Philadelphia and the World

France and the French

Philadelphia’s long connection with France and the Francophone world took shape over several centuries. In 1889, French Philadelphians commissioned the Saint Joan of Arc statue on Kelly Drive.

German Reformed Church

The German Reformed Church played a role in developing the religious landscape of southeastern Pennsylvania.

Dinosaurs and Paleontology

The Philadelphia area has played a major part in paleontology, yielding discoveries that have helped to illuminate millions of years of existence. Fossils found at the former Inversand Quarry in Sewell, N.J., date to the Cretaceous Period.

Ceramics

Innovative ceramic makers and entrepreneurs in the Philadelphia region produced a spectrum of utilitarian pottery and refined luxury goods. The American China Manufactory began operations near the Delaware River waterfront in 1770.

Fabric Row

A textile and garment district emerged on South Fourth Street during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as immigrants transformed the neighborhood into a Jewish Quarter.

Saws and Saw Making

Philadelphia ranked as one of the nation’s foremost saw manufacturing centers for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By the mid-nineteenth century a number of major saw manufacturers operated in the city, including the world’s largest, Henry Disston’s Keystone Saw Works.

Silver Linings Playbook

The Oscar-winning 2012 movie 'Silver Linings Playbook' was filmed in and around Philadelphia, including the Llanerch Diner in Upper Darby, Delaware County.

Silk and Silk Makers

Philadelphia became one of the nation's major manufacturers of silk in the early nineteenth century. The city's most well-known silk goods maker, Horstmann & Sons, was located at Fifth and Cherry Streets.

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Over eighteen years, from 1771 until his death, Benjamin Franklin composed his autobiography. His legacy is immortalized at the Benjamin Franklin Museum in Center City.

Pharmaceutical Industry

Philadelphia played a key role in the birth of the American pharmaceutical industry during the early nineteenth century. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now USciences) was the nation's first pharmacy college.

Soccer

Soccer has been played in the Philadelphia area since the late nineteenth century. Hundreds of leagues, clubs, and professional associations remain active. The Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer plays home matches at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester.

American Friends Service Committee

The AFSC, founded by Philadelphia Quakers in 1917, coordinated pre- and postwar relief projects across the world starting in the twentieth century. Many members attended the Germantown Friends Meeting House.

Slovaks and Slovakia

Slovak immigrants made important contributions to Philadelphia industries from iron and steel to leather and textiles. Many Slovak artisans did wirework for the city at factories such as this now-converted location on Race Street.

Mennonites

German Mennonites were among the first settlers in Philadelphia in the early 1680s. The 1770 Germantown Meetinghouse remains open as a museum and historic site.

International Peace Mission Movement and Father Divine

The religious Peace Mission Movement was known for its civil rights activism as well as its 'cultic' qualities. The Divine Lorraine Hotel in North Philadelphia hosted many of the Mission's social welfare activities.

Environmental Movement

Industrial sites like the Philadelphia Coke Co. plant in Bridesburg brought Philadelphians to the forefront of the environmental movement after World War II. Local residents continue to be active in environmental justice concerns.

Irish (The) and Ireland

Located here is a memorial to the Irish people and their suffering during the Great Famine between 1845-1850, the famine was one of many motivating factors for the Irish to immigrate to the United States.

Mexican-American War

Despite taking place in the American Southwest and Central America, the Mexican-American War (1845-48) had significant ties to the Philadelphia area. A monument to soldiers killed in the war stands in Philadelphia National Cemetery.

Independence Seaport Museum

The Independence Seaport Museum is home to an extensive collection of the Greater Delaware Valley's maritime history and two iconic vessels, the Becuna submarine and the USS Olympia.

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

The Greater Philadelphia area's position near the Atlantic Ocean has always made it vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms. When storms make landfall, the coast is particularly vulnerable due to seawalls and storm surge.

Black Power

The Black Power movement came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s. From a storefront headquarters, the Philadelphia Black Panther Party distributed free lunches and information about the organization.

South Asians

South Asians arrived in Philadelphia after changes in immigration policy, lured by university and skilled employment. Here they established businesses, cultural organizations, and religious centers, including several suburban Hindu Temples.

Rock Music and Culture (Late 1960s to Present)

The Electric Factory was opened in 1968 by club promoters, the Spivack brothers. The rock club featured artists such as Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix. After the closing of the original club, a second Electric Factory was opened in 1995. The concert venue eventually joined forces with a concert promotion company to form Live Nation Entertainment.

Gas Stations

From designs evoking Greek temples built at the dawn of the automobile age to the ubiquitous utilitarian structures of the twenty-first century, gas stations have become a fixture of the Philadelphia area's landscape.

Cold War

During the period of international political and military tension known as the Cold War (1947-91), Greater Philadelphia served as a first line of defense, and the era is recalled by the Korean War Memorial at Penn's Landing.

Philadelphia Navy Yard

The history of the Philadelphia Navy Yard has been one of constant struggle, repeatedly staring down imminent closure only to be saved at the last second by stalwart local politicians or a timely military conflict. The Navy Yard, located on League Island, operated for 120 years.

Nativism

On the borders of Philadelphia's neighborhoods, including Kensington, clashes between nativists and immigrants between the 1720s and the 1920s helped to set the boundaries of the city as well as define the limits of American citizenship.

