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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City of Philadelphia From top left, the Philadelphia skyline, a statue of Benjamin Franklin, the Liberty Bell, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia City Hall, and Independence Hall From top left, the Philadelphia skyline, a statue of Benjamin Franklin, the Liberty Bell, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia City Hall, and Independence Hall Flag of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Flag Official seal of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Location of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Body Philadelphia City Council /) is the biggest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the fifth-most crowded city in the United States, with an estimated populace of 1,567,442 and more than 6 million in the seventh-largest urbane statistical area, as of 2015. Philadelphia is the economic and cultural anchor of the Delaware Valley a region positioned in the Northeastern United States at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers with 7.2 million citizens residing in the eighth-largest combined statistical region in the United States. In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, established the town/city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia played an instrumental part in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitution in 1787. Several other key Philadelphia affairs amid the Revolution include the First and Second Continental Congress, the preservation of the Liberty Bell, the Battle of Germantown, the Siege of Fort Mifflin, and the Philadelphia Convention. Philadelphia was one of the nation's capitals in the Revolutionary War, and served as temporary U.S. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became a primary industrial center and barns core that interval from an influx of European immigrants. The majority of European immigrants have come from Ireland, Italy and Germany the three biggest reported lineage groups in the town/city as of 2015. The town/city became a prime destination for African Americans amid the Great Migration of the 20th century, as well as Puerto Ricans, surpassing two million occupants by 1950. The area's many universities and universities make Philadelphia a top global study destination, as the town/city has evolved into an educational and economic hub. With a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia rates ninth among world metros/cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of economic activeness in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia horizon is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including a several nationally prominent high-rise buildings. The town/city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, attracting over 41 million domestic tourists alone in 2015. Philadelphia has more outside sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjoining Wissahickon Valley Park in the same watershed, is one of the biggest adjoining urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the town/city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism. Philadelphia is the place of birth of the United States Marine Corps, and is also the home of many U.S. Firsts, including the first library (1731), first hospital (1751) and medical school (1765), first Capital (1777), first stock exchange (1790), first zoo (1874), and first company school (1881). Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Main articles: History of Philadelphia and Timeline of Philadelphia Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia region was home to the Lenape (Delaware) Indians in the village of Shackamaxon. In 1648, the Dutch assembled Fort Beversreede on the west bank of the Delaware, south of the Schuylkill near the present-day Eastwick section of Philadelphia, to reassert their dominion over the area. Even with the royal charter, Penn bought the territory from the small-town Lenape to be on good terms with the Native Americans and ensure peace for his colony. Penn made a treaty of friendship with Lenape chief Tammany under an elm tree at Shackamaxon, in what is now the city's Fishtown section. Penn titled the town/city Philadelphia, which is Greek for brotherly love (from philos, "love" or "friendship", and adelphos, "brother"). Hoping that Philadelphia would turn into more like an English non-urban town freshwater a city, Penn laid out roads on a grid plan to keep homes and businesses spread far apart, with areas for plant nurseries and orchards. The city's inhabitants did not follow Penn's plans, as they crowded by the Delaware River, the port, and subdivided and resold their lots. Before Penn left Philadelphia for the last time, he issued the Charter of 1701 establishing it as a city. A number of meaningful philosophical societies were formed, which were centers of the city's intellectual life: the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture (1785), the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts (1787), the Academy of Natural Sciences (1812), and the Franklin Institute (1824). These worked to precarious and finance new industries and attract skilled and knowledgeable immigrants from Europe. Philadelphia's importance and central locale in the colonies made it a natural center for America's revolutionaries. By the 1750s, Philadelphia had surpassed Boston to turn into the biggest city and busiest port in British America, and second in the British Empire, behind London. The town/city hosted the First Continental Congress before the American Revolutionary War; the Second Continental Congress, which signed the United States Declaration of Independence, amid the war; and the Constitutional Convention (1787) after the war. Philadelphia served as the temporary capital of the United States, 1790 1800, while the Federal City was under assembly in the District of Columbia. In 1793, the biggest yellow fever epidemics in U.S. History killed at least 4,000 and up to 5,000 citizens in Philadelphia, roughly 10% of the city's population. The state government left Philadelphia in 1799, and the federal government was moved to Washington, DC in 1800 with culmination of the White House and Capitol. New York City soon surpassed Philadelphia in population, but with the assembly of roads, canals, and barns s, Philadelphia became the first primary industrial town/city in the United States. Throughout the 19th century, Philadelphia had a range of industries and businesses, the biggest being textiles. The rise in populace of the encircling districts helped lead to the Act of Consolidation