During the early 1800s, Mill Creek was used as a water and power supply source by area lumber companies and gristmills.

Sometime after the end of the American Civil War, as Philadelphia's population continued to grow, business and civic leader determined that upgrades were needed to the city's sewer system.

One of the projects involved diverting a section of Mill Creek through an underground brick-covered sewer culvert, which was then covered over by landfill.

[3] The neighborhood was formerly home to the Mill Creek Apartments, a public housing project that was designed by Louis Kahn during the early 1950s.

[4] Its three 17-story highrise project towers were demolished in 2002 and replaced with suburban-style low-rise houses, a development named Lucien Blackwell Homes after the congressman.