Nuclear Power

The late twentieth century proliferation of nuclear power plants and a partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating station led to widespread protests. The PECO building in Philadelphia was a frequent target.

Pacific World (Connections and Impact)

Philadelphia's connections to the Pacific World are as old as the city itself, including early participation in the China Trade and the first Japanese gardens in the United States at the Centennial Exhibition.

Fashion

Fashion played an important role in Philadelphia’s development as a center for retail and manufacturing. Boutiques like Sophy Curson have provided Philadelphians with couture.

Anglican Church (Church of England)

Completed in 1753, Christ Church was a meeting place for Anglicans before the American War for Independence.

Scots Irish (Scotch Irish)

Presbyterian minister William Tennent founded this school in 1726 to train evangelically minded clergy. Critics mocked Tennent for attempting to educate poor country boys, derisively referring to his academy as the “Log College.”

Toy Manufacturing

Philadelphia helped define the toy industry in the United States with simple yet engaging toys that became beloved by generations. Schoenhut's Humpty Dumpty Circus featured a camel, which is now housed at the Philadelphia History Museum at Atwater Kent.

Dutch (The) and The Netherlands

The Old Dutch House in New Castle, Delaware, dates to the seventeenth century and is believed to be one of the oldest houses in Delaware. Henry Hudson, who was employed by the Dutch East India Company, anchored in Delaware Bay in 1609, and claimed the country for the Dutch.

Musical Fund Society

A predecessor for the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Musical Fund Society formed in 1820 to promote professional and amateur musical talent in Philadelphia. For many years, the society operated Musical Fund Hall, the center of Philadelphia's music scene.

Opera and Opera Houses

Philadelphia was once home to a number of opera houses that served as venues for its many opera companies. Three of these venues remain standing, including North Broad Street's Metropolitan Opera House.

Thrift

Sara Louisa Oberholtzer (1841-1930), a native of Uwchlan, Chester County, gained national stature through promoting and directing the School Savings Bank Movement.

Botany

Botanical enthusiasts, like John Bartram with his house and garden at this location, explored the world around them as part of a larger interest in natural history. Botany became integral to the Philadelphia region’s national and international reputation.

Korea and Koreans

Koreans became one of the top ten new immigrant groups in the Philadelphia region by 1970. Korean businesses grew in Montgomery County communities such as Elkins Park and Cheltenham.

Bicycles

Philadelphia's love affair with the bicycle began with its public debut at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, held in Fairmount Park. A plethora of recreational bike trails and a bike sharing program provide cyclists with new options in the twenty first century.

Bartram’s Garden

Established in 1729 by John Bartram, Bartram's Garden is the oldest botanical garden in the United States.

Clocks and Clockmakers

Clockmakers beginning in the colonial era have made clocks that have become Philadelphia landmarks, including the Thomas Stretch clock at Independence Hall.

Classical Music

Philadelphia has been home to prestigious classical music groups, venues, and schools like the Settlement Music School. Composers in Philadelphia also wrote the first classical pieces penned in the American colonies.

Italians and Italy

Italian immigration of the late nineteenth century set the stage for a large Italian influence on Greater Philadelphia, most obviously in the Italian Market of South Philadelphia.

Art of Cecilia Beaux

Known for portraiture, Cecilia Beaux studied and taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, located at Broad and Cherry Streets.

Mummies

Mummies have captured the imagination and sparked the curiosity of Philadelphians since the Colonial Era. The city held public unwrappings in the nineteenth century and is home to several important collections, including the holdings of the Penn Museum.

Literary Societies

Literary Societies provided Philadelphia's elite with a place for intellectual and artistic discourse. Some, like the Acorn and Rittenhouse Clubs, remained active in the twenty-first century.

Philadelphia Maritime Exchange

The Philadelphia Maritime Exchange helped turn Philadelphia into a premier port in the U.S. Its legacy is preserved in the collections of the Independence Seaport Museum on Columbus Boulevard along the Delaware River.

Genealogy

The study of genealogy transformed from a pursuit of the elite in the nineteenth century into the most democratic field of historical research. The National Archives at Philadelphia holds historical records spanning from 1789 to the 1970s.

Mexicans and Mexico

Mexicans became the region’s second-largest immigrant group in the early twenty-first century, impacting the region's culture and economy. The Mexican Cultural Center of Philadelphia is in the Bourse Building, near Independence Hall.

ENIAC

Unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering in 1946, the world's first nontechnical computer, the ENIAC, consisted of 40 nine-foot-high cabinets containing 18,000 vacuum tubes, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches, and 1,500 relays.

Freemasonry

Philadelphia was one of the first American cities with a branch of the fraternal society known as the Freemasons, whose ornate temple in Philadelphia is one of the most prominent in all of Freemasonry.

Hotels and Motels

Philadelphia became an early leader in hotel development, introducing innovations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel was widely considered to be the most extravagant hotel in the country.

Smoking and Smoking Regulations

Tobacco has been smoked in the Philadelphia area for social, medicinal, and religious uses since the precolonial era. N.W. Ayer & Son on Washington Square created ads for both R.J. Reynolds’ and Phillip Morris Companies.

