188-615: The culture of Philadelphia goes back to 1682 when Philadelphia was established by William Penn , founder of the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania . Philadelphia emerged quickly as the largest and most influential city in the Thirteen Colonies . By the 1750s, Philadelphia was the second-largest city in the British Empire after London , and a center of early American culture, political leadership, intellectual thought, and industry and manufacturing. It served as
376-743: A 24-hour particle pollution rating of D in the American Lung Association 's 2017 State of the Air report, which analyzed data from 2013 to 2015. The city was ranked 22nd for ozone, 20th for short-term particle pollution, and 11th for year-round particle pollution. According to the same report, the city experienced a significant reduction in high ozone days since 2001—from nearly 50 days per year to fewer than 10—along with fewer days of high particle pollution since 2000—from about 19 days per year to about 3—and an approximate 30% reduction in annual levels of particle pollution since 2000. Five of
564-495: A bachelor's degree or higher. 23.9% spoke a language other than English at home, the most common of which was Spanish (10.8%). 15.0% of the populations foreign born, roughly half of whom are naturalized U.S. citizens. 3.7% of the population are veterans. The median household income was $ 52,889 and 22.8% of the population lived in poverty. 49.5% of the population drove alone to work, while 23.2% used public transit, 8.2% carpooled, 7.9% walked, and 7.0% worked from home. The average commute
752-403: A budget of $ 371 million. The Philadelphia Parking Authority is responsible for ensuring adequate parking for city residents, businesses, and visitors. Philadelphia's architectural history dates back to colonial times and includes a wide range of styles. The earliest structures were constructed with logs , but brick structures were common by 1700. During the 18th century, the cityscape
940-472: A career. The acceptable careers in Philadelphia were medicine and law , with insurance , banking , and brokerage next in line on the ladder of acceptability. Running the family business was also acceptable especially if it related to iron and steel making, coal , and the railroads . Beyond their careers, the Philadelphia elite strived to have a seat on a board , particularly as the chairman of
1128-474: A city on the Delaware River to serve as a port and place for government. Hoping that Philadelphia would become more like an English rural town instead of a city, Penn laid out roads on a grid plan to keep houses and businesses spread far apart with areas for gardens and orchards . The city's inhabitants did not follow Penn's plans, however, and instead crowded the present-day Port of Philadelphia on
1316-774: A close link with the Icelandic people . In the Icelandic Laxdœla saga , for example, "even slaves are highborn, descended from the kings of Ireland." The first name of Njáll Þorgeirsson , the chief protagonist of Njáls saga , is a variation of the Irish name Neil . According to Eirik the Red's Saga , the first European couple to have a child born in North America was descended from the Viking Queen of Dublin , Aud
1504-695: A frequency of 65%. This subclade is also dominant in Scotland, Wales and Brittany and descends from a common ancestor who lived in about 2,500 BC. According to 2009 studies by Bramanti et al. and Malmström et al. on mtDNA , related western European populations appear to be largely from the neolithic and not paleolithic era, as previously thought. There was discontinuity between mesolithic central Europe and modern European populations mainly due to an extremely high frequency of haplogroup U (particularly U5) types in mesolithic central European sites. The existence of an especially strong genetic association between
1692-497: A grid pattern between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers that is aligned with their courses. The original 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. In keeping with the idea of a "Greene Countrie Towne", and inspired by the many types of trees that grew in the region, Penn named many of the east–west streets for local trees. Penn planned
1880-716: A growth in its population in 2007, which continued with incremental annual increases through the present. A migration pattern has been established from New York City to Philadelphia by residents opting for a large city with relative proximity and a lower cost of living . Philadelphia's geographic center is about 40° 0′ 34″ north latitude and 75° 8′ 0″ west longitude. The 40th parallel north passes through neighborhoods in Northeast Philadelphia , North Philadelphia , and West Philadelphia including Fairmount Park . The city encompasses 142.71 square miles (369.62 km ), of which 134.18 square miles (347.52 km )
2068-631: A joint effort between former mayors John F. Street and Michael Nutter . The zoning changes were intended to rectify incorrect zoning maps to facilitate future community development, as the city forecasts an additional 100,000 residents and 40,000 jobs will be added by 2035. The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) is the largest landlord in Pennsylvania. Established in 1937, the PHA is the nation's fourth-largest housing authority, serving about 81,000 people with affordable housing, while employing 1,400 on
