Domenico Santucci
According to the 1990 census, Philadelphia ranked as the fifth largest city in the United States. About 11/2 million people live in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia lies in southeastern Pennsylvania on the Delaware River. The river flows into the Atlantic Ocean and helps make Philadelphia one of the nation's busiest freshwater ports. The city also is a centre of U.S. culture, education, finance, and health care.
Few cities in the United States can match Philadelphia's historic attractions. Every year, millions of visitors thrill to the sight of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Many visitors enjoy touring Carpenters' Hall and Congress Hall, where Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other early leaders laid the foundations of a new nation. Philadelphians also take pride in the city's world-famous orchestra; excellent colleges and universities; scenic parks; and outstanding museums of art, history, and science.
The city. Philadelphia covers about 375 square kilometres, including 23 square kilometres of inland water. It lies in Philadelphia County, but the city and the county have the same boundaries. Thus, Philadelphia is both a city and a county.
Philadelphia's huge City Hall covers about 2 hectares in the centre of the city. It is one of the largest city halls in the United States. A tower rises from the front part of the white granite and marble building. On top of the tower stands a bronze statue of William Penn. The statue, which measures 11 metres tall and weighs 24,278 kilograms, ranks as the world's largest sculpture on top of a building. The distance from the ground to the top of the statue is nearly 167 metres.
Philadelphia's chief historic area lies east of the shopping district. It centres on the 9-hectare Independence National Historical Park, which includes Independence Hall. Inside this handsome red brick building on Chestnut Street, visitors may see the room where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were adopted. The famous Liberty Bell, rung in 1776 to announce the adoption of the Declaration, hangs in a glass-enclosed structure near Independence Hall. Also nearby are Congress Hall, the home of Congress from 1790 until 1800; and Carpenters' Hall, where the First Continental Congress met in 1774.
About 35 brick houses built during the early 1700's line Elfreth's Alley, a narrow, cobblestone street between Arch and Race streets. It is the nation's oldest street of continuously occupied homes. On Fifth Street, the largest United States Mint produces about 350 million U.S. dollars worth of coins yearly.
Ethnic groups. English and Welsh Quakers who accompanied William Penn were the first settlers in Philadelphia. Other Europeans followed in three major waves of immigration. Many English people arrived throughout the 1700's. In the second wave, between the 1830's and 1880's, large numbers of families came from England, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In the third wave, which took place in the early 1900's, many immigrants came from Austria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Russia.
Blacks began to come to Philadelphia during the 1600's because of the Quaker belief in racial equality. Thousands of Southern blacks arrived during and after World War II (1939-1945).
Today, Philadelphia's about 640,000 blacks make up about two-fifths of the city's population and form its largest ethnic group. People of Italian ancestry make up the next largest ethnic group, and they are followed by residents of Irish or German descent. Other large groups of Philadelphians include inhabitants of English, Puerto Rican, Polish, Russian, or Ukrainian descent.
About half of Philadelphia's black residents live in North Philadelphia. Many Italians live in South Philadelphia. Most of the children and grandchildren of the city's immigrants live in the newer sections of Philadelphia or in the suburbs.
Economy. Philadelphia is a leading centre of commerce in the United States. For many years Philadelphia was one of the world's leading manufacturing cities. But since about 1950, service industries have grown rapidly while manufacturing has declined in the city. Today, Philadelphia relies less on manufacturing than do most other large U.S. cities. About 85 per cent of the city's workers are employed in service industries. Philadelphia's most important service industries are trade, finance, and health care.
The wholesale trade industry in Philadelphia relies heavily on the city's port. The Port of Philadelphia is one of the busiest freshwater ports in the United States. It handles nearly 27 million metric tons of cargo annually. Grain and coal are the city's major exports. Philadelphia's retail trade industry is strengthened by the large numbers of tourists that visit the city.
Manufacturing employs about 15 per cent of Philadelphia's workers. Philadelphia ranks third in clothing production among the U.S. cities, after New York and Los Angeles. Philadelphia is also a major producer of chemicals, fabricated metal products, and processed foods.
About 150 clothing factories operate in Philadelphia. The major products of the city's clothing industry are business suits and dresses.
The production of chemicals is one of Philadelphia's fastest-growing manufacturing activities. Pharmaceuticals are the city's most valuable type of chemical product. Other leading chemical products that are produced in Philadelphia include industrial chemicals and pesticides.
In 1681, King Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter to establish what became the Pennsylvania Colony. Penn chose the site of Philadelphia for the capital, which he visualized as a "greene countrie towne." He arrived there in 1682, and the town became the capital of Pennsylvania in 1683.
Penn had advertised his guarantee of religious liberty before he left Europe, and thousands of persecuted people came to Philadelphia.
In 1723, a 17-year-old apprentice printer named Benjamin Franklin moved to Philadelphia from Boston. A few years later, he had become Philadelphia's most famous civic leader.
In the mid-1700's, Philadelphia became a centre of colonial protest against British taxes and trade policies in America. Later, in the mid-1800's, it became a centre of the antislavery movement. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, the city attracted thousands of eastern European Jews, Italians, Poles, and Slavs.