Furnituremaking

An abundance of local and imported woods, a large immigrant population, and a bustling port combined to make Philadelphia one of the centers of American furniture making in the Colonial and Early Republic eras. Many examples are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Convents

Convents—communities of women devoted to religious life—in the Greater Philadelphia area have played a big role in the education of youth and in social services for communities since the nineteenth century. The Convent of Divine Love is on Green Street.

Crowds (Colonial and Revolution Eras)

Ordinary people helped shape the political culture by engaging in public celebrations, civil disorder, and, occasionally, collective violence. Crowds in the State House yard, for instance, heard and cheered the Declaration of Independence.

Militia

Volunteer militias protected the Philadelphia region during wars and riots from the Colonial era to the Civil War. Cliveden, the home of Benjamin Chew, had a role in the Battle of Germantown in October 1777.

Philadelphia Ten

The Philadelphia Ten was all-women’s group of painters and sculptors that exhibited together for nearly thirty years starting in 1917. Works of the Ten can be found at Woodmere Museum of Art on Germantown Avenue.

Greek War for Independence

During the Greek War for Independence (1821-28), Philadelphians helped arouse public sentiment in favor of the Greeks and raised money and provisions to aid the cause. The Second Bank was modeled on the Parthenon of Athens.

Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans

Relations between Philadelphia and Puerto Rico reach back to colonial times. Today, North Fifth Street's “El Bloque de Oro,” or “Golden Block,” remains a vibrant neighborhood of Latino culture and commerce.

Listen to the Mockingbird

'Listen to the Mockingbird' was written in 1855 by Septimus Winner, who lived and worked at a studio at 1706 N. Sixteenth Street in his later life.

Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War had a significant influence on Philadelphia, and the USS Olympia, the flagship of the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, is permanently moored as Penn's Landing.

Automobile Racing

In 1926, the National Motor Racing Association constructed one of the nation’s first purpose-built dirt speedways in Langhorne.

Cycling (Sport)

The Philadelphia International Cycling Classic made famous the “Manayunk wall,” where thousands of spectators lined Lyceum Avenue to watch cyclists ascend the 285-foot climb with a 17 percent grade at its steepest segment.

Pennsylvania Prison Society

Spurred by reports of deplorable conditions at the Walnut Street Jail, a nondenominational group of religiously motivated activists set out to reform Philadelphia's prisons. Their reforms soon spread to prisons around the world.

Cricket

Seeking to emulate the British gentry, Philadelphians took up the sport of cricket with gusto. In the late nineteenth century, the city produced some of the best American cricketers ever. Many played at the Philadelphia Cricket Club on Willow Grove Avenue.

New Year’s Traditions

From a quiet holiday for visiting friends, to Mummers and fireworks, Philadelphians have always loved to celebrate New Year's. With new immigrants came new holiday traditions. The Mummers Museum is on 'Two Street.'

Tomato Pie

Southern Italian immigrants brought recipes from their homeland to Philadelphia including tomato pie, a pizza-like creation with a thick crust, tomato gravy, and a dusting of cheese. Sarcone's on Ninth Street is one of the purveyors.

Locomotive Manufacturing

Baldwin Locomotive dominated the steam-locomotive business. In 1906 alone, the Baldwin Locomotive Works produced 2,666 steam locomotives and employed more than eighteen thousand workers at its facilities on North Broad Street.

Deindustrialization

High labor costs, evolving technology, and changing tastes led industry to flee Philadelphia, leaving in its wake unemployment and scarred neighborhoods. At Broad and Lehigh, the Botany 500 building once was a Ford plant where soldiers' helmets were produced for WWI.

Helicopters

Philadelphia was the cradle of the nation's rotary-wing aviation in the twentieth century. The Piasecki Aircraft Corporation, formed in 1955 and located in Essington, produced the world’s first shaft-driven compound helicopter in 1962.

Hinterlands (Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries)

The bounty of the hinterlands helped fuel Philadelphia's progress. Hopewell Furnace, like other iron forges in the region during the colonial and early republic periods, supplied iron necessary for industry.

British Occupation of Philadelphia

On September 26, 1777, the British army marched into Philadelphia, beginning an occupation that lasted until the following spring. For nearly seven weeks, British resupply was impeded by Fort Mifflin on the Delaware.

Nigerians and Nigeria

Nigerians became the second-largest African population in the Delaware Valley early in the twenty-first century, leading development of the new Pan-Africanism. The African Cultural Center is on Springfield Avenue.

Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Based on plans by Paul Cret and Jacques Gréber, much of the Fairmount Parkway (renamed Benjamin Franklin Parkway) including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Library, and Logan Circle, was completed or under construction by 1930.

City Beautiful Movement

The City Beautiful Movement had significant influence on Philadelphia, including Rittenhouse Square, redesigned in 1913 with diagonal walkways, fountains, tree plantings, and sculptures. 'Billy' is a public favorite at the southwest corner.

China Trade

Philadelphians participated enthusiastically in trade with China after the Revolution, importing silks, tea, and porcelain into the city—often by illegally smuggling opium into China. The Philadelphia Seaport Museum is on Columbus Boulevard at Penn's Landing.