of 1854, which extended the town/city limits of Philadelphia from the 2 square miles of present-day Center City to the roughly 130 square miles of Philadelphia County. settled in the city. Between 1880 and 1930, the black population of Philadelphia increased from 31,699 to 219,559. Twentieth-century black newcomers were part of the Great Migration out of the non-urban South to northern and midwestern industrialized cities. In the American Civil War, Philadelphia was represented by the Washington Grays (Philadelphia). By the 20th century, Philadelphia had turn into known as "corrupt and contented", with a complacent populace and an entrenched Republican political machine. The first primary reform came in 1917 when outrage over the election-year murder of a police officer led to the shrinking of the Philadelphia City Council from two homes to just one. In July 1919, Philadelphia was one of more than 36 industrialized cities nationally to suffer a race brawl of ethnic caucasians against blacks amid Red Summer, in post-World War I unrest, as recent immigrants competed with blacks for jobs. The town/city in fact approached bankruptcy in the late 1980s. Revitalization and gentrification of neighborhoods began in the late 1970s and continues into the 21st century, with much of the evolution in the Center City and University City areas of the city. After many of the old manufacturers and businesses left Philadelphia or shut down, the town/city started attracting service businesses and began to more aggressively market itself as a tourist destination. A simulated-color image of Philadelphia and the Delaware River, taken by NASA's Landsat 7 satellite Philadelphia is at 39 57 north latitude and 75 10 west longitude, and the 40th alongside north passes through the northern parts of the city. Panoramic view of the Center City Philadelphia skyline, viewed from Camden, New Jersey, athwart the Delaware River. Philadelphia's central town/city was created in the 17th century following the plan by William Penn's surveyor Thomas Holme. The initial city plan was designed to allow for easy travel and to keep residences separated by open space that would help prevent the spread of fire. The Delaware River and Schuylkill Rivers served as early boundaries between which the city's early street plan was kept within. In addition, Penn prepared the creation of five enhance parks in the town/city which were retitled in 1824 (in parenthesis): Centre Square, North East Publick Square (Franklin Square), Northwest Square (Logan Square), Southwest Square (Rittenhouse Square), and Southeast Square (Washington Square). Center City has grown into the second-most populated downtown region in the United States, after Midtown Manhattan in New York City, with an estimated 183,240 inhabitants in 2015. Philadelphia's neighborhoods are divided into large sections North, Northeast, Northwest, West, South and Southwest Philadelphia all of which surround Center City, which corresponds closely with the city's limits before consolidation in 1854. Each of these large areas contains various neighborhoods, some of whose boundaries derive from the boroughs, townships, and other communities that made up Philadelphia County before their absorption into the city. The City Planning Commission, tasked with guiding expansion and evolution of the city, has divided the town/city into 18 planning districts as part of the Philadelphia - 2035 physical evolution plan. Much of the city's 1980 zoning code was overhauled from 2007 to 2012 as part of a joint accomplishment between former mayors John F. The zoning shifts were intended to rectify incorrect zoning mapping that would streamline future improve preferences and development, which the town/city forecasts an additional 100,000 inhabitants and 40,000 jobs to be added to Philadelphia in 2035. The Philadelphia Housing Authority is the biggest landlord in Pennsylvania. In 2013, its budget was $371 million. The Philadelphia Parking Authority works to ensure adequate parking for town/city residents, businesses and visitors. Main articles: Architecture of Philadelphia and List of tallest buildings in Philadelphia Philadelphia's architectural history dates back to Colonial times and includes a wide range of styles. Center City Philadelphia, showing the One Liberty Place high-rise building behind City Hall and their contrast in architectural styles. Walter, and Samuel Sloan. Frank Furness is considered Philadelphia's greatest architect of the second half of the 19th century, but his contemporaries encompassed John Mc - Arthur, Jr., Addison Hutton, Wilson Eyre, the Wilson Brothers, and Horace Trumbauer. In 1871, assembly began on the Second Empire-style Philadelphia City Hall. The Philadelphia Historical Commission was created in 1955 to preserve the cultural and architectural history of the city. The commission maintains the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, adding historic buildings, structures, sites, objects and districts as it sees fit. In 1932, Philadelphia became home to the first International Style high-rise building in the United States, The PSFS Building, designed by George Howe and William Lescaze. The 548 ft (167 m) City Hall remained the tallest building in the town/city until 1987 when One Liberty Place was constructed. Numerous glass and granite high-rise buildings were assembled in Philadelphia's Center City from the late 1980s forward s. The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center is under assembly in Center City and is prepared to reach a height of 1,121 feet (342 meters); upon culmination, the fortress is expected to be the tallest high-rise building in the United States outside of New York City and Chicago. For much of Philadelphia's history, the typical home has been the row home. The row home was introduced to the United States via Philadelphia in the early 19th century and, for a time, row homes assembled elsewhere in the United States were known as "Philadelphia rows". A range of row homes are found throughout the city, from Victorian-style homes in North Philadelphia to twin row homes in West Philadelphia. The great age of the homes has created various problems, including blight and vacant lots in many parts of the city, while other neighborhoods such as Society Hill, which has the biggest concentration of 18th-century architecture in the United States, have been rehabilitated and gentrified. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Under the Koppen climate classification, Philadelphia falls in the northern periphery of the humid subtropical climate zone (Koppen Cfa). Under the Trewartha climate classification, the town/city has a temperate maritime climate (Do). Summers are typically hot and muggy, fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is cold. Snowfall is highly variable, with some winters bringing only light snow and the rest bringing a several major snowstorms, with the normal cyclic snow flurry standing at 22.4 in (57 cm); snow in November or April is rare, and a sustained snow cover is rare. Precipitation is generally spread throughout the year, with eight to twelve wet days per month, at an average annual rate of 41.5 inches (1,050 mm), but historically ranging from 29.31 in (744 mm) in 1922 to 64.33 in (1,634 mm) in 2011. The most precipitation recorded in one day occurred on July 28, 2013, when 8.02 in (204 mm) fell at Philadelphia International Airport. In the American Lung Association 2015 State of the Air report, Philadelphia County received an ozone undertaking of F and a 24-hour particle pollution rating of C. Climate data for Philadelphia (Philadelphia Airport), 1981 2010 normals, extremes 1872 present Populations for City of Philadelphia, not for Philadelphia County. Population for Philadelphia County was 54,388 (including 42,520 urban) in 1790; 81,009 (including 69,403 urban) in 1800; 111,210 (including 91,874 urban) in 1810; 137,097 (including 112,772 urban) in 1820; 188,797 (including 161,410 urban) in 1830; 258,037 (including 220,423 urban) in 1840; and 408,762 (including 340,045 urban) in 1850. Under Act of Consolidation, 1854, City of Philadelphia combined the various districts, boroughs, townships, other suburbs, and remaining non-urban area in Philadelphia County as the merged City and County of Philadelphia. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 187,611 persons (12.3%); 8.0% of Philadelphia is Puerto Rican, 1.0% Dominican, 1.0% Mexican, 0.3% Cuban, and 0.3% Colombian. The ethnic breakdown of Philadelphia's Hispanic/Latino populace was 63,636 (33.9%) White, 17,552 (9.4%) African American, 3,498 (1.9%) Native American, 884 (0.47%) Asian, 287 (0.15%) Pacific Islander, 86,626 (46.2%) from other competitions, and 15,128 (8.1%) from two or more competitions. The five biggest European ancestries reported in the 2010 United States Enumeration Enumeration included Irish (12.5%), Italian (8.4%), German (8.1%), Polish (3.6%), and English (3.0%). "Leacht Quimhneachain Na Gael", Irish famine memorial positioned in Penn's Landing, honoring Philadelphia's large Irish improve (14.2% of the city's population). The Enumeration reported that 1,468,623 citizens (96.2% of the population) lived in homeholds, 38,007 (2.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 19,376 (1.3%) were institutionalized. In 2013, the town/city reported having 668,247 total housing units, down slightly from 670,171 housing units in 2010. The city's 25- to 29-year-old age group was the city's biggest age cohort. According to the 2010 Census, 343,837 (22.5%) were under the age of 18; 203,697 (13.3%) from 18 to 25; 434,385 (28.5%) from 25 to 44; 358,778 (23.5%) from 45 to 64; and 185,309 (12.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. Philadelphia's death rate was at its lowest in at least a half-century, 13,691 deaths in 2013. Another factor attributing to the populace increase is Philadelphia's immigration rate. Irish, Italians, Polish, Germans, English, and Greeks are the biggest ethnic European groups in the city. Philadelphia has the second-largest Irish and Italian populations in the United States, after New York City. South Philadelphia remains one of the biggest Italian neighborhoods in the nation and is home to the Italian Market. The Pennsport neighborhood and Gray's Ferry section of South Philadelphia, home to many Mummer clubs, are well known as Irish neighborhoods. Port Richmond is well known in particular as the center of the Polish immigrant and Polish-American improve in Philadelphia, and it remains a common destination for Polish immigrants. Northeast Philadelphia, although known for its Irish and Irish-American population, is also home to a large Jewish and Russian population. Mount Airy in Northwest Philadelphia also contains a large Jewish community, while close-by Chestnut Hill is historically known as an Anglo-Saxon Protestant stronghold. There has also been an increase of yuppie, bohemian, and hipster types especially around Center City, the neighborhood of Northern Liberties, and in the neighborhoods around the city's universities, such as near Temple in North Philadelphia and especially near Drexel and University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia. Philadelphia is also home to a momentous gay and lesbian population. Philadelphia's Gayborhood, which is positioned near Washington Square, is home to a large concentration of gay and lesbian friendly businesses, restaurants, and bars. The Black American populace in Philadelphia is the third-largest in the country, after New York City and Chicago. Historically, West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia were largely black neighborhoods, but many are leaving these areas in favor of the Northeast and Southwest sections of Philadelphia. The Puerto Rican populace in Philadelphia is the second-largest after New York City, and the second fastest-growing after Orlando. There are large Puerto Rican and Dominican populations in North Philadelphia and the Northeast, as well as a momentous Mexican populace in South Philadelphia. Philadelphia has momentous Asian populations mainly hailing from countries like India, China, Vietnam, and South Korea. Chinatown and the Northeast have the biggest Asian presences, with a large Korean improve in Olney, Philadelphia. South Philadelphia is also home to large Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Chinese communities. Metropolitan Philadelphia's Jewish population, the sixth biggest in the United States, was estimated at 206,000 in 2001 and almost 300,000 in 2009. (though this number includes many secular Jews). The greater Philadelphia region is home to one of the biggest Lutheran communities in the United States (the biggest on the East Coast). The Muslim African American improve in Philadelphia has grown substantially over the last decade. According to a several statistics, Philadelphia has surpassed Detroit and New York City to turn into the American urbane region with the highest proportion of Muslims. Historically the town/city has strong connections to The Religious Society of Friends, Unitarian Universalism, and Ethical Culture, all of which continue to be represented in the city. As of 2010, 79.12% (1,112,441) of Philadelphia inhabitants age 5 and older spoke English at home as a major language, while 9.72% (136,688) spoke Spanish, 1.64% (23,075) Chinese, 0.89% (12,499) Vietnamese, 0.77% (10,885) Russian, 0.66% (9,240) French, 0.61% (8,639) other Asian languages, 0.58% (8,217) African languages, 0.56% (7,933) Cambodian (Mon-Khmer), and Italian was spoken as a chief language by 0.55% (7,773) of the populace over the age of five. In total, 20.88% (293,544) of Philadelphia's populace age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English. Philadelphia is the center of economic activeness in Pennsylvania with the command posts of seven Fortune 1000 companies positioned inside town/city limits. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Philadelphia region had a total gross urbane product of $347 billion in 2010, the seventh-largest urbane economy in the United States. Philadelphia was rated by the Ga - WC5 as an 'Alpha- City' in its categorization of world cities. Philadelphia's economic sectors include knowledge technology, manufacturing, petroleum refining, food processing, community care, biotechnology, tourism, and financial services. Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the earliest stock exchange in the United States. The town/city is home to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and some of the area's biggest companies including cable tv and internet provider Comcast, insurance companies Colonial Penn, CIGNA, Independence Blue Cross, energy business Sunoco, food services business Aramark and Crown, chemical manufacturers Rohm and Haas and FMC, pharmaceutical business Glaxo - Smith - Kline, Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, and automotive parts retailer Pep Boys. Philadelphia's annualized unemployment rate was 7.8% in 2014, down from 10.0% the previous year. This is higher than the nationwide average of 6.2%. While about 31.9% of the city's populace is not in the workforce force, the city's biggest employers are the federal and town/city governments, in the order given. Philadelphia's biggest private employer is the University of Pennsylvania followed by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. A study commissioned by the city's government projected 40,000 jobs to be added to the town/city by 2035, raising the city's 2010 number of jobs from 675,000 total to an estimated 715,000 jobs. Philadelphia's history attracts many tourists, with the Independence National Historical Park (which includes the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and other historical sites) receiving over 3.6 million visitors in 2014. The Greater Philadelphia region was visited by 39 million citizens in 2013 generating $10 billion in economic impact. Main articles: Culture of Philadelphia, Cultural depictions of Philadelphia, List of citizens from Philadelphia, List of sites of interest in Philadelphia, and List of National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia Philadelphia is home to many nationwide historical sites that relate to the beginning of the United States. Other historic sites include homes for Edgar Allan Poe, Betsy Ross, and Thaddeus Kosciuszko, early government buildings like the First and Second Banks of the United States, Fort Mifflin, and the Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church. Philadelphia alone has 67 National Historic Landmarks, the third most of any town/city in the country. Philadelphia's primary science exhibitions include the Franklin Institute, which contains the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial; the Academy of Natural Sciences; the Mutter Museum; and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. History exhibitions include the National Constitution Center, the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia History, the National Museum of American Jewish History, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in the state of Pennsylvania and The Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania, Eastern State Penitentiary and the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial. Philadelphia is home to the United States' first zoo and hospital, as well as Fairmount Park, one of America's earliest and biggest urban parks. The town/city is home to meaningful archival repositories, including the Library Company of Philadelphia, established in 1731, and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, established in 1814. The Philadelphia accent is considered by some to be the most distinct ive accent in North America. The dialect, which is spread throughout the Delaware Valley and South Jersey, is part of Mid-Atlantic American English, and as such it is similar in many ways to the Baltimore dialect. Unlike the Baltimore dialect, however, the Philadelphia accent also shares many similarities with the New York accent. Thanks to over a century of linguistic data collected by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania under sociolinguist William Labov, the Philadelphia dialect has been one of the best-studied forms of American English. The accent is traditionally found inside the Irish American and Italian American working-class neighborhoods. Philadelphia also has its own unique compilation of neologisms and slang terms. Philadelphia Museum of Art, amongst the biggest art exhibitions in the United States. The city's primary art exhibition, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is one of the biggest art exhibitions in the United States. The town/city is home to the Philadelphia Sketch Club, one of the country's earliest artists' clubs, and The Plastic Club, started by women excluded from the Sketch Club. The Avenue of the Arts in Center City contains many restaurants and theaters, such as the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which is home to the Philadelphia Orchestra, generally considered one of the top five orchestras in the United States, and the Academy of Music, the nation's earliest continually operating opera home, home to the Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Ballet. The Wilma Theatre and Philadelphia Theatre Company have new buildings constructed in the last decade on the avenue. See also: List of enhance art in Philadelphia Philadelphia has more enhance art than any other American city. In 1872, the Association for Public Art (formerly the Fairmount Park Art Association) was created, the first private association in the United States dedicated to integrating enhance art and urban planning. In 1959, lobbying by the Artists Equity Association helped problematic the Percent for Art ordinance, the first for a U.S. City. The program, which has funded more than 200 pieces of enhance art, is administered by the Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture, the city's art agency. Academy of