Portal:Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Portal

The Philadelphia skyline from the South Street Bridge, January 2020

Philadelphia, commonly referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the second-most populous city in the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Philadelphia is known for its extensive contributions to United States history, especially the American Revolution, and served as the nation's capital until 1800. It maintains contemporary influence in business and industry, culture, sports, and music. Philadelphia is the nation's sixth-most populous city, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census and is the urban core of the larger Delaware Valley (or Philadelphia metropolitan area), the nation's seventh-largest and one of the world's largest metropolitan regions consisting of 6.245 million residents in the metropolitan statistical area and 7.366 million residents in its combined statistical area.

Philadelphia is a national cultural center, hosting more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other city in the nation. Fairmount Park, when combined with adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the same watershed, is 2,052 acres (830 ha), representing one of the nation's largest and the world's 45th-largest urban park. The city is known for its arts, culture, cuisine, and colonial and Revolution-era history; in 2016, it attracted 42 million domestic tourists who spent $6.8 billion, representing $11 billion in economic impact to the city and its surrounding Pennsylvania counties. (Full article...)

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Philadelphia skyline with the five tallest buildings being (left-to-right) Comcast Technology Center, Comcast Center, BNY Mellon Center, One Liberty Place and Two Liberty Place
Philadelphia skyline with the five tallest buildings being (left-to-right) Comcast Technology Center, Comcast Center, BNY Mellon Center, One Liberty Place and Two Liberty Place

At the top of the list of tallest buildings in Philadelphia is the 60-story Comcast Technology Center, which topped out at 1,121 feet (342 m) in Center City on November 27, 2017 and was completed in 2018. Comcast Technology Center is the tallest building outside lower Manhattan and Chicago, and is the tenth-tallest building in the United States, as of 2019. Philadelphia is home to more than 300 completed high-rise buildings up to 330 feet (100 m), and 56 completed skyscrapers of 330 feet (100 m) or taller, of which 31 are 400 feet (122 m) or taller.

The second-tallest building in Philadelphia is the 58-story Comcast Center at 974 feet (297 m), while the third-tallest building is One Liberty Place, which rises 61 floors and 945 feet (288 m). One Liberty Place stood as the tallest building in Pennsylvania for over 20 years until the completion of Comcast Center in 2008. Overall, seven of the ten tallest buildings in Pennsylvania are in Philadelphia, with the remainder being in Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is one of only five American cities with two or more completed buildings over 900 feet (270 m) tall, the others being New York City, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles.

Philadelphia's history of tall buildings is generally thought to have begun with the 1754 addition of the steeple to Christ Church, which was one of America's first high-rise structures. Through most of the 20th century, a "gentlemen's agreement" prevented buildings from rising higher than the 548-ft (167-m) Philadelphia City Hall. The completion of One Liberty Place in 1987 broke the agreement, and Philadelphia has since seen the construction of ten skyscrapers that eclipse City Hall in height.

Philadelphia has twice held the tallest habitable building in North America, first with Christ Church, then with City Hall. The latter reigned as the world's tallest building from 1894 to 1908, and is currently the world's second-tallest masonry building, only 1.6 feet (0.49 m) shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin. Like other large American cities, Philadelphia went through a massive building boom in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in the completion of 20 skyscrapers of 330 feet (100 m) or taller.

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The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank. A private corporation with public duties, the bank handled all fiscal transactions for the U.S. Government, and was accountable to Congress and the U.S. Treasury. Modeled on Alexander Hamilton's First Bank of the United States, the Second Bank was chartered by President James Madison in 1816 and began operations at its main branch in Philadelphia on January 7, 1817 managing twenty-five branch offices nationwide by 1832. The building is part of Independence National Historical Park and serves as an art gallery housing a portrait collection of prominent early Americans painted by Charles Willson Peale and many others.

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Louis Henry Carpenter
Louis Henry Carpenter

Louis H. Carpenter was a United States Army brigadier general and Medal of Honor recipient. He began his military career in 1861, first as an enlisted soldier before being commissioned as an officer the following year. During the American Civil War, he participated in sixteen campaigns with the 6th U.S. Cavalry Regiment. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Indian Wars while serving with the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th U.S. Cavalry. He was noted several times for gallantry in official dispatches. Louis Carpenter dropped out of college to enlist in the Union Army at the beginning of the American Civil War and fought in the Gettysburg Campaign at the Battle of Fairfield. By the end of the Civil War, he held the rank of brevet lieutenant colonel, but also received a commission to first lieutenant in the Regular United States Army. After the Civil War and until his transfer back East in 1887, he served on the western frontier. He engaged many Native American tribes, dealt with many types of renegades and explored vast areas of uncharted territory from Texas to Arizona. During the Spanish-American War, he commanded an occupation force and became the first military governor of Puerto Principe, Cuba. After 38 continuous years of service to his country, he retired from the Army on October 19, 1899, as a brigadier general. After his retirement, he became a speaker and a writer.

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"It was in Philadelphia that 'in a moment of elegance and clarity' the men gathered here wrote the Declaration of Independence and Constitution."

Garrison Keillor

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