Kwanzaa

The Philadelphia area has been especially active in celebrating Kwanzaa, an African cultural holiday that emerged out of the Black Nationalist Movement of the 1960s. Kwanzaa is observed in many locations, including the African American Museum on Arch Street.

Liberians and Liberia

Greater Philadelphia has had close links to Liberia since free blacks and abolitionists helped colonize Liberia’s founding in the early nineteenth century. In recent times, many Liberians fled violence at home, and for some the escape route led to 'Little Monrovia” along Woodland Avenue near Sixty-Sixth Street.

Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War era, demonstrations were common at JFK Plaza near City Hall as well as symbolic sites such as the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

Artisans

Artisans played a central role in the formation of Philadelphia’s pre-Revolutionary economy. Though they declined after the Revolution, some organizations like the Carpenters' Company--whose hall on Chestnut Street still stands--keep the tradition alive.

Disease and Epidemics

Philadelphia suffered many epidemics in its early years, and Pennsylvania Hospital on Spruce Street was in the forefront of battling them. Most were overcome by the early twentieth century, but some, like polio and HIV, posed new challenges.

Boxing and Boxers

In 1961, the legendary Blue Horizon opened its doors to professional boxing shows on North Broad Street in North Philadelphia. For most Philadelphia boxing fans who packed the hall, the former Moose Hall was Mecca.

Mummers

The Mummers Parade got its start in 1901 and became one of Philadelphia most iconic traditions. The Mummers Museum at Second and Washington celebrates their history and traditions.

Korean War

The early 1950s conflict between North Korea and South Korea had a big impact on Greater Philadelphia, leading to a surge in shipbuilding employment and the deaths of hundreds of local servicemen.

Chemical Industry

Greater Philadelphia was a chemical center from the eighteenth century. In 1864, Harrison Brothers opened a massive facility on Gray's Ferry Avenue. In 1917, DuPont purchased the entire Harrison Brothers enterprise.

Root Beer

Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires presented his version of root beer at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. His factory at 117-119 Arch Street opened in the late nineteenth century.

Public Health

Philadelphia has waged public health campaigns across its history, including America's first almshouse and walk-in public health clinic and the Lazaretto Quarantine Station.

Privateering

Philadelphia's large port made it a hotbed for privateering, the legal capture of enemy ships by private citizens. This career could be lucrative and some privateers built large estates with their earnings.

Ornithology

Many pioneers in the field of ornithology called Philadelphia home, including Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon, who was based near a town that changed its name to Audubon.

Academy of Natural Sciences

Since the early nineteenth century, the Academy of Natural Sciences has sought to fulfill a dual mission of scientific discovery and the diffusion of knowledge.

Refineries (Oil)

Philadelphia emerged as a petroleum hub in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1926, Aero Service Corporation captured aerial views of the Atlantic Refining Company in South Philadelphia.

Funerals and Burial Practices

Burial and funeral rituals have served to honor the dead and comfort the living. The Museum of Mourning Art in Drexel Hill tells the story of funerals through the ages.

Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania

The first medical school in the world for women authorized to award them the M.D., Woman's Medical College moved to this location In 1862.

Military Bases

Since the American Revolution era, military bases have shifted in size and economic impact during times of war and peace. The Naval Shipyard in South Philadelphia, where 22,000 workers once built ships, became The Navy Yard office park.

Coffeehouses

Coffeehouses have been an integral part of the region's social fabric since the eighteenth century. The Old London near the Delaware River waterfront was Philadelphia’s leading coffeehouse in the 1760s, owned by printer William Bradford.

Loyalists

During the American Revolution, Loyalists (“Tories”) included prominent Pennsylvania political and religious leaders as well as many less affluent individuals. A historical marker stands at the site of a Loyalist raid in Bucks County.

Public Markets

Public markets in Philadelphia belong to an ancient tradition of urban food provisioning. The Reading Terminal, which opened in 1892, opened a new era for urban food marketing and distribution.

Scientific Societies

Since the colonial era, Philadelphia scientists have formed scientific societies. Many, including the Wagner Free Institute of Science in North Philadelphia, still exist and operate museums.

American Philosophical Society

Established in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin and John Bartram to 'promote useful knowledge,' the American Philosophical Society brought renown to colonial scientists. It continues its intellectual pursuits on Fifth Street near Walnut.

Society of Friends (Quakers)

Philadelphia was Quaker William Penn's 'holy experiment' in founding a colony of virtuous Quakers. The influence of the church can still be felt today, and the Arch Street Meeting House still stands.

Philadelphia Story (The)

Philip Barry's play about Philadelphia's Main Line society spawned an Academy Award winning film and a musical and was credited with reviving Katharine Hepburn's flagging career. Ardrossan in Villanova was Helen Hope Montgomery Scott's family estate.

New Sweden

Though it existed for less than twenty years, the colony of New Sweden had lasting effects on the Greater Philadelphia area. Historical sites from the colony remain standing to this day.

Log Cabins

Scandinavians introduced the log cabin to America when they settled New Sweden in 1638. The Lower Swedish Log Cabin in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, exemplified the typical seventeenth-century Swedish design.

Surveying (Colonial)

Land, the most valuable commodity during the colonial era, had to be surveyed before it could be granted or transferred. Pennsylvania's first surveyor-general, Thomas Holme, is commemorated with a marker on Holme Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.