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#17327976454872256-593: A leading proponent of independence, persuaded the Committee of Five to charge Jefferson with writing the document's original draft, which Jefferson largely wrote in isolation between June 11 and June 28, 1776, from the second floor of a three-story home he was renting at 700 Market Street in Philadelphia. The Declaration of Independence was unanimously adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which both formalized and escalated
2444-492: A major destination for immigrants, with large Chinese , Vietnamese , Korean , East African , Middle Eastern , Indian and Mexican immigrant populations, among others. The city has made contributions in art, music, television, architecture and food. Philadelphia institutions range from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to Pat's Steaks . Before the first European settlers arrived in present-day Philadelphia,
2632-495: A majority of the Christians in Philadelphia into the present day. During the last decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the origin of immigrants shifted from England, Ireland, and Germany to Italy , Southern Europe , Russia , Poland , and Eastern Europe . Italians and Poles helped increase the city's Catholic population, but Jewish immigrants, mainly from Poland, Lithuania , and Russia, were
2820-610: A moderately sunny climate with an average of 2,498 hours of sunshine annually. The percentage of sunshine ranges from 47% in December to 61% in June, July, and August. The January daily average temperature is 33.7 °F (0.9 °C). The temperature frequently rises to 50 °F (10 °C) during thaws. July averages 78.7 °F (25.9 °C). Heat waves accompanied by high humidity and heat indices are frequent, with highs reaching or exceeding 90 °F (32 °C) on 30 days of
3008-806: A movie, citing local talent, cost of living, and the assistance provided by the Philadelphia Film Office. Several months after the MovieMaker Magazine article, Pacifica Ventures announced that it will be opening a film studio in the Philadelphia area in 2008. Philadelphia annually hosts the Philadelphia Film Festival , Philadelphia QFest , and the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival . Philadelphia Philadelphia , colloquially referred to as Philly ,
3196-956: A named person. Mac is the Irish for son. Names that begin with "O'" include: Ó Bánion ( O'Banion ), Ó Briain ( O'Brien ), Ó Ceallaigh ( O'Kelly ), Ó Conchobhair ( O'Connor, O'Conor ), Ó Chonaill ( O'Connell ), O'Coiligh ( Cox ), Ó Cuilinn ( Cullen ), Ó Domhnaill ( O'Donnell ), Ó Drisceoil ( O'Driscoll ), Ó hAnnracháin, ( Hanrahan ), Ó Máille ( O'Malley ), Ó Mathghamhna ( O'Mahony ), Ó Néill ( O'Neill ), Ó Sé ( O'Shea ), Ó Súilleabháin ( O'Sullivan ), Ó Caiside/Ó Casaide ( Cassidy ), Ó Brádaigh/Mac Bradaigh ( Brady ) and Ó Tuathail ( O'Toole ). Names that begin with Mac or Mc include: Mac Cárthaigh ( McCarthy ), Mac Diarmada ( McDermott ), Mac Domhnaill ( McDonnell ), and Mac Mathghamhna ( McMahon ) Mac(g) Uidhir ( Maguire ), Mac Dhonnchadha ( McDonagh ), Mac Conmara ( MacNamara ), Mac Craith ( McGrath ), Mac Aodha ( McGee ), Mac Aonghuis ( McGuinness ), Mac Cana ( McCann ), Mac Lochlainn ( McLaughlin ) and Mac Conallaidh ( McNally ). Mac
3384-403: A newspaper for African Americans. During World War II , factories began hiring African Americans. The Philadelphia Police Department first hired African Americans in 1881. In the 1950s, the first African American promoted to Police Captain was James N. Reaves. Reaves went on to integrate patrol car crews. During the 1950s and 60s the factories and a large portion of the white population left
3572-650: A production company, Lubin Manufacturing Company , and later opened up some of the city's first movie theaters . In 1905, Jules Mastbaum opened the city's first Nickelodeon movie theater . Lubin Studios shut down in 1917 and through most of the 20th Century Philadelphia had an almost non-existent film industry . In 1985, the Greater Philadelphia Film Office was created as part of the city government. In 1992, it became
3760-514: A regional economic office. Since 1992, the GPFO, which promotes the Philadelphia region and helps coordinate film productions , has assisted in the making of over 200 films and television shows. Between 1992 and 2002 film productions have brought in US$ 500 Million to the city's economy. In 2007, MovieMaker Magazine named Philadelphia the second-best city in the nation in which to make
3948-878: A time, row houses built elsewhere in the United States were known as "Philadelphia rows". A variety of row houses are found throughout the city, from Federal-style continuous blocks in Old City and Society Hill to Victorian-style homes in North Philadelphia to twin row houses in West Philadelphia . While newer homes have been built recently, much of the housing dates to the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, which has created problems such as urban decay and vacant lots. Some neighborhoods, including Northern Liberties and Society Hill, have been rehabilitated through gentrification . As of 2014 ,
