Origin of his name

Its name, which means "fraternal friendship", is that of the ancient city of the region of Lydia, founded by Attale II Philadelph, brother of Eumène II, king of Pergamos, where one of the seven Christian congregations mentioned in Revelation is established.

Start

Benjamin West, The Treaty of Penn with the Indians (1771-1772), Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. This table represents the signing of a peace treaty between the Indians and William Penn at Shackamaxon in 1682.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, approximately 20,000 Lenapes Native Americans from the Algonquin Nation lived in the Delaware Valley, and the village of Shackamaxon was located at the current location of Kensington, north of the city center.

Exploring the Delaware Valley began in the early ^seventeenth century. The first Swedish, Dutch and English settlers took turns claiming the banks of the river: New Sweden, founded in 1638, was annexed to New Zealand in 1655. Then the region finally became part of Britain in 1674.

In 1681, the King of England, Charles II, issued a charter to William Penn in exchange for the cancelation of a debt owed by the government to his father. By this document, the colony of Pennsylvania was officially founded. William Penn (1644-1718) was an English quaker: he belonged to this dissident religious group, persecuted in England, which rejected the ecclesiastical hierarchy and advocated equality, tolerance and non-violence. Pennsylvania quickly became a refuge for all those who were oppressed for their faith. William Penn went to America in 1682 and founded the city of Philadelphia. He wanted this city to serve as a port and a political center. Even though Charles II had given him ownership, William Penn bought land from the Amerindians in order to establish peaceful relations with them. He was reported to have signed a treaty of friendship with Chief Lape Tamanend in Shackamaxon in 1682.

Elfreth's Alley, a street inhabited since 1713.

Philadelphia was built according to a checkerboard plan, the oldest in the United States, with wide streets and five parks. For the first time in the New World, the streets were designated by numbers, from that date, making it the first modern realization of the alphanumeric urban nomenclature. Most importantly, William Penn wanted to make this city and Pennsylvania more humane by removing the death penalty for theft and guaranteeing freedom of worship. The city's name, borrowed from the Greek Φ λ α δ έ λ ι φ ι ("fraternal love"), reflected this ambition. When William Penn returned from England in 1699 after a fifteen-year absence, he found a city that was enlarged and located just behind Boston by its population. Many European immigrants, English, Dutch, Huguenots, had arrived, attracted by the city's prosperity and religious tolerance. In 1683, a first group of Germantown Germans settled in the current district of Germantown. William Penn gave a charter to the city on October 25, 1701 to create municipal institutions: a mayor, councilors and a meeting.

By the second half of the ^eighteenth century, Philadelphia had become the most populous city of the Thirteen Colonies (45,000 inhabitants in 1780), overtaking Boston. She even fought with Dublin for the second-largest city in the British Empire, outside of England.

An Enlightenment Home

The Pennsylvania Gazette.

At the end of the ^eighteenth century, Philadelphia was the "true center of the revolutionary Enlightenment", especially under the impetus of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Born in Boston, he lived in Philadelphia from 1723 and was one of the founders of the Library Company of Philadelphia (1731), the University of Pennsylvania (1740) and the American Society of Philosophy (1743). In 1752, he invented lightning. In 1728 John Bartram created a botanical garden, the first of its kind in North America. It was also in the ^eighteenth century that Philadelphia became the main publishing center of the Thirteen Colonies: the first newspaper, The American Weekly Mercury, appeared in 1719. The Pennsylvania Gazette (1723) played a major role during the American Revolution. In 1739 the first treaty against slavery was published and the city, along with Boston, became one of the country’s anti-slavery centers.

Knowledge and culture developed in the ^eighteenth century, and the city was sometimes called "Athens of America." In the 1760s a school of anatomy, a medical school opened in 1765 and, the following year, a permanent theater. The Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, the oldest law school in the United States, was inaugurated in 1790. Several artists from the city founded the Columbianum in 1794, which was the first company to promote fine arts.

Finally, Philadelphia acquired urban facilities, public buildings and infrastructure before the other American cities and under the impetus of Benjamin Franklin: a hospital and a fire company from the 1730s; several banks were founded in the 1780s. The Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), which was the seat of the colonial assembly, was completed in 1753. The streets were gradually paved and lit by gas.

American Revolution

The Carpenters' Hall hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774.

In the 1770's, Philadelphia became one of the main centers of the American Revolution. The Sons of Liberty, an organization of American patriots, were very active in the city: they resisted the metropolis's tax measures and encouraged the settlers to boycott english goods.

Philadelphia was chosen because of its central position within the Thirteen Colonies to host the First Continental Congress, which met from September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenters' Hall. The Second Continental Congress was held between 1775 and 1781, when the Articles of Confederation were ratified. During the war of independence, this assembly organized the continental army, issued paper money and took care of the country's international relations. Delegates signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. However, following the American defeat of Brandywine in 1777, Congress had to leave the city, as well as 2/3 of the population. Residents had to hide the "Freedom Bell".

Several battles were fought between the Americans, led by George Washington, and British troops in Pennsylvania. After having invested in Philadelphia in September 1777, the British concentrated in Germantown 9,000 men, which Washington could not defeat. In June 1778, the British abandoned Philadelphia to protect New York from the French threat. As early as July, Congress was back in Philadelphia. A Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in 1781 to draft a constitution. This text, which organized the institutions of the new country, was signed at the Independence Hall in September 1787. It was in the Congress Hall that the Bill of Rights was drafted in 1790, the first ten amendments to the American Constitution.

Provisional capital of the United States

The Continental Congress moved to New York in 1785, but under Thomas Jefferson's pressure, he moved to Philadelphia in 1790, which served for ten years as the provisional capital of the United States, while Washington D.C. was under construction.