Down There

This intersection is considered the beginning of the Port Richmond neighborhood, which was the setting of the novel Down There and home of author David Goodis.

Astronomy

Philadelphians embraced the study of astronomy from an early date. As early as 1769, the American Philosophical Society's tracking that year's transit of Venus, spearhead by David Rittenhouse of Norriton, gained transatlantic scientific attention.

Pennsylvania (Founding)

In 1681 the king of England granted William Penn a charter to found Pennsylvania, but the colony did not evolve exactly as Penn had foreseen it. Among the First Purchasers were Germans who called their section Germantown.

Country Clubs

Country clubs originated in the 1890s as elite, family-oriented havens usually emphasizing golf. Among the earliest clubs was the Philadelphia Country Club, now located in Gladwyne.

The Red City

Written by S. Weir Mitchell, <i>The Red City</i> was set in 1790s Philadelphia, a place divided by the Federalists and Republicans and a place that served as a refuge for French emigres. The President's House served as the office and residence for President George Washington.

Philadelphia Orchestra

Founded in 1900, the Philadelphia Orchestra developed into an iconic organization for Philadelphia and cultural ambassador to the world. The orchestra's home is the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Garbage Barge (Khian Sea)

The waste ash that was loaded onto the Khian Sea and spent years being moved around the world originated in Roxborough at the Northwest Incinerator, which is no longer in use.

Tourism

Visitors have been drawn to Philadelphia since its earliest days. Over time, tourism promoters sought to capitalize on history while also celebrating the city as modern and exciting. The Independence Visitor Center promotes sites throughout the region.

Legionnaires’ Disease

The 1976 Legionnaire's disease outbreak centered on the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, where the disease's victims had gathered for an annual American Legion convention.

Slinky

For generations, children and adults have taken delight in the springy toy known as the Slinky, invented by a Philadelphia shipyard engineer in 1945. Through 1998, James Industries made the toy on Richmond Street on the edge of Fishtown.

Medicine (Colonial Era)

Philadelphia was a center of disease and medical exploration during the colonial period, and Pennsylvania Hospital at Eighth and Pine Streets was one of the first hospitals in the colonies.

Herpetology (Study of Amphibians and Reptiles)

Amphibians and reptiles fostered rich scientific discussions among early Philadelphia naturalists, including William Bartram and Charles Willson Peale, and the Academy of Natural Sciences published research on the subject.

Dentistry and Dentists

Innovative dentists in Philadelphia helped to shape dental care, procedures, and tools. The S.S. White firm, with a factory located here in the 1880s, became a premier manufacturer of dental tools.

ODUNDE Festival

Drawing inspiration from African cultural heritage, specifically the Oshun Festival of the Yoruba people in Nigeria, the annual ODUNDE Festival draws thousands to South Philadelphia.

Saint Patrick’s Day

Once a religious holiday and a political parade, Saint Patrick’s Day transformed over two centuries into a largely secular celebration reflecting the changing culture of Philadelphia’s Irish population and of the city at large.

First Purchasers of Pennsylvania

The First Purchasers were several hundred people and groups who initially bought land from William Penn's, including a group of German investors, led by Daniel Pastorius, who received 15,000 acres that became Germantown.

Commercial Museum

Founded in 1897, the Commercial Museum promoted the merits of international trade. Later renamed the Civic Center Museum, it closed in 1994.

Philadelphia Board of Trade

The Merchants' Exchange was an early home of the Philadelphia Board of Trade, which promoted economic development.

Anatomy and Anatomy Education

As the chief medical city in the United States during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Philadelphia also became the leading center of anatomical education. The Mütter Museum offers evidence of that, including an vast collection of skeletons.

Gunpowder

Long synonymous with the name DuPont, the Mid-Atlantic gunpowder industry flourished in the nineteenth century along the Brandywine River in Delaware. The industry began in 1802 along the banks of the Brandywine.

The Garies and Their Friends

The central event in the novel, 'The Garies and Their Friends,' is a graphically-rendered race riot, evoking the historical riots of 1834, 1838, 1842, and 1849. One of these riots, the Lombard Street Riot, has a historical marker located at Sixth and Lombard Streets.

Revolutionary Crisis (American Revolution)

On the night of September 16, 1765, a large mob gathered at the State House to target individuals associated with the Stamp Act, including Ben Franklin.

Philadelphia (Warship)

Philadelphians raised money in one week during June 1798 to build the USS Philadelphia to help increase American naval power to protect commerce. The frigate was built at Humphrey’s & Wharton Shipyard on the Delaware River.

Films (Feature)

Philadelphia has been used as the setting of many recent films, but the industry's history in the city dates back to its very birth in the 1890s. In the early 1900s, Lubin Studios in North Philadelphia was a pioneer in silent film production.

U.S. Presidency (1790-1800)

Although the federal government under the U.S. Constitution went into operation in New York, the capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790. George Washington lived in the President's House, as did John Adams when he succeeded Washington.

Point Breeze, Joseph Bonaparte’s Country Estate

Joseph Bonaparte, older brother to Napoleon and former king of Spain, lived in an opulent New Jersey estate in the years after his brother's fall from power.

