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         Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Did you know that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was our nation's largest city in the 1790s right when America was  a new country? The city also has a lot of history. The city was first inhabited by Native Americans from Delaware, then in 1682 William Penn discovered and settled on Philadelphia. Today Philadelphia is a city with a little over 1.5 million people, Philadelphia is flooded with museums and universities, one famous museum is the Philadelphia History Museum. Famous universities located in Philadelphia are The University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University.  Did you know that The University of Pennsylvania was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1740? Philadelphia is now a city with a large economy, such as tourism and many large companies. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is rich in history, has spectacular architecture,is the home of the Liberty Bell, and has a bustling economy.

Philadelphia is one of the oldest cities in the nation and is rich in history. There are many pieces of evidence that supports the claim Philadelphia is rich in history, my first piece of evidence is that there are a lot of old neighborhoods in Philadelphia. Two historical  neighborhoods are Old City and Society Hill. Old City is a small district about one square mile  known as America's most historic square mile. Old City was settled by William Penn and the Quakers, the district is full of narrow streets. Society Hill Is a neighborhood that is part of historic Philadelphia, and is home of a famous square called Head House Square and it has cobblestone My second piece of evidence is that Philadelphia used to be the capitol, for ten years from 1790 to 1800.  It was something called a temporary capitol, it was the capitol because Washington D.C. was not built yet. The president at that time was mainly William Mckinley who died in office. At the time he was president,  Carpenter's Hall served as the White House. My third piece of evidence is that Philadelphia is one of the nation's oldest cities. The city of Philadelphia was founded in 1682 and has been the largest city in the United States for 30 years in the 1800’s. The  city also has great public amenity, it was among the first cities to build a public transportation such as tramways (streetcars) buses and subways the company that runs them is SEPTA. The company still runs the public transportation today.

Philadelphia has spectacular architecture throughout the city. There are not just brand new skyscrapers, but there are older buildings. Philadelphia has many old buildings that still stand today such as the Eastern State Penitentiary built in 1829, Independence Hall built in 1732  and Carpenters Hall which was built in 1774. There are also very new sky high buildings like the Comcast Technology Center that will open this year. Another new skyscraper is One Liberty Place Built which opened 27 years ago.  The  last  skyscraper is Mellon Bank Center which also opened 27 years ago. From 1940-1960 in Philadelphia, the city started  building new buildings. This work helped especially in the late 1940s and the late 60s but it especially helped in the 1950s and in early 1960 when the city’s population grew to 2,071,605 people. Many people in this time were poor and the city become a bit dirty and  had unnecessary areas with abandoned factories, really old buildings falling apart and acres of unused rail way tracks. The city started an urban renewal program in mid 1950s. the city first cleared old industrial buildings and old residential buildings in the upper part of the city, where there were not many buildings. then the project cleared 4 entire block's worth of old buildings from the early 1700s, which were just a couple blocks from Independence Hall, then the city built spacious buildings in the cleared city blocks. The Government also cleared old factories and warehouses for the city and built more spacious buildings, and they even cleared the old train tracks and built more space for college dorms and campuses, they also built more parks and office buildings on the cleared rail way tracks. Have you ever wondered about the  architecture on city hall, it is amazing and is interesting in regard to its architecture. The city hall started construction from 1871 to 1901 that is exactly 30 years, the building which still stands today has 700 rooms and has a William Penn statue on the top. The other small architectural features are that the tower has a giant clock  and the observation deck is directly below the William Penn statue. The style of the building is Second Empire.

Philadelphia is home to one of the most popular landmarks in American history The Liberty Bell which represents American independence.   The Liberty Bell was rung not that often but rung on some very special occasions.  The Liberty Bell is and was the sign of independence. The most important day for the bell and an important day in American history was on July 8th 1776 when the bell was rung to announce the official adoption of independence. That was not the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, it was signed on  July fourth 1776 but the official day of the adoption was on July 8th 1776. Did you know that the Liberty Bell had such along journey? It was first cast in England and it was shipped by boat to Philadelphia but on the way the Bell cracked  and  it had to be recasted in Philadelphia with the same metal and inscription. Later on it cracked again but the city decided  not to fix it.  The bell also moved a lot in 1976. It moved to a pavilion, then in 2003 it moved to a larger pavilion just north of Independence Hall.  Have you ever been to the Liberty Bell? It is an iconic  symbol of Philadelphia. A lot of people  go and see  Philadelphia, and people are interested in  landmarks, such as the Liberty Bell. Here are some facts about The Liberty Bell. It is the symbol of independence and many may wonder when The Liberty Bell was commissioned and how much it costs then and now, it was commissioned in 1752 and it cost a bit more than 200 hundred dollars, that's about 5 million dollars  in today's money !


Philadelphia is a bustling city with a great economy. One of its big industries is tourism but it is also home to Comcast. Even though some banks do not have headquarters in Philadelphia, banks own arenas such as Wells Fargo Arena in lower Philadephia.  It also has companies in the suburbs that Philadelphians commute to is QVC  and Amerisourcebergen. It has Smaller companies as well such as La colombe  torrefaction which produces coffee to retail. Another company , MSC Retail, a real estate brokerage company, is also headquartered in Philadelphia.


Philadelphia is a wonderful city. It was once the temporary capital of the United States. It went through a massive urban renewal program in the 1950s and the 1960s. Today you can see some new skyscrapers right next to older buildings. Also, you can visit the Liberty Bell, a symbol of American independence.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is rich in history, has spectacular architecture, is the home of the Liberty Bell and has a bustling economy.