In 1793, a terrible epidemic of yellow fever ravaged the city. There were more than 5,000 victims, or nearly 10% of the population.

In 1799, Washington became the federal capital. Philadelphia also lost its status as a state capital in the same year to Lancaster.

The city was also the capital of American finance. For four decades, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, opened on Chestnut Street in 1790, was the federation's first stock exchange. This is the year of issuing a large $8 million public bond loan to restructure the debt of the new United States. In 1791, the First Bank of the United States, with a capital of $10 million, of which 20 per cent was owned by the state, was the first listed share. The city's first banker, the Frenchman Stephen Girard, bought it back in 1811 to finance the war of 1812.

Industrialization in the ^nineteenth century

Plate of the manufacturer Baldwin Locomotive Works.

Philadelphia’s maritime trade was disrupted by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812 against England. After that date, New York passed the city and the port of Pennsylvania.

At the beginning of the ^nineteenth century, Philadelphia experienced a major economic boom thanks to the agricultural and mining riches (coal) found in its hinterland; the construction of roads, canals and railways allowed the city to maintain its position in the Industrial Revolution. Textile, garment, metallurgy, paper and railway manufacturing, shipbuilding, agro-food were the main industries of the ^19th century. Philadelphia was also a major financial center. During the Civil War (1861-1865), the city’s factories provided the Union’s armies with military equipment and various resources. Hospitals also played a role in accommodating many injured in the conflict.

The Philadelphia riots of 1844.

Because of the mechanization of agriculture in the southern United States, thousands of African-Americans began to migrate north and Philadelphia became one of the privileged destinations of this influx. As in other American cities, the years before the Civil War were marked by violence against new migrants, as in the anti-Catholic riots of May-June 1844. With the Act of Consolidation of 1854, the municipality of Philadelphia annexed several districts, townships and outlying areas. This decision made it possible to align the boundaries of the city with that of the county and improve the management of urban problems. However, the Republican municipality continued to be corrupt and fraud and intimidation in the elections were frequent.

1876 World Fair

In 1876, Philadelphia hosted the first universal exhibition on American soil (the Centennial International Exhibition in English). It commemorated the centenary of the Declaration of Independence and was held in Fairmount Park, near the Schuylkill River. It attracted some 9,789,392 visitors. Most of the exhibition buildings were preserved by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Among the innovations that were shown to the public were Alexander Graham Bell's phone, Remington's typewriter, Heinz ketchup, Root beer, and the watch screw and watch assembly line (Waltham Watch Company).

Mutations of the ^twentieth century

The center of Philadelphia in 1913..

In 1903, Mother Jones organized one of the first anti-child labor protests in Philadelphia in the United States.

Thousands of immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland and Eastern Europe came to work in the city’s industries at the turn of the 20th century and regrouped in separate neighborhoods. During the First World War, the arrival of African-Americans fleeing the racial segregation of the South changed the structure of the population. With the development of rail and subway transport in 1907, and of the automobile, the middle classes began to leave the city center to reside in the suburbs. The first skyscrapers appeared and the Benjamin-Franklin bridge was built. After the Great Depression, Philadelphia was known for its strong unionism and its multiple strikes. Unemployment rose sharply and remained at a high level in the 1930s, despite the jobs created by the Work Projects Administration. It was not until World War II that the city emerged from the crisis, thanks to the arms industries.

In 1950, Philadelphia reached its peak, with just over two million inhabitants; housing was often inadequate and unsanitary. In the 1960's, racial riots erupted during the American civil rights movement. Social problems worsened with rising unemployment, drug abuse and gang violence. The white middle classes fled from the center to the surrounding counties: so the city lost more than 13 percent of its population in the 1970s.

The municipality adopted a new charter in 1951 giving more powers to the mayor. Mayor Joseph S. Clark Jr. (en) launched an urban renewal policy: improvement of roads and the transportation system (SEPTA, 1965), urban rehabilitation, creation of shopping centers and parks. But the city was on the edge of bankruptcy in the early 1990's, as were other major East Coast cities like New York, which experienced a similar crisis and bankruptcy. Since then, the situation of housing and employment has improved in several neighborhoods, but violence remains at a high level^{[ref. necessary]}.

Situation

Philadelphia is located in the northeastern United States, 80 miles southwest of New York, in the Manufacturing Belt industrial area, at the same latitude as the Balearic Islands or Calabria. It belongs to a continuously urbanized space, the BosWash, which stretches from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C. in the south. The city boasts being less than 100 miles from New York by road, 94 exactly (about 93 miles). The city is located between the Appalachian chain to the north and west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and east.

Philadelphia is built in southeastern Pennsylvania, and the suburbs developed in part southeast of New Jersey, thanks to the Benjamin Franklin and Walt Whitman Bridges. The center of the city extends mainly on the right bank of the Delaware River, where it controls the estuary to the south. The Schuylkill River flows into Delaware to the south of the city: it was at this confluence site that the shipyards developed. Other less important rivers cross the city: Cobbs Creek, Wissahickon Creek and Pennypack Creek.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 369.4 km², including 349.9 km² of land and 19.6 km² of water, or 5.29% of the total. The territory of the municipality (Philadelphia City) is 3.5 times larger than that of Paris. The town occupies a flat and low-rise river plain site. The average altitude is 13 meters above sea level. The Philadelphia metropolitan area, which occupies the Delaware Valley, has nearly six million inhabitants.

Climate

University of Pennsylvania campus. In winter, the blizzard brings large amounts of snow.