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#17327976454874136-657: A town in Finland with a Swedish majority. In 1655, a Dutch military campaign led by New Netherland Director-General Peter Stuyvesant took control of the Swedish colony, ending its claim to independence. The Swedish and Finnish people settlers continued to have their own militia , religion, and court, and to enjoy substantial autonomy under the Dutch. An English fleet captured the New Netherland colony in 1664, though
4324-570: A voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe in about 325 BC, but his account of it, known widely in Antiquity , has not survived and is now known only through the writings of others. On this voyage, he circumnavigated and visited a considerable part of modern-day Great Britain and Ireland . He was the first known scientific visitor to see and describe the Celtic and Germanic tribes. The terms Irish and Ireland are probably derived from
4512-414: A woman in Irish uses the feminine prefix nic (meaning daughter) in place of mac. Thus a boy may be called Mac Domhnaill whereas his sister would be called Nic Dhomhnaill or Ní Dhomhnaill – the insertion of 'h' follows the female prefix in the case of most consonants (bar H, L, N, R, & T). A son has the same surname as his father. A female's surname replaces Ó with Ní (reduced from Iníon Uí – "daughter of
4700-624: Is Independence Hall at 4th and Chestnut streets. In 1776, 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, determined to secure independence from British colonial rule , charged the Committee of Five , including John Adams , Benjamin Franklin , Thomas Jefferson , Robert R. Livingston , and Roger Sherman , with authoring a declaration to King George III declaring the Thirteen Colonies free and independent states. Adams,
4888-467: Is 31 minutes. Irish people The Irish ( Irish : Na Gaeil or Na hÉireannaigh ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland , who share a common ancestry, history and culture . There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been continually inhabited for more than 10,000 years (see Prehistoric Ireland ). For most of Ireland's recorded history ,
5076-445: Is a presumed invasion of Wales , which according to a Welsh manuscript may have taken place around the 7th century. In the words of Seumas MacManus: If we compare the history of Ireland in the 6th century, after Christianity was received, with that of the 4th century, before the coming of Christianity, the wonderful change and contrast is probably more striking than any other such change in any other nation known to history. Following
5264-489: Is a top tour venue for rock musicians. More recently, Philadelphia has been home to a number of acclaimed independent alternative musicians. Dr. Dog , The War on Drugs , Kurt Vile , Nothing (band) , Philadelphia Slick , Alex G , and Beach Slang all call Philadelphia their home. In Philadelphia's early history the city was visited by outside theater troupes, but experienced some resistance from conservatives and Quakers who tried to restrict performances. The creation of
5452-570: Is commonly anglicised Mc. However, "Mac" and "Mc" are not mutually exclusive, so, for example, both "MacCarthy" and "McCarthy" are used. Both "Mac" and "Ó'" prefixes are both Irish in origin, Anglicized Prefix Mc is far more common in Ireland than Scotland with 2/3 of all Mc Surnames being Irish in origin However, "Mac" is more common in Scotland and Ulster than in the rest of Ireland; furthermore, "Ó" surnames are less common in Scotland having been brought to Scotland from Ireland. The proper surname for
5640-426: Is he worth. In Philadelphia , who were his parents." A person could not enter Philadelphia society by acquisition of wealth, but their offspring, if they grew up well and married into the right family, could create a new lineage if the family stayed respectable. In the 18th century, the wealth had been built on shipping , trade, and real estate . Despite the later generations' inheritance they were expected to pursue
5828-466: Is highly variable. Some winters have only light snow while others include major snowstorms. The normal seasonal snowfall averages 22.4 in (57 cm), with rare snowfalls in November or April, and rarely any sustained snow cover. Seasonal snowfall accumulation has ranged from trace amounts in 1972–73, to 78.7 inches (200 cm) in the winter of 2009–10. The city's heaviest single-storm snowfall
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6016-492: Is home to five Fortune 500 corporate headquarters. Metropolitan Philadelphia ranks as one of the Big Five U.S. venture capital hubs, facilitated by its geographic proximity to both the entrepreneurial and financial ecosystems of New York City and to the federal regulatory environment of Washington, D.C. Greater Philadelphia is also a biotechnology hub. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange , owned by Nasdaq since 2008,
6204-665: Is land and 8.53 square miles (22.09 km ), or 6%, is water. Natural bodies of water include the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, lakes in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park , and Cobbs , Wissahickon , and Pennypack creeks. The largest artificial body of water is East Park Reservoir in Fairmount Park . The lowest point is sea level and the highest point is in Chestnut Hill , about 446 feet (136 m) above sea level on Summit Street near