Pipelines

The discovery of oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and the drilling of the first successful well in 1859 led to an oil revolution. Soon pipelines emerged as a key to oil transport, and pipeline growth continues today. Some lines reach refineries at Marcus Hook, near the state line between Pennsylvania and Delaware.

'Sheppard Lee'

The novel 'Sheppard Lee' became famous in its day for its literary style and social commentary as its namesake character's soul migrated into the bodies of recently deceased acquaintances. Author Robert Montgomery Bird lived at 247 S. Tenth Street.

Gothic Literature

Philadelphia is the birthplace of gothic literature in America. One of its early purveyors was Edgar Allan Poe, who lived in Philadelphia for six years. His home at 530 N. Seventh Street is a national historical site.

Meschianza

The Meschianza, an elaborate send-off for Gen. William Howe, was held on a plain between the Delaware River and the Walnut Grove estate at what is now Washington Avenue and South Fifth Street.

Chinatown

Settled by Chinese migrants in the 1870s, Philadelphia’s Chinatown grew over the course of the twentieth century from a small ethnic enclave on the outskirts of Skid Row to a vibrant family community in the heart of Center City. Threatened by urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s, Chinatown residents marshaled the redevelopment process to rebuild and expand their community over the course of the late twentieth century. This legacy of activism continued to inform struggles against gentrification and for affordable housing, education, and community self-determination. While Chinese and other Asian immigrants dispersed throughout the greater Philadelphia area, Chinatown remained as a central touchstone for Asian life in the region.

Pirates

Pirates were a concern for Philadelphia In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and continued to use the city as a staging area after 1730.

Billiards/Pool

The first men's club in Philadelphia to offer billiards to its members appears to have been the Philadelphia Club, which added a billiards room to its new facility at Thirteenth and Walnut Streets in 1849.

Papal Visits

The public Mass held by Pope John Paul II on Logan Circle on October 3, 1979, drew more than a million people, by police estimates, stretching on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from City Hall to the Art Museum and beyond.

Quasi-War

As the national capital from 1790 to 1800, Philadelphia was the seat of the federal government as President John Adams handled the Quasi-War, an undeclared war between the United States and France.

Tun Tavern

For nearly a hundred years from 1693 to 1781, Tun Tavern served residents and visitors of Philadelphia near the Delaware River waterfront with food, spirits, and sociability.

Plantations

Small farms and larger properties called plantations drove the Mid-Atlantic's colonial economy. The Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation is a living history site focusing on 1760-90 farm life in southeast Pennsylvania.

Maps and Mapmaking

In the nineteenth century, Philadelphia became the center of the American map publishing industry. Franklin Maps in King of Prussia carries on that tradition today.

Lewis and Clark Expedition

The American Philosophical Society, located here in Philosophical Hall, received specimens from Lewis and Clark's expedition to the West.

Pennsylvania Impressionism

Pennsylvania Impressionist painting flourished in eastern Pennsylvania in the first half of the twentieth century. Often referred to as the “New Hope School” because artists in Bucks County produced the best-known works, the style was also practiced vigorously in Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, and Lehigh Counties, and key artists of the movement taught at the Pennsylvania […]

Common Sense

Written by Thomas Paine and published by Robert Bell's print shop at this location on January 10, 1776, the pamphlet Common Sense helped rally support for independence.

Arts and Crafts Movement

The Arts and Crafts movement evolved against the backdrop of increasing industrialization. The movement's art-focused communities included Rose Valley, established near Moylan, Pennsylvania, in 1901.

West New Jersey

Between 1674 and 1702, New Jersey was divided in half, with the West New Jersey colony facing the Delaware River. Settlements like Burlington retained a distinct political and social identity, even after falling into Philadelphia's economic orbit.

Philadelphia Campaign

Having already captured New York in 1776, British General Sir William Howe devised a campaign to capture Philadelphia in 1777. Howe was able to occupy the city on September 26 of that year. Fort Mifflin, located on Mud Island, was bombarded to open a supply line to the occupied city.

Native American-Pennsylvania Relations, 1754-89

From 1754-89, relations between Pennsylvania and native tribes eroded badly. By 1789, only one enclave remained, as others were pushed westward or killed in fights with settlers. Near Conestoga, Pa., was the site of a massacre by the Paxton Boys.

Constitutional Convention of 1787

The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787, at Independence Hall (then known as the Pennsylvania State House) to draft the United States Constitution.

Airports

Commercial aviation in the Philadelphia area grew dramatically in the twentieth century. Philadelphia's municipal airport expanded into an international hub for commercial airlines and businesses.

Duffy’s Cut

At Duffy’s Cut, a railroad construction site in Chester County, Pennsylvania, fifty-seven Irish immigrant railroad workers died amid a cholera epidemic in the summer of 1832 and were buried in a mass grave.

Capital of the United States

As the national capital from 1790 to 1800, Philadelphia was the seat of the federal government for a short but crucial time in the new nation’s history.

Forts and Fortifications

Forts and other defenses on the Delaware River and, later, along the Atlantic coast guarded Philadelphia and other commercial centers during times of military jeopardy. Fort Mifflin and other surviving forts serve as reminders of the key role forts played in the region's economic, political, and social history.