Music, home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, 1900 2001 Philadelphia artists have had a prominent nationwide part in prominent music. On July 13, 1985, Philadelphia hosted the American end of the Live Aid concert at John F. The town/city reprised this part for the Live 8 concert, bringing some 700,000 citizens to the Ben Franklin Parkway on July 2, 2005. Philadelphia is home to the world-renowned Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale, which has performed its music all over the world. Philadelphia boasts a number of cheesesteak establishments, however two locations in South Philadelphia are perhaps the most famous among tourists: Pat's King of Steaks and its athwart the street rival Geno's Steaks. Philadelphia is also home to a landmark eatery established in 1892, the Reading Terminal Market. Philadelphia has decriminalized small amounts of marijuana in the city, reducing penalties for possession and enhance use to minor fines and improve service. The move makes Philadelphia the biggest city in the United States to decriminalize pot. metros/cities to have all four primary sports: the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League of Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League, the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, and the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association. The Philadelphia metro region is also home of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. Philadelphia began play in MLS in 2010, after beating a several other metros/cities in competition for the rights to an MLS expansion franchise. Major-sport experienced sports squads that originated in Philadelphia but ultimately moved to other metros/cities include the Golden State Warriors basketball team and the Oakland Athletics baseball team. Philadelphia is also the home town/city of the Philadelphia Spinners, a experienced ultimate team that is part of the Major League Ultimate. Rowing has been prominent in Philadelphia since the 18th century. Boathouse Row is a motif of Philadelphia's rich rowing history, and each Big Five member has its own boathouse. Philadelphia hosts various small-town and collegiate rowing clubs and competitions, including the annual Dad Vail Regatta, the biggest intercollegiate rowing event in the U.S, the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, and the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta, all of which are held on the Schuylkill River. The regattas are hosted and organized by the Schuylkill Navy, an association of region rowing clubs that has produced various Olympic rowers. Historic Boathouse Row at evening on the Schuylkill, an enduring motif of Philadelphia's rich rowing history. Philadelphia is home to professional, semi-professional and elite amateur squads in cricket, rugby league (Philadelphia Fight), rugby union and other sports. Major sporting affairs in the town/city include the Penn Relays, Philadelphia Marathon, Broad Street Run, and the Philadelphia International Championship bicycle race. Philadelphia is home to the Philadelphia Big 5, a group of five Division I college basketball programs. The sixth NCAA Division I school in Philadelphia is Drexel University. Philadelphia Eagles NFL American Football Lincoln Financial Field 69,144 1933 1948, 1949, 1960 Philadelphia Phillies MLB Baseball Citizens Bank Park 29,924 1883 1980, 2008 Philadelphia Flyers NHL Ice Hockey Wells Fargo Center 19,786 1967 1973 74, 1974 75 Philadelphia 76ers NBA Basketball Wells Fargo Center 13,869 1963 1966 67, 1982 83 Philadelphia Soul AFL Arena Football Wells Fargo Center 9,000 2004 2008, 2016 The town/city of Philadelphia has placed four bids for the Olympics in 1920, 1948, 1952 and 1956, losing all their bids and having also pulled their bids another three times for the 2004, 2016 and 2024 games. On April 22, 2013, Mayor Michael Nutter's office declared Philadelphia's interest in bidding for the 2024 Games. The town/city had expressed interest in hosting the 2016 Games, but lost out to Chicago as the USOC's bid city. The City of Philadelphia withdrew from consideration on May 28, 2014 in a letter to the USOC, citing "timing" as a primary factor in the decision. See also: List of parks in Philadelphia As of 2014, the total town/city parkland, including municipal, state and federal parks inside the town/city limits, amounts to 11,211 acres (45.37 km2). Philadelphia's biggest park is Fairmount Park which includes the Philadelphia Zoo and encompasses 2,052 acres (8.30 km2) of the total parkland, while the adjoining Wissahickon Valley Park contains 2,042 acres (8.26 km2). Fairmount Park, when combined with Wissahickon Valley Park, is one of the biggest adjoining urban park areas in the United States. The two parks, along with the historic Colonial Revival, Georgian and Federal architecture contained in them, have been listed as one entity on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. City Hall, Philadelphia's tallest building until 1987. From a governmental perspective, Philadelphia County is a legal nullity, as all county functions were assumed by the town/city in 1952, which has been coterminous with the county since 1854. Philadelphia's 1952 Home Rule Charter was written by the City Charter Commission, which was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in an Act of April 21, 1949, and a town/city ordinance of June 15, 1949. The legislative branch, the Philadelphia City Council, consists of ten council members representing individual districts and seven members propel at large. Byrne United States Courthouse, homes the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas (First Judicial District) is the trial court of general jurisdiction for Philadelphia, hearing felony-level criminal cases and civil suits above the minimum jurisdictional limit of $7000 (excepting small claims cases valued between $7000 and $12000 and landlord-tenant issues heard in the Municipal Court) under its initial jurisdiction; it also has appellate jurisdiction over rulings from the Municipal and Traffic Courts and over decisions of certain Pennsylvania state agencies (e.g. Pennsylvania's three appellate courts also have sittings in Philadelphia. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the court of last resort in the state, regularly hears arguments in Philadelphia City Hall. Also, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania sit in Philadelphia a several times a year. 