6392-529: Is made up of the Republic of Ireland (officially called Ireland ) and Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom ). The people of Northern Ireland hold various national identities including Irish, British or some combination thereof. The Irish have their own unique customs, language , music , dance , sports , cuisine and mythology . Although Irish (Gaeilge) was their main language in
6580-420: Is no archaeological or placename evidence for a migration or a takeover by a small group of elites. He states that "the Irish migration hypothesis seems to be a classic case of long-held historical beliefs influencing not only the interpretation of documentary sources themselves but the subsequent invasion paradigm being accepted uncritically in the related disciplines of archaeology and linguistics." Dál Riata and
6768-440: Is often ranked as the nation's best city for professional sports fans. The city has a culturally and philanthropically active LGBTQ+ community . Philadelphia also has played an immensely influential historic and ongoing role in the development and evolution of American music, especially R&B , soul , and rock . As of 2022 , the Philadelphia metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of US$ 518.5 billion and
6956-598: Is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the U.S. The two parks, along with the Colonial Revival , Georgian and Federal -style mansions in them, have been listed as one entity on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. Within the Köppen climate classification , Philadelphia falls under the northern periphery of the humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen Cfa ). Within
7144-495: Is that they are descendants of Spanish traders or of the few sailors of the Spanish Armada who were shipwrecked on Ireland's west coast, but there is little evidence for this. Irish Travellers are an ethnic people of Ireland . A DNA study found they originally descended from the general Irish population, however, they are now very distinct from it. The emergence of Travellers as a distinct group occurred long before
7332-1007: Is the New Freedom Theatre , located on North Broad St. Other modern theaters include the Arden Theater Company , the Wilma Theater , Lantern Theater Company , and the University of the Arts ' Merriam and Arts Bank theaters. The University of Pennsylvania puts on productions at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts , the Irvine Auditorium and the Iron Gate Theater. African American themed plays are put on at
7520-602: Is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States , with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census . The city is the urban core of the larger Delaware Valley , also known as the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the nation's eighth-largest metropolitan area and seventh-largest combined statistical area with 6.245 million residents and 7.366 million residents, respectively. Philadelphia has played an extensive role in United States history . The city
7708-433: Is the nation's oldest stock exchange and a global leader in options trading. 30th Street Station , the city's primary rail station, is the third-busiest Amtrak hub in the nation, and the city's multimodal transportation and logistics infrastructure also includes Philadelphia International Airport , a major transatlantic gateway and transcontinental hub; the rapidly-growing PhilaPort seaport ; and Interstate 95 ,
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7896-456: The 2020 U.S. Census , there were 1,603,797 people residing in Philadelphia, representing a 1.2% increase from the 2019 census estimate. The racial composition of the city was 39.3% Black alone (42.0% Black alone or in combination), 36.3% White alone (41.9% White alone or in combination), 8.7% Asian alone, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 8.7% some other race, and 6.9% multiracial. 14.9% of residents were Hispanic or Latino. 34.8% had
8084-649: The Abbey of St Gall in Switzerland, and Bobbio Abbey in Italy. Common to both the monastic and the secular bardic schools were Irish and Latin . With Latin, the early Irish scholars "show almost a like familiarity that they do with their own Gaelic". There is evidence also that Hebrew and Greek were studied, the latter probably being taught at Iona. "The knowledge of Greek", says Professor Sandys in his History of Classical Scholarship, "which had almost vanished in
8272-602: The African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. As the African American population grew, so did white hostility towards them. African Americans were attacked and killed in the street and in their houses during a race riot in 1834, and four years later a state law was passed that prevented African Americans from voting. Abolitionists were also targets; they were prevented from spreading their message, and one of their meeting houses
8460-848: The Battle of Brandywine in Chadds Ford Township , on September 11, 1777, during the Philadelphia campaign , the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia was defenseless and the city prepared for what was perceived to be an inevitable British attack. Because bells could easily be recast into munitions, the Liberty Bell , then known as the Pennsylvania State Bell, and bells from two Philadelphia churches, Christ Church and St. Peter's Church , were hastily taken down and transported by heavily guarded wagon train out of