Philadelphia has a humid continental climate. Summers are very hot and wet and winters are cold and often dry. In summer, heat indices sometimes exceed 40 °C due to humidity combined with high temperatures. The highest heat index in Philadelphia was 54 °C on July 15, 1995. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with six to eight days of rain per month and a total of 1,054.1 mm over the year. It falls on average 58 cm of snow per year.

July being the most watered month of the year, the rains fall in the form of short hot rains. Summer precipitation can overflow the Schuylkill River. July temperatures vary on average between 20 °C and 25°C for the minimum nights and 30 °C at 35°C during the day with sometimes peaks at 38°C during heat waves, the nights can be very hot with temperatures remaining above the 30°C for a large part of the night.

The highest temperature recorded was 41.1 °C on August 7, 1918 at PHL and July 2011 at Northeast Philadelphia Airport (note that a temperature of 44°C was recorded on July 9 and 10, 1936, during the great wave of heat in Phoenixville located 22 miles east of Philadelphia). The Indian summer sometimes extends until mid-November, autumn and spring are relatively mild but short. Winter comes quickly and can be accompanied by cold waves (cold waves) that bring snowstorms (blizzard). The average low temperature for the month of January is -4 °C, the high average is 5 °C. The lowest temperature recorded was -23.9 °C on February 9, 1934 at PHL.

Philadelphia enjoys good sunshine with 2,498.4 hours per year.

Environment

The people of Philadelphia produce 400 tons of recyclable waste a day. The city faces a recycling problem in 2019, after China decided to stop imports of plastic waste.

Urban planning and neighborhoods

Aerial photo from Philadelphia. In the foreground (south): the confluence between the Schuylkill and Delaware, the industrial-port area; in the background, you can see the checkered plan, the business center with its skyscrapers; left: the university district and the Fairmount Park.

Philadelphia's urban development is characteristic of a large American city, while having a historic neighborhood like Boston or New Orleans.

Simplified map of downtown Philadelphia.

The center of the city (Center City) has been following an orthogonal plan since its founding; it forms a quadrilateral bounded to the east by Delaware to the north by Vine Street, to the west by Schuylkill and to the south by South Street. The center of this quadrilateral is occupied by the Town Hall. This building is located on the axis of two streets, Broad Street and Market Street, which cut at right angles like a Roman cardo and decumanus. The east-west streets are named after trees. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a sort of Philadelphia's Champs-Elysées, is a radial avenue that connects the Town Hall to the Fairmount Park and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The historic center is to the east, the business center to the west. Center City is home to many cultural institutions, galleries and shopping centers.

The town planning plan of the late ^seventeenth century had four places at the corners of the Center City: Washington Square West (en) , Rittenhouse Square , Logan Square and Franklin Square (en). The Fairmount Park Commission consists of a collection of public gardens scattered throughout the city, covering a total area of 3,723 hectares - 200 miles². The main one, Fairmount Park, is located along the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek, north-west of Center City, and stretches over 11 miles², five times the size of New York's Central Park and twice the Bois de Boulogne in Paris.

Around the center are ghettos (West Philadelphia, Camden) and the university district (University City, west of the Schuylkill). The first halle is also made up of intermediate and mixed neighborhoods, each with their own identity. Most of them correspond to the ancient villages or towns of Philadelphia County before their annexation by the city. The middle and affluent neighborhoods stretch far enough from the center and are connected by a system of expressways and commuter trains.

Evolution and distribution

Philadelphia, the country's fifth largest city and city, has 1,526,006 inhabitants in the city (Philadelphia City) and 5,965,343 inhabitants in its metropolitan area (PMSA: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington) in 2010.

In the mid-^18th century, Philadelphia was the most populated city of the Thirteen British Colonies. Despite its spectacular population growth, it has steadily declined in the ranking of American cities. It was passed by New York in the late ^eighteenth century, Chicago in the 1880s, and Los Angeles in the 1950s. The largest increase in the philadelphic population occurred in the late ^nineteenth century and early ^twentieth century: the number of inhabitants doubled between 1880 and 1920, thanks to european immigration. After a peak in population in 1950 (two million inhabitants), the city was depopulated due to social problems: the white middle classes left the municipality to move to the outlying counties. Between 1950 and 2000, Philadelphia lost more than 480,000 inhabitants. Despite the revitalization policy of some neighborhoods and the ongoing gentrification, the downward trend continues (-4.5% between 1990 and 2000), but at a slower pace.

The population density of Philadelphia, comparable to Boston or Chicago, was 4,337.3 inhabitants per square kilometer in 2000.

Evolution of the population of Philadelphia. "Source: American Census Bureau"^{(Archive ・ Wikiwix ・ Archive.is ・ Google ・ What to do?)} (accessed November 30, 2013).

Ethnic and social characteristics

The Chinese district of Philadelphia.

The ethnic distribution is characterized by the fact that no group has a majority: the proportion of whites is low (45%) compared to the national average and tends to decline. In 2005, 183,329 people reported having Irish ancestors, 121,397 Italian ancestors and 106,339 German ancestors. These three communities, formed by the descendants of migrants from the 1880s and 1920s, impress their mark on Philadelphia's cultural life.

African-Americans form a large (43.2% of the total) and growing community. This group is concentrated in the areas west and north of downtown.

The share of Latinos is lower (8.5%) than in the rest of the country, but their numbers are increasing. The Jamaican community, second in the country, and the Puerto Rican community (97,689 in 2005, third in the country) are the most represented.

The Asian population represents 4.5% of Philadelphians: the main community is the Chinese, estimated at 20,539 in 2005, the second largest on the east coast, after New York. The Chinese Quarter is located in the city center around Race Street, between 8^th and 11^th Street.

