin, City Council President Darrell Clarke, Chief Information Officer Adel Ebeid and Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Alan Greenberger.
The predominant theme of the naming ceremony and much of the discussion about N3RD Street is that the renaming is only symbolic and that the real significance of N3RD Street is as a tool for strengthening Philadelphia’s creative community.
– Text, video and images by Chris Montgomery.
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