8648-516: The Brehons would hold their courts upon hills to arbitrate the matters of the lordship. Indeed, the Tudor lawyer John Davies described the Irish people with respect to their laws: There is no people under the sun that doth love equal and indifferent (impartial) justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves, as they may have
8836-624: The British Army , which was then the world's most powerful military force. Since the Declaration's July 4, 1776, adoption, its signing has been cited globally and repeatedly by various peoples of the world seeking independence and liberty. It also has been, since its adoption, the basis for annual celebration by Americans; in 1938, this celebration of the Declaration was formalized as Independence Day , one of only eleven designated U.S. federal holidays . After George Washington 's defeat at
9024-614: The Delaware River watershed , western Long Island , and the Lower Hudson Valley . Most Lenape were pushed out of the region during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, exacerbated by losses from intertribal conflicts. Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox , and conflict with Europeans. The Iroquois occasionally fought the Lenape. Surviving Lenape moved west into
9212-684: The Eastern Mediterranean during the Greek and Roman periods, including modern Alaşehir , mentioned as the site of an early Christian congregation in the Book of Revelation . As a Quaker , Penn had experienced religious persecution and wanted his colony to be a place where anyone could worship freely. This tolerance, which exceeded that of other colonies, led to better relations with the local native tribes and fostered Philadelphia's rapid growth into America's most important city. Penn planned
9400-615: The Franklin Institute . It was the first demonstration of moving pictures using flexible film in Philadelphia. A week later Woodville Latham 's eidoloscope was shown to Philadelphia audiences. German immigrant and optician , Siegmund Lubin , was impressed with the technology and bought Jenkins' camera. In Philadelphia, he filmed his first film, his horse eating hay. Lubin continued to make films in Philadelphia, now showing them commercially, and built his own cameras and projectors which he marketed. In 1902, he eventually created
9588-481: The Great Famine , a genetic analysis shows. The research suggests that Traveller origins may in fact date as far back as 420 years to 1597. The Plantation of Ulster began around that time, with native Irish displaced from the land, perhaps to form a nomadic population. One Roman historian records that the Irish people were divided into "sixteen different nations" or tribes. Traditional histories assert that
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#17327976454879776-583: The Great Migration from the South . By the 20th century, Philadelphia had an entrenched Republican political machine and a complacent population. In 1910, a general strike shut down the entire city. In 1917, following outrage over the election-year murder of a Philadelphia police officer, led to the shrinking of the City Council from two houses to just one. In July 1919, Philadelphia
9964-625: The Irish diaspora one of the largest of any nation. Historically, emigration from Ireland has been the result of conflict, famine and economic issues. People of Irish descent are found mainly in English-speaking countries, especially Great Britain , the United States , Canada , New Zealand and Australia . There are also significant numbers in Argentina , Mexico , Brazil , Germany , and The United Arab Emirates . The United States has
10152-546: The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts opened in 2001. The city developed an early jazz scene with many future best selling artists, including John Coltrane and Charlie Biddle , coming out of Philadelphia. In 1952, WFIL-TV premiered Bandstand which, in a few years, would become American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark . The national success of the show led to rise of local music labels such as Swan Records , Cameo-Parkway and Chancellor Records . The 1960s saw
10340-615: The Liberty Bell , and hosting the Second Continental Congress during which the nation's 56 founders formed the Continental Army and elected George Washington as its commander in 1775, and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. For nine months, from September 1777 to June 1778, the city fell under British occupation during the war's Philadelphia campaign . In 1787,
10528-407: The MacGrath . Irish physicians, such as the O'Briens in Munster or the MacCailim Mor in the Western Isles , were renowned in the courts of England, Spain, Portugal and the Low Countries. Learning was not exclusive to the hereditary learned families, however; one such example is Cathal Mac Manus , the 15th century diocesan priest who wrote the Annals of Ulster . Other learned families included
10716-410: The Mic Aodhagáin and Clann Fhir Bhisigh . It was this latter family which produced Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh , the 17th century genealogist and compiler of the Leabhar na nGenealach . (see also Irish medical families ). The 16th century Age of exploration brought an interest among the English to colonize Ireland with the reign of the Tudors. King Henry IV established surrender and regrants to
