78 Facts About Philadelphia

1.

Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth largest city in the U S, the second largest city in the Northeast megalopolis, and the 68th largest city in the world.

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2.

Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker.

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3.

Philadelphia went on to play a historic and vital role in the 18th century as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers whose plans and actions in Philadelphia ultimately inspired and resulted in the American Revolution.

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4.

Philadelphia hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774 following the Boston Tea Party, preserved the Liberty Bell, and hosted the Second Continental Congress during which the founders signed the Declaration of Independence, which historian Joseph Ellis has described as "the most potent and consequential words in American history".

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5.

Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until 1790, when it was surpassed by New York City, and served as the nation's first capital from May 10, 1775 until December 12, 1776 and on four subsequent occasions during and following the American Revolution, including from 1790 to 1800 while the new national capital of Washington, D C was under construction.

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6.

Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania and is home to five Fortune 1000 companies.

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7.

Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city.

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8.

Philadelphia is home to a culturally and philanthropically active LGBTQ+ community and culture.

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9.

Philadelphia has spawned many U S firsts, including the nation's first library, hospital (1751), medical school (1765), national capital (1774), university (by some accounts) (1779), stock exchange (1790), zoo (1874), and business school (1881).

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10.

Philadelphia contains 67 National Historic Landmarks, including the World Heritage Site of Independence Hall.

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11.

In 2015, Philadelphia was the first U S city to be named to the Organization of World Heritage Cities.

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12.

Penn named the city Philadelphia, which is Greek for "brotherly love, " derived from the Ancient Greek terms f???? philos and ade?f?? adelphos (brother, brotherly).

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13.

Philadelphia served as capital of the United States for much of the colonial and early post-colonial periods, including for a decade, from 1790 to 1800, while the District of Columbia was being constructed and prepared to serve as the new nation's national capital.

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14.

Philadelphia remained the young nation's largest city until the late 18th century, serving as the nation's financial and cultural center, until ultimately being eclipsed in total population by New York City in 1790.

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15.

Philadelphia was represented by the Washington Grays in the American Civil War.

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16.

The African-American population of Philadelphia increased from 31, 699 to 219, 559 between 1880 and 1930.

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17.

In July 1919, Philadelphia was one of more than 36 industrial cities nationally to suffer a race riot of ethnic whites against blacks during Red Summer, in post-World War I unrest, as recent immigrants competed with blacks for jobs.

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18.

Geographic center of Philadelphia is about 40° 0' 34? north latitude and 75° 8' 0? west longitude.

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19.

Philadelphia is situated on the Fall Line that separates the Atlantic coastal plain from the Piedmont.

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20.

Philadelphia's neighborhoods are divided into large sections—North, Northeast, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest—surrounding Center City, which correspond closely with the city's limits before consolidation in 1854.

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21.

The commission maintains the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, adding historic buildings, structures, sites, objects and districts as it sees fit.

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22.

Philadelphia County received an ozone grade of F and a 24-hour particle pollution rating of D in the American Lung Association's 2017 State of the Air report, which analyzed data from 2013 to 2015.

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23.

Residents in Society Hill had a 2013 median household income of $93, 720, while residents in one of North Philadelphia's districts reported the lowest median household income, $14, 185.

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24.

Philadelphia has the second-largest Irish and Italian populations in the United States, after New York City.

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25.

South Philadelphia remains one of the largest Italian neighborhoods in the country and is home to the Italian Market.

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26.

Northeast Philadelphia, although known for its Irish and Irish-American population, is home to a large Jewish and Russian population.

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27.

Mount Airy in Northwest Philadelphia contains a large Jewish community, while nearby Chestnut Hill is historically known as an Anglo-Saxon Protestant community.

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28.

Black American population in Philadelphia is the third-largest in the country, after New York City and Chicago.

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29.

Puerto Rican population in Philadelphia is the second-largest on the mainland United States after New York City, and the second-fastest growing after Orlando.

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30.

In regard to other Latin American populations in Philadelphia, there are significant Mexican and Central American populations in South Philadelphia.

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31.

Center City hosts a growing Chinatown accommodating heavily traveled Chinese-owned bus lines to and from Chinatown, Manhattan in New York City, 95 miles to the north, as Philadelphia is experiencing significant Chinese immigration from New York City.

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32.

South Philadelphia is home to large Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese communities.

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33.

Protestant Christian community in Philadelphia is dominated by mainline Protestant denominations including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church in the United States, Presbyterian Church and American Baptist Churches USA.

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34.

The Ukrainian Catholic jurisdiction is headquartered in Philadelphia, and is seated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

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35.

Philadelphia has the fifth largest Muslim population among American cities.

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36.

Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania with the headquarters of five Fortune 1000 companies within city limits.

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37.

Education in Philadelphia is provided by many private and public institutions.

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38.

The School District of Philadelphia is the local school district, operating public schools, in all of the city.

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39.

Philadelphia has the third-largest student concentration on the East Coast, with more than 120, 000 college and university students enrolled within the city and nearly 300, 000 in the metropolitan area.

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40.

Philadelphia is home to five schools of medicine: Drexel University College of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, and Thomas Jefferson University's Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

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41.