The rate of people living below the poverty line is 24.5 per cent, twice the state average. It remains well above the national average (13.3%). The average annual per capita income is $19,140. Of the megalopolis's major cities, Philadelphia is the poorest. The unemployment rate, with 5.7% of the labor force in 2007, is above the national average.

With respect to crime, Philadelphia ranks sixth among the most dangerous cities in the United States with more than 500,000 inhabitants. In 2004, 377 murders were recorded, mainly in ghettos, representing a rate of 25.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with the national average of 6.9 and the New York average of 6.6. In 2006, the number of homicides was 406.

The percentage of university graduates is lower than in the rest of Pennsylvania. However, the number of students is significant (107,519 in 2005, or 13.5% of the total population), due to the presence of many higher education institutions in the municipality.

Public, municipal or private services provide the majority of jobs. The industrial sector employs 8% of the labor force, just over 45,000 in 2005.

According to the American Community Survey, for the period 2011-2015, 77.94% of the population over the age of 5 said they spoke English at home, 10.10% Spanish, 2.22% Chinese, 1.02% Vietnamese, 0.87% Russian 0.61% Arabic, 0.60% French, 0.60% French Creole, 0.59% Cambodian, 0.57% African and 4.86% other languages.

Philadelphia City Hall.

Local Administration

The boundaries of the county and city of Philadelphia have been the same since the Act of Consolidation of 1854. All political functions have been performed by the municipality since 1952.

Political trends and outcomes

Between the Civil War and the mid-^twentieth century, the city was dominated by the Republican Party. After the Great Depression of the 1930's, the Democrats moved forward and eventually won the mayor's office in 1952. In the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, Democratic candidate Barack Obama won 83% and 85% of the votes in Philadelphia, respectively. Finally, in 2015, the city sent four representatives to the US Congress; they are three democrats and one republican.

Municipal Administration

Mayor

The city is run by a mayor elected for four years and who can serve no more than two consecutive terms. To be re-elected, he must wait at least four years. Since 1952, all the mayors of Philadelphia without exception are democrats and are more in favor of public intervention in favor of disadvantaged social groups, such as not imposing a local tax on basic necessities such as soap.

Municipal Council

The Philadelphia City Council is the city’s legislative and legislative body. It has 17 members, 10 of whom are elected in the districts, the other seven representing the entire city and elected by all citizens. Their term is four years, with no limit on renewal.

The President of the Council shall be chosen by the advisers; since 2012, this position has been held by Democrat Darrell L. Clarke.

The City Council meets once a week in a public session at the Town Hall. Decisions are made by a majority vote. The mayor can veto. But the council can override that right by a two-thirds majority vote. In 2005, the municipality employed approximately 30,000 people.

Justice

The Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas is the Court of Justice for Philadelphia. It is funded by municipal funds and works with the city's employees. The Road Contraventions Court deals with traffic violations. Although the capital of the state of Pennsylvania is in Harrisburg, the Supreme Court, Superior Court and Commonwealth Court may hold hearings in Philadelphia. The judges of these bodies are elected by all the citizens of the city.

The center of Philadelphia from South Street Bridge.

History

The Comcast Center, completed in 2008, is 297 meters, making it the tallest skyscraper in the city. It is the symbol of economic renewal in Philadelphia.

In the ^eighteenth century, Philadelphia played a pioneering role in the political and economic birth of the country. Also, the traditional sectors founded in colonial times, have remained dynamic and still have a reputation for the city: publishing and printing, the press, the bank, the health professions are just a few examples.

In the ^19th century, coal mining in the Appalachian Mountains, the rise of railways and water transportation, placed Philadelphia at the top of the industrial metropolises, at the heart of Manufacturing Belt. The industries of the Industrial Revolution and the agro-food industry made the city prosperous (metallurgy, textile, oil, shipbuilding, canning, fish farming). The city's geographic location, between New York and Washington DC, has attracted many transportation companies. After 1945, with the decline of these traditional industries affecting Manufacturing Belt, Philadelphia entered a phase of economic and social crisis. Many factories have had to close, restructure or relocate to the south and west of the country, or even abroad. Today, Philadelphia has diversified its activities and begun its economic renewal. Unemployment has been falling since 1993, and new skyscrapers are emerging in the business district. Philadelphia remains a leading financial and decision-making center in the northeastern United States.

Major Sectors

Industries and port

The tertiary sector has become predominant in terms of employment and wealth creation; however, the city’s economy is still partly based on heavy and agri-food industries. Other industrial activities include metallurgy, garment, stationery, equipment industries (office, communication, computer). Many refineries and petrochemical industries are concentrated along Delaware. Shipyards Aker Philadelphia (formerly Kvæ rner Philadelphia Shipyard, closed in 1995) continue to build cargo ships and tankers. But they face foreign competition, especially from Asia. The port, managed by the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, is dominated by oil traffic (57 million tons in 1996). It also imports fruit, iron, steel and paper. The port of Philadelphia, which already occupies the first place on the Atlantic coast for various goods, plans to increase its container traffic.

Services

The economy of Philadelphia is now dominated by the service sector. The main activities are related to health (hospitals, insurance), transport (SEPTA employs more than 9,000 people, US Airways has a hub, Amtrak), financial services and telecommunications (Verizon, Comcast Corporation) and federal institutions.

Several regional or national companies have their headquarters in Philadelphia: Aramark, First Union National Bank, Advanta (Bank), Cigna and Lincoln Financial Group (Insurance), Comcast (Media), Sunoco (Oil), Rohm and Haas and FMC Corporation (Chemistry), GlaxoSmithKline (Pharmaceuticals), Pep Boys (Automotive Equipment).