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 homed in the James A. Philadelphia County vote by party in presidential elections From the American Civil War until the mid-20th century, Philadelphia was a bastion of the Republican Party, which arose from the staunch pro-Northern views of Philadelphia inhabitants during and after the war (Philadelphia was chosen as the host town/city for the first Republican National Convention in 1856). Pennsylvania's longest-serving Senator, Arlen Specter, was from Philadelphia; he served as a Republican from 1981 and as a Democrat from 2009, losing that party's major in 2010 and leaving office in January 2011. Philadelphia has hosted various nationwide conventions, including in 1848 (Whig), 1856 (Republican), 1872 (Republican), 1900 (Republican), 1936 (Democratic), 1940 (Republican), 1948 (Republican), 1948 (Progressive), 2000 (Republican), and 2016 (Democratic). Philadelphia has been home to one Vice President, George M. See also: Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Politics Like many American cities, Philadelphia saw a gradual yet pronounced rise in crime in the years following World War II. The murder count dropped in 2002 to 288, then rose four years later to 406 in 2006 and 392 in 2007. A several years later, Philadelphia began to see a rapid drop in homicides and violent crime. In 2013, there were 246 murders, which is a decline of over 25% from the previous year, and a decline of over 44% since 2007. And in 2014, there were 248 homicides, up by one since 2013. In 2015, as stated to annual homicide statistics and crime maps provided on the Philadelphia Police Department's website, there were 280 murders in the city. The same departmental site documents that the number of homicides fell slightly (1.07%) the following year, with 277 murders in Philadelphia in 2016. In 2006, Philadelphia's homicide rate of 27.7 per 100,000 citizens was the highest of the country's 10 most crowded cities. In 2012, Philadelphia had the fourth-highest homicide rate among the country's most crowded cities. And in 2014, the rate dropped to 16.0 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants placing Philadelphia as the sixth-highest town/city in the country. were ranked second- and third-most dangerous metros/cities in the United States, in the order given. Camden, New Jersey, a town/city athwart the Delaware River from Philadelphia, was ranked as the most dangerous town/city in the United States. Violent crimes, which include homicide, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery, decreased 14 percent in the past three years with a reported 15,771 occurrences in 2014. Based on the rate of violent crimes per 1,000 inhabitants in American metros/cities with 25,000 citizens or more, Philadelphia was ranked as the 54th most dangerous town/city in 2015. The School District of Philadelphia runs the city's enhance schools. The Philadelphia School District is the eighth biggest school precinct in the United States with 142,266 students in 218 enhance schools and 86 charter schools as of 2014. During the same time period, the enrollment in charter schools has increased from 33,995 students in 2010 to 62,358 students in 2015. This consistent drop in enrollment has led the town/city to close 24 of its enhance schools in 2013. During the 2014 school year, the town/city spent an average of $12,570 per pupil, below the average among comparable urban school districts. Philadelphia has the third-largest student concentration on the East Coast, with over 120,000 college and college students enrolled inside the town/city and nearly 300,000 in the urbane area. There are over 80 colleges, universities, trade, and specialty schools in the Philadelphia region. One of the beginning members of the Association of American Universities is in city, the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution with claims to being the earliest college in the country. The city's biggest private school by number of students is Temple University, followed by Drexel University. Along with the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and Drexel University make up the city's primary research universities. The town/city is also 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 the Thomas Jefferson University. Hospitals, universities, and college studies research establishments in Philadelphia's four congressional districts received more than $252 million in National Institutes of Health grants in 2015. University of the Sciences in Philadelphia The Art Institute of Philadelphia Philadelphia University Philadelphia's two primary daily newspapers are The Philadelphia Inquirer, which is the eighteenth biggest journal and third-oldest surviving daily journal in the country, and the Philadelphia Daily News. The town/city also has a number of other, lesser newspapers and periodical in circulation such as the Philadelphia Tribune, which serves the black community, the Philadelphia, a monthly county-wide magazine; Philadelphia Weekly, a weekly-printed alternative newspaper; Philadelphia City Paper another weekly-printed newspaper; Philadelphia Gay News, which services the LGBT community; The Jewish Exponent a weekly-printed journal servicing the Jewish community; Philadelphia Metro, no-charge daily newspaper; and Al Dia, a weekly journal servicing the Latino community. The first commercial transmitting airways broadcasts appeared in 1922: first WIP, then owned by Gimbel's department store, on March 17, followed the same year by WFIL, WOO, WCAU and WDAS. The highest-rated stations in Philadelphia include soft modern WBEB, KYW Newsradio, and urban adult intact WDAS-FM. Until September 2014, Philadelphia was the only media market in the United States with owned-and-operated stations of all five English-language primary broadcast networks (NBC WCAU, CBS KYW-TV, ABC WPVI-TV, Fox WTXF-TV and The CW WPSG); three of the primary Spanish-language networks (Univision, Uni - Mas and Telemundo) also have O&Os serving the market (respectively, WUVP-DT, WFPA-CD and WWSI). Philadelphia is served by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which operates buses, trains, rapid transit, street cars, and trackless street cars throughout Philadelphia, the four Pennsylvania suburban counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery, in addition to service to Mercer County, New Jersey and New Castle County, Delaware. Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is a primary barns station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which offers access to Amtrak, SEPTA, and NJ Transit lines. Two airports serve Philadelphia: the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), straddling the southern boundary of the city, and the Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE), a general aviation reliever airport in Northeast Philadelphia. Philadelphia International Airport provides scheduled domestic and global air service, while Northeast Philadelphia Airport serves general and corporate aviation. Takeoffs and landings). It is also the second biggest hub and major international core for American Airlines. SEPTA's Airport Regional Rail Line provides direct service between the Center City barns stations and Philadelphia International Airport. William Penn initially prepared a Philadelphia that had numbered streets traversing north and south and "tree" titled streets traversing east and west, with the two chief streets Broad Street and High Street converging at Centre Square. The plans have since period to include primary highways that span other primary sections of Philadelphia. 1) connect Northeast Philadelphia with Center City. 30, extending east-west from West Philadelphia to Lancaster, is known as Lancaster Avenue throughout most of the town/city and through the adjoining Main Line suburbs. Interstate 476, generally nicknamed the "Blue Route" through Delaware County, bypasses the town/city to the west, serving the city's suburbs, as well as providing a link to Allentown and points north. Similarly, Interstate 276, the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Delaware River Extension, acts as a bypass and commuter route to the north of the town/city as well as a link to the New Jersey Turnpike to New York. The Delaware River Port Authority operates four bridges in the Philadelphia region athwart the Delaware River to New Jersey: the Walt Whitman Bridge (I-76), the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (I-676 and US 30), the Betsy Ross Bridge (Route 90), and the Commodore Barry Bridge (US 322). The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge joins PA Route 73 in the Tacony section of Northeast Philadelphia with New Jersey's Route 73 in Palmyra, Camden County, and is maintained by the Burlington County Bridge Commission. Philadelphia is also a primary hub for Greyhound Lines, which operates 24-hour service to points east of the Mississippi River. Most of Greyhound's services in Philadelphia operate to/from the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal, positioned at 1001 Filbert Street in Center City Philadelphia. In 2006, the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal was the second busiest Greyhound terminal in the United States, after the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York. Since the early days of rail transport in the United States, Philadelphia has served as core for a several major rail companies, especially the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad. Philadelphia, once home to more than 4,000 street cars on 65 lines, is one of the several North American metros/cities to maintain streetcar lines. Today, SEPTA operates five "subway-surface" street cars that run on street-level tracks in West Philadelphia and subway tunnels in Center City. Today, Philadelphia is a county-wide core of the federally owned Amtrak system, with 30th Street Station being a major stop on the Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Corridor to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. A 2015 study by Walk Score ranked Philadelphia the fourth most walkable primary city in the United States. Historically, Philadelphia sourced its water by the Fairmount Water Works, the nation's first primary urban waterworks system. In 1909, Water Works was decommissioned as the town/city transitioned to undivided sand filtration methods. Today, the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) provides drinking water, wastewater collection, and stormwater services for Philadelphia, as well as encircling counties. PWD draws about 57 percent of its drinking water from the Delaware River and the balance from the Schuylkill River. The enhance wastewater fitness consists of three water pollution control plants, 21 pumping stations, and about 3,657 miles of sewers. A 2007 investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency found elevated levels of Iodine-131 in the city's potable water. In 2012, the EPA's readings identified that the town/city had the highest readings of I-131 in the nation. Exelon subsidiary PECO Energy Company, established as the Philadelphia Electric Company in 1881, provides electricity to over 1.6 million customers in the southeastern Pennsylvania region including the town/city of Philadelphia and most of its suburbs. The business has over 500 power substations and 29,000 miles of distribution of transmission lines in its service making it the biggest combination utility in the state. Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), overseen by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, is the nation's biggest municipally owned natural gas utility. It serves over 500,000 homes and businesses in the Philadelphia area. Founded in 1836, the business came under town/city ownership in 1987 and has been providing the majority of gas distributed inside town/city limits. In 2014, the Philadelphia City Council refused to conduct hearings on a $1.86 billion sale of PGW, part of a two-year accomplishment that was proposed by the mayor. Wireless Philadelphia would have been the first municipal internet utility offering in a large US city, but the plan was abandoned in 2008 as Earth - Link pushed back the culmination date a several times. Philadelphia has eight official sister cities, as designated by the Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia: Philadelphia also has three partnership metros/cities or regions: Philadelphia has dedicated landmarks to its sister cities. Dedicated in June 1976, the Sister Cities Plaza, a site of 0.5 acres (2,000 m2) positioned at 18th and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, honors Philadelphia's relationships with Tel Aviv and Florence which were its first sister cities. Renovations were made to Sister Cities Park in mid-2011 and on May 10, 2012, SCP was reopened and presently features an interactive fountain honoring Philadelphia's ten sister and friendship cities, a cafe and visitor's center, children's play area, outside garden, and boat pond, as well as pavilion assembled to surroundingally friendly standards. List of companies based in the Philadelphia region National Register of Historic Places listings in Philadelphia the shores from the east-shore mouth of the river and the sea coast to Western Long Island (all of both colonial New Amsterdam and New Sweden), and portions of Western Connecticut up to the latitude of the Massachusetts corner of today's boundaries making the easterly bounds of their influence, thence their region extended: westerly past the region around Albany, NY