Philadelphia is home to many national historical sites that relate to the founding of the United States.

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42.

Philadelphia alone has 67 National Historic Landmarks, the third most of any city in the country.

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43.

Philadelphia is home to the United States's first zoo and hospital, as well as Fairmount Park, one of America's oldest and largest urban parks, founded in 1855.

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44.

City is home to important archival repositories, including the Library Company of Philadelphia, established in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, founded in 1814.

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45.

Philadelphia Orchestra is generally considered one of the top five orchestras in the United States.

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46.

Philadelphia has played a prominent role in the music of the United States.

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47.

Philadelphia-born singers such as Frankie Avalon, James Darren, Eddie Fisher, Fabian Forte, and Bobby Rydell, along with South Philly-raised Chubby Checker, topped the music charts, establishing a clean-cut rock and roll image.

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48.

The Philadelphia area has many establishments that serve cheesesteaks, including restaurants, taverns, delicatessens and pizza parlors.

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49.

Traditional Philadelphia accent is considered by some linguists to be the most distinctive accent in North America.

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50.

Philadelphia has its own unique collection of neologisms and slang terms.

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51.

Philadelphia was the second of eight American cities to have won titles in all four major leagues, and has a title in soccer (from the now-defunct North American Soccer League in the 1970s).

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52.

Philadelphia is home to professional, semi-professional, and elite amateur teams in cricket, rugby league, and rugby union.

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53.

Philadelphia Spinners were a professional ultimate team in Major League Ultimate until 2016.

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54.

Philadelphia is home to the Philadelphia Big 5, a group of five NCAA Division I college basketball programs.

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55.

Philadelphia will be one of the eleven US host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

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56.

From a governmental perspective, Philadelphia County is a legal nullity, as all county functions were assumed by the city in 1952.

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57.

Philadelphia County is coterminous with the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania.

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58.

Additionally, Philadelphia is home to the federal United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, both of which are housed in the James A Byrne United States Courthouse.

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59.

Philadelphia was a bastion of the Republican Party from the American Civil War until the mid-1930s.

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60.

Philadelphia had been assistant counsel on the Warren Commission in 1964 and the city's district attorney from 1966 to 1974.

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61.

Philadelphia has hosted various national conventions, including in 1848, 1856 (Republican), 1872 (Republican), 1900 (Republican), 1936 (Democratic), 1940 (Republican), 1948 (Republican), 1948 (Progressive), 2000 (Republican), and 2016 (Democratic).

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62.

Philadelphia has been home to one vice president, George M Dallas, and one general of the American Civil War, George B McClellan, who won his party's nomination for president but lost in the general election to Abraham Lincoln in 1864.

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63.

In May 2019, former U S Vice President Joe Biden chose Philadelphia to be his 2020 U S presidential campaign headquarters.

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64.

In 2012, Philadelphia had the fourth-highest homicide rate among the country's most populous cities.

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65.

Philadelphia was ranked as the 76th most dangerous city in a 2018 report based on FBI data from 2016 for the rate of violent crimes per 1, 000 residents in American cities with 25, 000 or more people.

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66.

In 2014, Philadelphia enacted an ordinance decriminalizing the possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of hashish; the ordinance gave police officers the discretion to treat possession of these amounts as a civil infraction punishable by a $25 ticket, rather than a crime.

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67.

Philadelphia was at the time the largest city to decriminalize the possession of marijuana.

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68.

Philadelphia is served by three non-commercial public radio stations: WHYY-FM, WRTI-FM (classical and jazz), and WXPN-FM (adult alternative music).

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69.

Philadelphia has owned-and-operated stations for all five major English-language broadcast networks: NBC – WCAU-TV, CBSKYW-TV, ABC – WPVI-TV, Fox – WTXF-TV, and The CW – WPSG-TV.

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70.

Philadelphia is served by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority which operates buses, trains, rapid transit (subway and elevated trains), trolleys, and trackless trolleys (electric buses) throughout Philadelphia, the four Pennsylvania suburban counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery, in addition to service to Mercer County, New Jersey (Trenton) and New Castle County, Delaware (Wilmington and Newark, Delaware).

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71.

Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is a major railroad station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor with 4.

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72.

William Penn planned Philadelphia with numbered streets traversing north and south, and streets named for trees, such as Chestnut, Walnut, and Mulberry, traversing east and west.

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73.

Since the early days of rail transportation in the United States, Philadelphia has served as a hub for several major rail companies, particularly the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad.

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74.

In 1911, Philadelphia had nearly 4, 000 electric trolleys running on 86 lines.

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75.

Philadelphia is a regional hub of the federally owned Amtrak system, with 30th Street Station being a primary stop on the Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Corridor to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

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76.

Philadelphia placed fifth in the public transit friendly category, behind Washington, D C, with the same three cities for walkability topping this category.

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77.

In 1815, Philadelphia began sourcing its water via the Fairmount Water Works on the Schuylkill River, the nation's first major urban water supply system.

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78.

The CDI of Philadelphia has participated in the U S Department of State's "Partners for Peace" project with Mosul, Iraq, as well as accepting visiting delegations from dozens of other countries.

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