The city’s first three employers are the federal government (over 30,000 employees in 1999), the University of Pennsylvania and its hospital, and municipal services. The Hotel des Monnaies for the east coast of the United States is located near the historic quarter, as is a division of the federal reserve. Philadelphia has its own stock exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, which is the oldest in the United States. Because of the presence of government institutions, the city has many law firms. It is also a national center for law through its specialized schools (for example, the University of Pennsylvania Law School) and the American Law Institute. The hospital sector is also highly developed and works in conjunction with industry in the region, universities, research centers and pharmaceutical industries. Finally, in recent years, the municipality has made investments to develop tourism and highlight its assets: construction of a convention center (1993), restoration of historic heritage, development of water fronts ... In 2002, Philadelphia received 421,000 foreign tourists and is 13^th ranking of the most visited U.S. cities.

Like many other cities in the US, Philadelphia faces the collapse of its pension system. The pensions of his ex-civil servants are not always paid now.

The School District of Philadelphia is the city's main educational authority. The District manages 214 of the 300 public schools located within Philadelphia and was responsible for the education of approximately 131,362 students in 2014.

Higher education

University of Pennsylvania campus.

Philadelphia is an important university city with several thousand students and many institutions of higher education. The campuses contribute to the cultural dynamism of the city: in the University City area west of downtown, 21 museums and art galleries are open to the public. Universities and research centers work in liaison with the city's main employers: higher education is particularly advanced in the fields of chemistry, science, health and the arts.

Founded in 1964, the Community College of Philadelphia offers 70 different degrees and a wide range of courses from arts to science to economics. It has some 38,000 students (2007), making it the city's largest institution of higher education.

The University of Pennsylvania is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the United States: founded by Benjamin Franklin in the ^18th century, it is part of the famous Ivy League, an informal association of the country's eight most famous universities. In 2007, the University of Pennsylvania was listed as one of the top ten universities in the country according to the U.S. News & World Report. It currently has over 19,800 students and, with its hospital, is the city's second largest employer. The campus is located in the University City area. The Temple University opened in 1884 and has about 33,600 students. The city's third largest university is Drexel (17,000 students), followed by Saint Joseph (7,000) and La Salle (6,200).

List of higher education institutions.

The city of Philadelphia has a varied and dynamic cultural life. From the ^18th century, Philadelphia became a major center for artistic, musical and even culinary creation. Today, it offers a wide range of museums and events, as well as numerous theaters.

Heritage and museums

The Philadelphia City Hall is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

Dating back to the ^18th century, Philadelphia has many historic monuments and cultural sites. Most of them are located east of the Center City within Independence National Historical Park: Some date back to the colonial era and are built in red bricks in the Georgian or federal style (Congress Hall, Independence Hall, Old City Hall, Carpenters' Hall, Library Hall, Christ Church, St. George's United Methodist Church, etc.); others were erected during or after the American Revolution and adopt a neo-classical style (First Bank of the United States, Second Bank of the United States, Merchants’ exchange...). Independence Hall (1732-1753) is one of the few American buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The historic park also offers many museums: National Constitution Center, Museum of the American Philosophical Society, Liberty Bell Center, New Hall Military Museum ... Several ^18th century houses are scattered around the area: Todd’s House (1775), Betsy Ross House (1740), Powell House (1765-1766) and especially the famous Elfreth’s Alley (1720-early ^19th century)

The other monuments and museums are scattered in the center of the city. The Hôtel de Ville, which began construction in 1871, adopts a second empire style, inspired by the Louvre, with attic roofs. The Masonic temple stands opposite the Town Hall: it is home to the Grande Loge of Pennsylvania, one of the oldest in the country. Several cultural institutions are grouped around Logan Square: the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul (1864), the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Free Library. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway, inspired by the Champs-Elysées in Paris, connects Logan Square with the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The music academy was designed by French architect Napoleon Le Brun (1857). Finally, the Tadeusz Kościuszko National Memorial (1775-1776) and Gloria Dei Church (the oldest church in the city) are to the southeast.

The city has many museums that reflect the characteristics of a city that glorifies its past while looking to the future: This can be seen in the science-based museums (Academy of Natural Sciences, Franklin Institute, Mütter Museum, Wagner Free Institute of Science) and the Abington Art Center (Institute of Contemporary Art).

• Monuments of Philadelphia
• Independence Hall (1732-1756).

• Liberty Bell (1751-1752).

• Pennsylvania Hospital (mid-^18th century).

• First Bank of the United States (1797).

• Second Bank of the United States (1824).

• Merchant Exchange (1832-1834).

• Masonic Temple (1873).

• Philadelphia Museum of Art (1876).

Modern architecture

For a long time, the city had no skyscrapers because of a tacit rule that forbids building taller than the statue of William Penn located at the top of the Town Hall tower. In 1987, the One Liberty Place, whose architecture is strongly inspired by the Chrysler Building, was the first building to exceed 200 meters high: at the time, the superstitious claimed that the construction was the cause of the problems affecting the city's sports teams (Billy Penn's curse). Today, Philadelphia has, like other American metropolises, its CBD, and has five skyscrapers over two hundred meters high. The numerous tower projects bear witness to the economic rebirth of the city. The Comcast Center was recently built, making it the largest skyscraper on the east coast, outside Chicago and New York.

• The two emblematic buildings of Philadelphia: the One and Two Liberty Place.

• The center of Philadelphia from Logan Square.

• Panorama of the skyscrapers of Philadelphia.

• View from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Libraries

The city has several libraries, the main one being the Free Library of Philadelphia. Opened in 1894, it contains more than seven million books and is divided into 54 annexes in the various neighborhoods. The Athenæ um of Philadelphia, located near Independence Hall and founded in 1814, houses a collection of historical, artistic and architectural documents.