to the Susquehanna River side of the Catskills, then southerly through the easterly Poconos outside the rival Susquehannock lands past Eastern Pennsylvania then southerly past the site of Colonial Philadelphia past the west bank mouth of the Delaware and extending south from that point along a stretch of sea coast in northern colonial Delaware. See North American blizzard of 2009#Snowfall (December 19 20, 2009), February 5 6, 2010 North American blizzard#Snowfall (February 5 6, 2010), and February 9 10, 2010 North American blizzard#Impact (February 9 10, 2010). Official temperature and rain measurements for Philadelphia were taken at the Weather Bureau Office in downtown from January 1872 to 19 June 1940, and at Philadelphia Int'l from 20 June 1940 to the present. Snowfall and snow depth records date to 1 January 1884 and 1 October 1948, in the order given. In 2006, snow flurry measurements were moved to National Park, New Jersey directly athwart the Delaware River from the airport. Data derived from Population Estimates, American Community Survey, Enumeration of Population and Housing, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits. "Estimates of Resident Population Change and Rankings: July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015 - United States -- Metropolitan Statistical Area; and for Puerto Rico". "Estimates of Resident Population Change and Rankings: July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015 - United States -- Combined Statistical Area; and for Puerto Rico". "Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania". Click on 'Add/Remove Geographies', enter 'Philadelphia', select town/city or county (same result either way), click on 'Show Table'. "Philadelphia Becomes First World Heritage City in US". "Philadelphia PA". "Philadelphia's Newest Skyscraper: The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center". "Visit Philadelphia 2016 Annual Report". Gateway to Public Art in Philadelphia, Fairmount Park Art Association. "2014 City Park Facts" (PDF). "Philadelphia Firsts 1681 1899". "About the Philadelphia Zoo". "Philadelphia chose as World Heritage City". Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, pages 7, 14 16 "View of Philadelphia, Circa 1770". Insight Guides: Philadelphia and Surroundings, pages 30 33 Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, pages 214, 218, 428 429 Insight Guides: Philadelphia and Surroundings, pages 38 39 Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, pages 535, 537 Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, pages 563 564 Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, pages 578 581 "Continuing Economic Decline: A Foreboding Future for Philadelphia" (PDF). "Philadelphia's Changing Middle Class: After Decades of Decline, Prospects for Growth". Insight Guides: Philadelphia and Surroundings, pages 44 45 A Concise History of Philadelphia, page 78 "Philadelphia Neighborhoods and Place Names, A K". Historic Philadelphia. Insight Guides: Philadelphia and Surroundings. "Philadelphia 2035: The Comprehensive Plan". Philadelphia City Planning Commission. "Philadelphia Housing Authority". "Philadelphia Parking Authority: History". Philadelphia: A 300-Year History. "Philadelphia Historical Commission". Philadelphia City Paper. "Climate Summary for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania". "Station Name: PA PHILADELPHIA INTL AP". "Philadelphia Record Highs and Lows". "Philadelphia County State of the Air 2015". "Population of the 100 biggest cities and other urban places in the United States: 1790 to 1990". City of Philadelphia Planning Committee. "State & County Quick - Facts Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania". "Philadelphia County Quick - Facts from the US Enumeration Bureau". Pennsylvania Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Cities and Other Places: Earliest Enumeration to 1990 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Philadelphia 2015: The State of the City" (PDF). "The Italian Market; A South Philadelphia mainstay since the 19th Century". "Guide to Philadelphia's Gayborhood". "Philadelphia immigration". "Latino Philadelphia" (PDF). "Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania". "Philadelphia Zoo: About". "Philadelphia Park System History". City of Philadelphia. New York Times Sunday Review, Loose Ends "The Sound of Philadelphia Fades Out" Daniel Nester March 1, 2014 Main Web page, Philadelphia Museum of Art, accessed April 26, 2007 "Philadelphia Sketch Club". "Philadelphia becomes biggest US town/city to decriminalize marijuana". "Philadelphia Soul of the AFL will be up for sale - Philly.com". "The City of Philadelphia, Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan" (PDF). The City of Philadelphia. "Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, Annotated" (PDF). City of Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia, Department of Records. The Philadelphia Courts, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Courts, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Courts, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. "Philadelphia Traffic Court". 1057038/1547901=68.3% 1,057,038 registered voters in Philadelphia, divided by the populace as of December 2, 2009: 1,547,901 (6th) a b "Crime Maps & Stats - Philadelphia Police Department". "Philadelphia Homicides in 2007". "Philadelphia PA Crime Statistics (2005 Crime Data)". Philadelphia School District. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. "Atlantic City with service to ..." "Most Walkable Cities in the United States: 2015". "About Philadelphia Water". City of Philadelphia. "EPA: New Radiation Highs in Little Rock Milk, Philadelphia Drinking Water". IVC of Philadelphia Partners with Mosul, Iraq in Groundbreaking Program Retrieved January 26, 2011. Inbound delegations visiting Philadelphia Retrieved January 26, 2011. City of Philadelphia government Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, Historical Encyclopedia in progress Historic Philadelphia Photographs Greater Philadelphia Geo - History Network historical maps and atlases of Philadelphia Articles Relating to Philadelphia and Philadelphia County Categories: Philadelphia - 1682 establishments in Pennsylvania - Cities in Pennsylvania - Consolidated city-counties in the United States - County seats in Pennsylvania - Former capitals of the United States - Former state capitals in the United States - Planned metros/cities in the United States - Populated places established in 1682 - Populated places on the Schuylkill River - Port metros/cities and suburbs of the United States Atlantic coast - Ukrainian communities in the United States