1980 Philly Population
Around the Block: 6/6/25
Hi Readers,
Think back to October 1980. (Or Google it if you were just a toddler or not born yet.)
Jimmy Carter was president and was about to lose the following month’s election to a former actor and California Governor by the name of Ronald Reagan. Earlier in the year, the USA defeated the Soviets to take the Lake Placid Winter Olympics hockey gold— the Miracle on Ice. Then we went on to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow, to protest the Soviets’ ill-advised invasion of Afghanistan. (Ironically, the US became embroiled in an unsuccessful invasion of Afghanistan a couple of decades later.) Iran held US hostages throughout the entire year. The country was in”a malaise,” as President Carter had asserted the year before.
Mt St Helens erupted. That was a big one. And Ted Turner launched something referred to as a 24-hour news network. He called it CNN.
12-year-old Jeff’s favorite band at the time was Blondie. Call Me was the biggest hit that year. My favorite album that year was Billy Joel’s Glass Houses. So many awesome records that year!
I clearly recall the saddest musical note of 1980. I was lying in my bed at our family home in Society Hill. It was somewhere around 11 pm, and I was watching Monday Night Football. Ok, let me state that again--I was in 8th grade, it was a school night, I had a TV in my room (my kids will be like “what?!?!)”, and I was apparently allowed to watch an NFL game between the Dolphins and Pats that I can’t imagine I cared about one iota. Wow. Our kids are long asleep by then. Oh, the 1980s.
Also, I probably watched more screens than my kids, and we only had a handful of channels (3, 6, 10, 12, 17, 29 & 48—maybe 57 and Prism), no On Demand, and obviously no devices. Imagine you had to go to the bathroom or get a snack during the commercials, or you missed the show. And to turn the TV off, you had to get up and push the button on the TV itself. At least you got your steps in when you wanted to change the channel.
Well, anyway, I am watching this riveting AFC East showdown when Howard Cosell solemnly and very dramatically announced that John Lennon was shot and killed—Cosell’s famous words, “Dead on Arrival.” I was rocked that night, and it is a moment of my life, so many decades later, that I will never forget.
On a personal and much more positive note, I became a Bar Mitzvah on October 25th, 1980—at Society Hill Synagogue. And what happened that week that was even more important to me than my Bar Mitzvah? Much more important, actually—the Philadelphia Phillies, led by the greatest 3rd baseman of all time, won their first ever World Series—October 21, 1980.
In 1980, I was in 7th grade at St Peter’s and then in the Fall started 8th grade at Friends Select. City Hall’s Billy Penn towered over the rest of the city. I took the 42 bus to school and hung out at Supercade on Chestnut Street (more screens again!), on South Street, and in Rittenhouse Square.
Then, as now, I was as proud a Philadelphian as they come. No one called me City back then, but my love of Philly always shone through. And one thing I was so proud of throughout my childhood was that Philly was the fourth-largest city in the United States. Sure, we hadn’t had 2,000,000 residents since 1960, and we were no longer the nation’s largest city (we arguably were in 1790, but even then, it may have officially been NYC). And we were no longer the 2nd largest (Chicago became the Second City in 1890). And we were no longer 3rd (LA took that place in 1960). But we were 4th, and for little Jeff Block, that was simply amazing!
In 2025, I have the same passion for population statistics I did back then, and while (spoiler alert) we are no longer 4th, we are holding our own. And Center City is actually more populous than when I was a kid.
In upcoming ATBs, I will periodically visit different eras and provide different takes on Philly’s population throughout the years. I am looking forward to it.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Warm regards,
Jeff