Idea submitted by Patricia Bullard; photo courtesy of Flickr (Cavalier92)

 

The Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts is a magnet school located on South Broad Street in Carpenter Street in the old Ridgeway Library building. The school is more commonly known as CAPA.

The building itself has had an interesting past. It was first a morgue in the 1700s, then later made a library in 1800s, which later became abandoned and became the unofficial headquarters for drugs and crimes. Finally in 1997 it was finished cleaning up and rebuilt and became the home for CAPA.

From 1993-present CAPA has held and taught many students, and has become a permanent part of the Avenue of the Arts. Some well-known students include all members of R&B group Boyz II Men (though they did not graduate) and Ahmir Thompson and Tariq Trotter of the hip-hop band The Roots.

 

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South Broad Street and Carpenter Street