The Library Company of Philadelphia, opened in 1731, holds more than 450,000 pre-Civil War volumes. The library of the American Society of Philosophy has some 230,000 books and 5 million manuscripts. Finally, the University of Pennsylvania has a network of libraries specializing in various fields, manuscripts and rare books.

Literature

Edgar Allan Poe's house.

The first forms of literature appeared in the writings of the pastors in the ^eighteenth century. Soon, the Enlightenment movement inspired Benjamin Franklin's political writings, and the city's press published the rebel pamphlets. The abolitionist current, linked to Quakerism, developed among authors residing in Philadelphia (Antoine Bénézet, Lucretia Mott, William Still). In the ^19th century, many writers lived in the greater Philadelphia. The novels of Charles Brockden Brown (died in 1810) appeared in the city's magazines and press. The poet and novelist Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) settled in Philadelphia in 1838-1844: you can always visit your house on Spring Garden Street. He wrote for the monthly Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, published several works and founded the literary magazine Pen Magazine. Writers born in Philadelphia include Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), Alain Locke (1885-1954) or, more recently, Lisa Scottoline (born 1955).

Finally, several novels set the city of Philadelphia in the ^20th century: published in 1912, The Financier, written by Theodore Dreiser, evokes the fate of Frank Cowperwood, a character inspired by the philadelphian tycoon Charles Yerkes. Other examples include Kitty Foyle by Christopher Morley (1939), The Philadelphian by Richard P. Powell (1957), Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman (1990), and the novels of W.E.B. Griffin and Omar Tyree.

Plastic Arts

During the colonial era, the city’s elite supported the development of the arts, including painting, by commanding portraits of William Williams (1727-1791) or Benjamin West (1738-1820). In 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was founded by painter Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush, and other artistic personalities: It is the oldest art school and the oldest museum in the United States. This institution formed some of the great names of American painting such as Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt or Henry Ossawa Tanner.

The city’s largest museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was inaugurated in 1876 during the Universal Exhibition. Today, it contains more than 225,000 works from Antiquity to the present day. The Rodin Museum is nearby, on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Founded in 1929, it houses the sculptor’s largest collection of works outside France.

Art can also be found in the city’s many galleries, but also in its parks and streets. Since 1991, every first Friday of the month in Old City, art galleries have been open until late in the evening and offer various exhibitions. The statues of the great personalities of Philadelphia are omnipresent: Benjamin Franklin (on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania) and William Penn (on the top of the Town Hall) are just a few examples. The sculpture LOVE by Robert Indiana (1978) is one of the symbols of the city. She refers to the city's nickname: "the city of fraternal love". A replica of this work can also be found on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania and on a street in New York. The Clothespin of Claes Oldenburg (1976) is located in front of the Town Hall. Finally, 3,000 frescoes adorn the walls of the buildings. In the 1990s, in order to stem the proliferation of graffiti, the city council decided to give some walls to the banders. Several facades soon became a place of expression for graffiti artists and painters, encouraged by the Mural Arts Program (MAP). The frescoes represent landscapes, personalities of popular culture, in a style resembling hyperrealism and Diego Rivera. The largest of these frescoes is Common Thread: designed by Meg Saligman, it is painted on an eight-story building. John Sarantis's Legacy cost about $250,000 (more than €170,000). There is a tourist circuit to admire these frescoes.

Live music and shows

By the middle of the ^eighteenth century, the first organs were installed in the churches of Philadelphia and the first opera opened its doors (The Beggar’s Opera). In the following century, the Music Fund Society and the Conservatory were created (Academy of Music, 1857). In 1900, Philadelphia’s opera was inaugurated. In the ^20th century, Philadelphia was one of the hotspots of jazz with musicians like John Coltrane. In the 1960s, the Soul Philadelphia was a musical current born in the city, whose most famous representative is Billy Paul. More recently, Philadelphia is considered one of the cradles of gangsta rap and hardcore rap with the songs of MC Schooly D. Philadelphia was sung by many artists: Elton John (Philadelphia Freedom, 1975), Boyz II Men (Motownphilly, 1991), Bruce Springsteen (Streets of Philadelphia, 1993), Musiq Soulchild (Ms. Philadelphia, 2) 007), etc.

Philadelphia is also the birthplace of the "Philadelphia Sound", also known as "Philly Sound", which refers to the style of soul music typically produced by musicians from the city in the 1960s. This soul music was characterized by arrangements influenced by jazz and funk music, based on orchestrations very rich in ropes and brass. This style is also characterized by the presence of numerous percussions and drums, whose clear body was often replaced or doubled by a tom. Philly Sound also refers to the style of music that resulted from it, invented by the same musicians in the early seventies. For example, Earl Young, the iconic drummer at Philly Sound, invented the famous disco rhythm 4
4 with the charleston played in reverse time. Philly Sound has been made possible through studios like Sigma Sound Studios and labels like Philadelphia International Records (PIR). These structures have allowed iconic groups such as Mother Father Sister Brother (MFSB), Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, The O'Jays or the Trammps, for example, to popularize the Philly Sound, which is still so appealing today, particularly as a result of the renewed interest in disco music and the re-use of these songs in House music since the mid-years ninety.

Stanley Clarke, famous jazz bassite, is also from Philadelphia. The Roots instrumental rap band is originally from Philadelphia. Jill scott is also a soul/funk singer.

On July 13, 1985, the city hosted the Live Aid for Ethiopia concert at John F. Kennedy Stadium. On July 2, 2005, Bob Geldof chose Philadelphia to organize the Live 8 humanitarian concert on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which brings together between 600,000 and 800,000 people.

