Early settlers were fishermen, and over time they controlled the fishing rights to both sides of the Delaware River, from Cape May to the falls at Trenton.

The apocryphal local legend traces the name of Fishtown to Charles Dickens, who purportedly visited the neighborhood in March 1842, but records show this to be false, as it was named Fishtown prior to his visit, at least as early as 1808, as evidenced in a newspaper article in The Tickler, an early 19th century Philadelphia newspaper.

Using proceeds from the sale of the Hope Farm estate (present day Port Richmond), which included three slaves named Abraham, Hannibal, and Phillis,[7] Palmer purchased the Fairman Estate in 1729 and laid out his town and sold parcels to the local fishermen and shipbuilders.

It is believed that the cemetery was in use from about the time Palmer started to lay out the town of Kensington, but the actual date of the first burial is unknown.)

St. Laurentius was sold to private developers and was to be turned into apartments, but became embroiled in legal disputes for years.

[8] The neighborhood had been working class for centuries; while poverty grew after jobs left during the deindustrialization era, which afflicted many "rust belt" cities, Fishtown's workers continued to maintain a stable working-class community.

[11] Since 2005 Fishtown has experienced moderate gentrification characterized by significant rises in housing prices and the opening of upscale art, entertainment, and dining establishments.

An influx of artists and professionals has joined the ranks of police officers, fire fighters, nurses, carpenters, electricians, stonemasons, plumbers, sheet-metal workers, and teamsters.

[citation needed] The neighborhood was partially filmed in and is a focal point in several episodes of the 2020 AMC television series Dispatches from Elsewhere, created by and starring Jason Segel.