Tastykake

"Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake" has been a brand tag line known by virtually every Philadelphian for a century. Indeed, few things are as iconically associated with the city and region as Tastykakes.

Seven Years’ War

By supplying provisions to British military troops or providing safety in the form of row houses on Pine Street for 450 Acadians fleeing Nova Scotia, Philadelphia played a significant role in the Seven Years' War.

Colonization Movement (Africa)

The African colonization movement was a nineteenth century attempt to resettle free Black people from North America to countries like Liberia. The Pennsylvania Colonization Society had offices here, and raised funds for the costs of traveling to Liberia.

Scrapple

Scrapple, a popular regional breakfast dish made of pig parts and cornmeal, was first mass produced at Habersett Pork Products (located in Middletown Township) in 1863.

Hog Island

Hog Island was once an agricultural island in the Delaware River until the Twentieth Century, when sands and soils from river dredging connected it to the shore. The new, featureless, land was suitable for industry and development.

U.S. Congress (1790-1800)

The U. S. Congress met in Philadelphia for ten years, testing the endurance of the Constitution and set the groundwork for future political practice.

Native Peoples to 1680

Through shared economic goals and common values of peace, individual freedom, and cultural openness, the Lenapes and their European allies established the ideals of Delaware Valley society before William Penn received his land grant in 1681. A statue of Lenape leader Tamanend stands at Front and Market Streets.

Columbus Day

Although Christopher Columbus never sailed to Philadelphia, memorials and annual celebrations since the nineteenth century have reminded generations about his historic voyage.

Immigration and Migration (Colonial Era)

Diverse peoples immigrating or migrating from Europe, Africa, and other American colonies before the Revolutionary War turned Philadelphia into colonial America's largest city.

Fort Wilson

On October 4, 1779, the house of James Wilson went from being the residence of a wealthy Philadelphia merchant to becoming a stronghold against a rowdy group of militiamen taking action against war profiteers.

World War I

Although the United States’ involvement in World War I lasted just over a year, the conflict in Europe had a lasting impact on the Philadelphia region. The war created new opportunities for the region's industrial base, including the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden.

Medical Publishing

Washington Square in the early twentieth-century served as the nexus for three of Philadelphia's most prominent medical publishers. Medical students throughout the country read textbooks and manuals produced by these medical publishers.

Immigration (1870-1930)

During the national explosion of immigration that took place between 1870 and the 1920s, the Philadelphia region became more diverse as it was energized by German, Italian, Jewish, and Spanish immigrants who changed the character of the places they settled.

Automats

Beloved by generations of diners and immortalized in art, song, cinema, and poetic verse, Automats, also known as “automatics” or “waiterless restaurants,” were popular manifestations of an early-twentieth century modernizing impulse.

African American Migration

People of African descent have migrated to Philadelphia since the seventeenth century. Although African Americans faced discrimination, disfranchisement, and periodic race riots in the 1800s, the community attracted tens of thousands of people during World War I's Great Migration.

Sullivan Principles

Philadelphia civil rights leader Leon H. Sullivan first came to Philadelphia to pastor Zion Baptist Church. The Global Sullivan Principles represent one of the twentieth century’s most powerful attempts to effect social justice through economic leverage.

Insurance

The development of insurance products in Philadelphia changed the way the city developed and connected Philadelphia to larger financial markets around the world.

Recording Industry

In Camden, New Jersey, the Victor Company in the early 1900s was nation’s largest manufacturer of musical recordings.

Settlement Houses

The settlement house movement spread to Philadelphia in the 1890s as a large influx of needy immigrants and unsanitary conditions in the city attracted the attention of middle-class, college-educated reformers.

Knights of Labor

The Knights of Labor, the first national industrial union in the United States, was founded in Philadelphia on December 9, 1869. By mid-1886 nearly one million laborers called themselves Knights.

Haitian Revolution

During the decade the federal capital was in Philadelphia, United States policy toward St. Domingue changed substantially. Important policy decisions emanated from the presidential residence.

Immigration (1790-1860)

The revival of immigration to Philadelphia and its surrounding region in the early nineteenth century provided one of the most powerful elements in reshaping the city's society. The German Society of Pennsylvania assisted German newcomers in finding jobs and housing.

Great Depression

The region experienced severe economic hardship and fundamental change during the Great Depression. The Erie National Bank of Philadelphia, shown here, suffered a bank run in 1931.

Immigration (1930-Present)

For most of the decades since the United States’ immigration restriction acts of the 1920s, Philadelphia was not a major destination for immigrants, but at the end of the twentieth century the region re-emerged as a significant gateway.

Paints and Varnishes

In the U.S., Philadelphians initiated the transition from imports and small-scale preparation to large-scale manufacturing of paint materials. Samuel Wetherill Jr. erected a factory in 1809 to produce lead pigments.

Roman Catholic Education (Elementary and Secondary)

For more than three centuries Parochial schools in the Philadelphia region have responded to the changing characteristics of the region’s Catholic population.

Nativist Riots of 1844

On May 8, anti-immigrant mobs torched several private dwellings, a Catholic seminary, and two Catholic churches: St. Michael’s and St. Augustine’s.