Today, Philadelphia's opera is internationally renowned and contributes to the cultural influence of the city. Like the Philadelphia Orchestra, the opera performed at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, opened in 2001, on Broad Street.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has gained international fame thanks to the maestros Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti and Wolfgang Sawallisch. It is now led by Charles Duroe.

The oldest theater in the city is the Southwark Theater, founded in 1766. Theaters and companies multiplied in the ^19th century (Forrest Theater, Walnut Street Theater). Every year, William Shakespeare plays during the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival.

The Pennsylvania Ballet (1963) has national fame and performs at the Academy of Music and at the Merriam Theater. The Philadelphia dance company (Phildanco, 1970) specializes in modern dance.

Kitchen

Cheesesteaks restaurant.

There is a specific cuisine in the city of Philadelphia: the best known specialties are hoagies (sandwich appeared in the interwar period, close to kebab), cheesesteaks (meat and cheese sandwich), pretzels (soft pretzels) and water ice cream (water ice); they reflect the cultural diversity of the Philadelphians.

In colonial times, taverns such as the London Coffee House and the Tun Tavern were places of sociability and challenge to British supremacy. In the late ^19th century, the Reading Terminal Market and the Italian market were created. Many restaurants were opened in the 1970s.

Cinema and popular culture

Cinema appeared in Philadelphia in the late 19th century. On 18 December 1895, Charles Francis Jenkins exhibited his cinematographic projection apparatus at the Franklin Institute. Siegmund Lubin bought Jenkins' camera and shot several films in the city. He then built his own devices, founded the Lublin Manufacturing Company in 1902, and opened Philadelphia's first theaters. In 1985 the municipality opened the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, which was designed to develop film and audiovisual production in the region, with grants. Finally, each year the Philadelphia Film Festival (Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema) and the International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival) are held.

The film Rocky shows various parts of the city and made famous the steps of the museum of art, which the hero embodied by Sylvester Stallone climbed to train. The film Philadelphia deals with discrimination against AIDS sufferers. Bruce Springsteen won an Oscar of Cinema in 1994 for the song of the generic Streets of Philadelphia. The stories of Mr. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Incassable and The Girl of Water) take place in Philadelphia or in his area. The Invincible film, released in August 2006, tells the true story of Vince Papale, a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, who joins his favorite club. David Fincher's thriller Seven is located in a city with an unknown name, but most of the scenes were shot in Philadelphia. The film Benjamin Gates and the Treasure of the Templars of Jon Turteltaub (2004) shows several places in Philadelphia such as the City Hall, Benjamin Franklin Institute and Independence Hall.

Other films feature different parts of the city: Indiscretions, Kitty Foyle, The Philadelphia Experiment, Flic and Rebel, Shooter, sniper, etc.

Several TV series are also taking place in Philadelphia: Cold Case, American Dreams, The Justicier of the Shadow, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, An honest citizen, Body of Proof, Incorrigible Cory.

Several parts of the Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 video games take place there, as a viral pandemic close to rabies is taking root, turning a large part of the US population into violent zombies.

Cultural Events

The Mummers Parade takes place every 1^th January.

In Philadelphia, the Mummers Parade is held every 1^th January. Each New Years Associations competes in four categories. She prepares costumes and mobile scenes for months. Approximately 15,000 people attend the procession each year. The first of these parades was organized in 1901. The Puerto Rican and Irish communities organize street parades (Puerto Rican Day Parade and Saint Patrick's Day Parade). In February the Wing Bowl is a sports food competition held every year since 1993. The Philadelphia Flower Show is held in spring. The National Day is marked by a series of concerts and cultural events called Welcome America, from June to July 4. The African-American student fraternities organize the Greek Picnic every July.

Religions

Philadelphia was founded in a spirit of religious tolerance. The city is marked by its Protestant heritage that goes back to the Swedish, Dutch, English and German immigrants of the modern era.

Basilica Cathedral of Saint Peter and Paul

Today, all branches of Christianity are represented in Philadelphia: the city is the seat of a Catholic archdiocese led since 2003 by Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali and whose heart is the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. The greater Philadelphia area has about 1.5 million Catholics, mainly in the community of Irish and Hispanic origin. The city has twelve Catholic universities (Chestnut Hill College, University of the Holy Family, La Salle University, Saint Joseph's University, etc.) and the parish school system is one of the country's largest, with 250 primary and secondary schools. Among the most important buildings of the Catholic cult are the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul in Philadelphia and the Church of the Gesú in Philadelphia.

Protestantism is represented in its diversity, and many places of worship date back to the pre-revolutionary period, including the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, the first black Episcopal Church in the United States founded in 1792.

Founded in 1795, the Rodeph Shalom congregation established the first Ashkenazi synagogue in the Americas in Philadelphia. The famous American architect Frank Furness designed the plans for the first Jewish sanctuary in 1866, built in a Moorish style. The current building, designed in 1928, can accommodate up to 1,640 people. Today, 15,000 Jews live in the Center City of Philadelphia.

The black Muslim community regroups in the Walnut Hill neighborhood, which has several mosques. The city also has several Buddhist centers and associations, particularly in Chinatown.

Famous people

Philadelphia has a long tradition of journalism: the press was already active in the ^eighteenth century with The American Weekly Mercury and the Pennsylvania Gazette. Today, the city's two major newspapers are the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, which belong to the Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C. Founded in 1829, the Philadelphia Inquirer, is the third oldest newspaper still published in the United States. With more than 300,000 copies distributed on weekdays, its journalists received eighteen Pulitzer Awards. The Philadelphia Daily News is a newer tabloid with a smaller circulation (approximately 114,000).

