By March 30, 1791 a second Act enabled the inhabitants of that portion of the Northern Liberties between Vine Street and Pegg's Run (Cohoquinoque Creek) and the middle of Fourth Street and the Delaware River to elect three commissioners to lay taxes for the purpose of lighting, watching and establishing pumps within those bounds.

During the yellow fever epidemics of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Northern Liberties district was hard hit, with many fatalities.

Early in its history, the location just outside Philadelphia allowed the area to thrive in manufacturing, as mills, breweries, leather tanneries, paints and chemical works, tool making factories, and iron and stove foundries once lined the neighborhood.

In 1985, the Northern Liberties Historic District was created, dedicated to preserving the Italianate architecture, Greek revival, and Federal style buildings which characterizes the area.

Like most Philadelphia neighborhoods, the housing stock is primarily made up of rowhouses, although new development in recent times has brought apartment and condominium complexes.

The elevated line's tracks then break away from the expressway's right-of-way to tower over Front Street through the neighborhood as it heads north away from Center City.

The doughboy statue, erected in memory of ward residents who served in World War I, is a long-honored landmark of Northern Liberties.

CBS Philly quoted Forbes.com naming NoLibs as making #14 among their annual list of the 20 “Hippest Hipster Neighborhoods” in America.

Residents south of Poplar Street are zoned to the General Philip Kearny School for grades Kindergarten through 8.

[11] Other schools in Northern Liberties consist of: Residents are served by the Ramonita de Rodriguez Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, which is located at 600 West Girard Avenue.