I found those articles about Am. St. The City took title from CR on June 28, 1978 with the intent of rebuilding American St. between Indiana Ave & Master St. Rebuilding of part of the Berks St. yard was part of the plan. The original plan cost was $20 million. (Phila Inquirer, June 29, 78).
A Phila Daily News followup on Aug. 25, 1980, shows a pic of the rebuilding around Jefferson St. in the single track portion of the line. $11 M was earmarked for the track and street reconstruction. Only 15 of 63 sidings remained after the rebuild. At the time, there were 250 manufacturing plants and 350 firms employing about 10,000 people in the American Street Corridor. Schmidt's Brewey was the largest of these companies. This area was defined as Front to Fifth Streets and from Erie Ave in the north to Poplar St. in the south. Most of the firms that either moved or went out of business since 1978 were replaced by new businesses in the area.
A Phila Bulletin article from Dec 2, 1979, emphasized the problems that business owners were having with crime in the area, including car vandalism and break-in's, along with burgularies. " It's so bad that they smashed through a two-foot brick wall about a year ago to steal $2.70 out of a soda machine." Jerry S. New, President of Furniture Imports Inc, American & Dauphin Sts. "They come right into the building's loading docks and steal CB radios out of the cabs of trucks. The drivers tell us they won't come down here anymore."