The first radio license was granted to Saint Joseph's University in August 1912. The first commercial radio (WIP) appeared in 1922, soon followed by WFIL, WOO, WPHT and WDAS. Today, the most popular radios are WBEB, KYW Newsradio and WDAS-FM. There are other specialized radio stations in sports (WPEN) or political debates (WNTP). Other stations target specific audiences (WURD for African-Americans, WUBA for Hispanics). Founded in 1975, WQHS is broadcast from the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

The city's first television channel was established in the 1930s: The experimental station W3XE (now KYW-TV) was the property of Philco Corp. Other channels were established in the 1970s (WCAU-TV, WPVI-TV, WHYY-TV, WPHL-TV and WTXF-TV). It was in 1952 that WFIL (now WPVI), the first of the Bandstand show, which later became American Bandstand animated by Dick Clark, took place. WYBE is a public channel that broadcasts foreign language programs targeting ethnic minorities and homosexuals.

Wells Fargo Center, enclosure of the Flyers, 76ers, Wings and Soul.

Philadelphia has a long sports tradition: the Olympic Town Ball Club was the first town ball club in the country (1832). Town ball was a ball game and the ancestor of baseball. The latter, then known as the "New York Game," replaced town ball only in the 1860s in Philadelphia. The Pythians formed the first black baseball team in the United States.

Philadelphia is one of the thirteen cities that have four teams belonging to major leagues in professional sports:

• The Philadelphia Eagles for the National Football League,
• Philadelphia Flyers for the National Hockey League,
• Philadelphia's Phillies for Major League Baseball
• and the 76ers of Philadelphia for the National Basketball Association.

There are other professional or amateur teams in other sports such as cricket or lacrosse.

Philadelphia hosts various competitions each year: the Penn Relays, the Stotesbury Cup, the Philadelphia Marathon and a cycling race (Philadelphia International Championship). The Philadelphia Tennis Tournament is a women's tennis tournament of the WTA professional circuit. It is organized every year at the end of October.

Philadelphia hosted the 2002 NBA All-Star Game.

Public transport

A bus from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, June 20, 2016.

30th Street Station, with the Cira Center in the background and the statues on the Market Street Bridge in the foreground.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is the transit authority in the city of Philadelphia and its suburbs (Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties). It manages the metro, buses, trolleybuses and trams of the urban area. The metro has been running since 1907; It's the fourth oldest network in America. Philadelphia still has several tram lines that operate as a metro station in the city center and a peripheral line north of the city center that only works with old historical trams (the Girard Avenue Line, known as Route 15).

The 30^th Street Station (30th Street Station) is Amtrak's main railway station on the northeast corridor. It serves most of the major cities on the east coast (Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington DC). At the regional level, it is linked to Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Atlantic City. This veritable communication hub provides access to the Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and SEPTA lines. PATCO offers connections to the eastern shore of Delaware and the towns of the area located in the neighboring state of New Jersey.

Air transport

Two airports serve Philadelphia: the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), located in the far south of the city, and the Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE), which handles general aviation and is located in the northeast. The international airport is a hub for US Airways and offers domestic and international flights. With more than 31.7 million passengers in 2006, it is the 16^th US airport and the 28^th worldwide. But it ranks tenth in the world for traffic (515,809 movements in 2006). It is connected to the city center by the Airport Rail Line (R1), a train line run by SEPTA, and by a bus line (line ^No 68).

External transport: trains, motorways and buses

Route map of Philadelphia region.

Since the beginning of rail in the United States, Philadelphia has always been a major rail hub for several companies, particularly the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad first occupied the Broad Street Station, then the 30th Street Station and the Suburban Station. The Reading Railroad managed the Reading Terminal, which is now part of the convention center. Today, the different lines form only one system under the control of SEPTA.

Interstate 95, which crosses the city along Delaware, remains the main north-south highway; it connects Philadelphia to New York to the north and Baltimore to the south. The city center is also served by the Schuylkill Expressway, a portion of Interstate 76 that runs along the Schuylkill River. It meets the Pennsylvania Turnpike at King of Prussia, providing access to the state capital, Harrisburg. Interstate 676 and the Vine Street Expressway were completed in 1991 after several years of construction. They connect the Center City to New Jersey via the Benjamin-Franklin Bridge.

Roosevelt Boulevard and Roosevelt Expressway (Route 1) connect Northeast Philadelphia with the city center. Woodhaven Road (Woodhaven Road or Pennsylvania Route 63), built in 1966, serves the Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods. The northern districts are connected to the center by Fort Washington Expressway (Pennsylvania Route 309).

The Delaware River Port Authority manages four bridges over Delaware: Walt Whitman Bridge (I-76), Benjamin-Franklin Bridge (I-676 and Route 30), Betsy Ross Bridge (Route 90) and Commodore Barry Bridge (Route 322). There is also a ferry service to cross Delaware to New Jersey.

Philadelphia is one of the main hubs for Greyhound Lines bus company. The terminal is located at 1001 Filbert Street in Center City. In 2005, the latter was the third in the country behind the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York and the Los Angeles bus terminal. Other transport companies are also present: Bieber Tourways, Capitol Trailways, Martz Trailways, Peter Pan Bus Lines, Susquehanna Trailways, as well as New Jersey Transit buses.

The Schuylkill Expressway, close to the Center City from the south.

Highway 76 (Schuylkill Expressway), near Center City from the north.

•  Florence (Italy) since 1964
•  Tel Aviv-Jaffa (Israel) since 1966
•  Toruń (Poland) since 1976
•  Tianjin (China) since 1980
•  Incheon (South Korea) since 1984
•  Douala (Cameroon) since 1986
•  Kobe (Japan) since 1986
•  Nijni Novgorod (Russia) since 1992
•  Abruzzo (Italy) since 1997
•  Aix-en-Provence (France) since 1999
•  Lyon (France) since 2004