Centennial Exhibition (1876)

Modeled after the Crystal Palace Great Exhibition in London, the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 exhibited national pride and belief in the importance of education and progress through industrial innovation.

Shipbuilding and Shipyards

Philadelphia and surrounding southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey riverfront ports developed one of the greatest shipbuilding regions in the United States.

Slavery and the Slave Trade

Early Philadelphia, an Atlantic trading hub, became both a focal point for the slave trade and a community of enslaved Africans. The London Coffee House was sometimes a location for slave trading.

Spanish-American Revolutions

As a port with longstanding commercial, cultural, and political connections with Spanish America, Philadelphia played a significant role in the era of Spanish-American revolutions and became a center for Hispanic studies.

French Revolution

The French Revolution of 1789 prompted many citizens to flee to the U.S. Most settled along the Delaware River in the Mulberry district of Philadelphia (an area between modern day Market Street, Arch Street, Second Street, and Columbus Boulevard).

Flaxseed and Linen

In the colonial era linen and flaxseed were fundamental to the mercantile life of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. Philadelphia's linen and flaxseed market extended from the farthest point of settlement, Fort Pitt, to the fields of England and Ireland.

Industrial Workers of the World

In the early 1900s thousands in greater Philadelphia belonged to the IWW. Local 8, which organized the city’s longshoremen, was the most powerful and racially inclusive branch in the Mid-Atlantic.

Sesquicentennial International Exposition (1926)

In 1926, Philadelphia hosted the Sesquicentennial International Exposition opened to great fanfare but failed to attract enough visitors to cover its costs.

Pretzels

Soft pretzels are to Philadelphia as crepes are to Paris. With cheesesteaks and water ice, soft pretzels complete the city's culinary trifecta.

Independence National Historical Park

Independence National Historical Park preserves and provides access to Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and other American Revolution and early American history sites.

Independence Hall

Originally the Pennsylvania State House, this landmark is associated with the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and is now a treasured shrine, tourist attraction, and World Heritage Site.

World War II

World War II, which created change for industries, populations, and politics in many urban areas in the United States, had a transforming effect on the Philadelphia region.

Yellow Fever

Yellow Fever hit Philadelphia with a vengeance in 1793. Beginning from a cluster of infections near the Delaware waterfront, the fever spread rapidly through the summer and autumn, fueling panic throughout the city.

Influenza (“Spanish Flu” Pandemic, 1918-19)

The influenza virus that killed millions of people worldwide began its deadly ascent in Philadelphia after sailors, carrying the virus from Boston, arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in early September 1918.

Italian Market

The Italian Market evolved as the principal food shopping hub for the Italian immigrants who began to settle South Philadelphia in large numbers at the end of the nineteenth century.

Cholera

Cholera epidemics that struck Philadelphia in 1832, 1849, and 1866 provided a catalyst for transforming the health and hygiene standards of the city. Death rates were highest in the Black and Irish neighborhoods south of South Street.

Lazaretto

Situated roughly ten miles south of Philadelphia, in Essington, on the west bank of the Delaware River, the Lazaretto is considered to be the oldest and last surviving quarantine station in the United States.

Bank War

Operating from its Parthenon-style building on Chestnut Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets in Philadelphia, the Second Bank of the United States served as a reliable depository for federal money and provided a sound national currency.

Higher Education: Private (Religious)

The religious diversity of Philadelphia led to the creation of specialized institutions of higher learning reflecting each religion's values. Catholic-affiliated schools continue to embrace their religious banner, less so those schools with different affiliations.

Philadelphia Plan

Dubbed the “Philadelphia Plan,” the program requiring federal contractors to practice nondiscrimination in hiring tested the liberal coalition formed in the aftermath of the New Deal in Philadelphia and nationally.

Flour Milling

As early as the 1650s, industrious farmers produced enough wheat not only to sustain themselves but also to send a surplus to market. For farmers in the city’s hinterland, the center of any rural community was the “custom” grist mill.

Barnes Foundation

The Barnes Foundation museum displays a world famous collection of impressionist, post-impressionist, and early modern works of art.

Free Society of Traders

The Free Society of Traders, a joint-stock company founded by a small group of English Quakers in 1681, was organized with the intention of directing and dominating the economic life of colonial Pennsylvania.

Greeks and Greece (Modern)

Philadelphia's encounter with Modern Greece dates from the Greek War of Independence in 1821, and thousands of Greek immigrants arrived in the region beginning at the turn of the twentieth century. St. George's Greek Orthodox Cathedral was dedicated in 1921.

Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs

The monument by Nathan Rapoport, dedicated in 1964, was the first public monument in North America to memorialize victims of the Holocaust.

Popular Music

Philadelphia has been a key center in popular music since the late eighteenth century. Philadelphia International Records, known for "the Sound of Philadelphia," was headquartered at 309 S. Broad Street.

Episcopal Church

Christ Church was the site for discussions about the foundation of a new American church, separate from the Church of England.

United Nations World Capital

In 1945 and 1946, Philadelphians campaigned aggressively to persuade the United Nations to place its new permanent headquarters in Philadelphia. After first offering to place the UN near Independence Hall, the Philadelphians turned to Fairmount Park for a more pastoral option on Belmont Plateau.