10904-440: The Middle East to Philadelphia began as early as the 1880s with immigrants primarily from Lebanon . Starting in the 1960s immigrants from other Middle Eastern countries, such as Syria , the Palestinian territories and Iraq moved to the city. Other immigrants from Asia during the last decades of the 20th century include Indians , Vietnamese and Cambodians . Another community who established an identity in Philadelphia during
11092-717: The Penal laws . A knowledge of Latin was common among the poor Irish mountaineers in the 17th century, who spoke it on special occasions, while cattle were bought and sold in Greek in the mountain market-places of County Kerry . For a comparatively small population of about 6 million people, Ireland made an enormous contribution to literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages. Notable Irish writers , playwrights and poets include Jonathan Swift , Laurence Sterne , Oscar Wilde , Oliver Goldsmith , James Joyce , George Bernard Shaw , Samuel Beckett , Bram Stoker , W.B. Yeats , Séamus Heaney and Brendan Behan . Known as An Górta Mór ("The Great Hurt") in
11280-460: The Pennsylvania Ballet founded in 1963. The Pennsylvania Ballet performs in the Academy of Music and the Merriam Theater. The Philadelphia Dance Company (Phildanco) was founded in 1970 and specializes in modern dance . The Koresh Dance Company was formed in 1991 and performs choreography that mixes elements of ballet , jazz , modern dance , and other dance forms. On December 18, 1895 Charles Francis Jenkins showed off his film projector at
11468-410: The Philly Pops , the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Opera Company of Philadelphia . Founded in 1900, the Philadelphia Orchestra , once called Philadelphia's "chief contribution to civilization" by Lawrence Gilman of the New York Herald , rose to prominence with conductors Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy in the middle of the 20th century. The orchestra's home was the Academy of Music until
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#173279764548711656-404: The Revolutionary War . The document has become one of the most inconic statements on human rights and human liberties, particularly its second sentence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal , that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness ." Historian Stephen Lucas called
11844-427: The Second Continental Congress , which adopted the Declaration of Independence in what was then called the Pennsylvania State House and was later renamed Independence Hall. Historian Joseph Ellis , in 2007, described the Declaration of Independence, written predominantly by Thomas Jefferson , as "the most potent and consequential words in American history," and its adoption represented a declaration of war against
12032-415: The Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia in 1766 marked the permanent presence of theater in Philadelphia. Theatrical performances were banned during the American Revolution, but when the ban was repealed in 1784 theater returned and another theater, the Chestnut Street Theatre , opened a decade later. Over the next century a number of other theaters opened in the city including the Walnut Street Theatre and
12220-403: The State in Schuylkill and the Philadelphia Union League . The upper class started with mansions in Old City , but through the 18th and 19th centuries upper class gradually moved west through Center City until the end of the 19th century when much of the upper class moved to large mansions along the Philadelphia Main Line . The Philadelphia aristocracy lasted well into the 20th century but by
12408-424: The Trewartha climate classification , Philadelphia has a temperate maritime climate ( Do ) limited to the north by the continental climate ( Dc ). Summers are typically hot and muggy. Fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is moderately cold. The plant life hardiness zones are 7a and 7b, reflecting an average annual extreme minimum temperature between 0 and 10 °F (−18 and −12 °C). Snowfall
12596-536: The U.S. Constitution was ratified in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Convention . Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until 1790, and it served as the nation's first capital from May 10, 1775, until December 12, 1776, and on four subsequent occasions until 1800, when construction of the new national capital in Washington, D.C. was completed. Philadelphia maintains extensive contemporary influence in business and industry , culture , sports , and music . With 17 four-year universities and colleges in
12784-421: The Welsh , Scots , free blacks , Germans , Ulster Scots , Finns , Swedes , Dutch Americans , and Irish moved to the city. Lutherans established places of worship in the city as early as the 1720s. In 1748, Henry Muhlenberg led the founding of the Lutheran-affiliated Pennsylvania Ministerium . In 1734, followers of what would become the Schwenkfelder Church arrived in Philadelphia and settled in
12972-399: The West Country Men , were active in Ireland at around this time. The Enterprise of Ulster which pitted Shane O'Neill (Irish chieftain) against Queen Elizabeth I was a total failure This was followed by the somewhat successful first British-English colony the Munster planations which had a population of 4,000 in 1580 and in the 1620s may have grown to 16,000 After the defeat of
13160-422: The city's Anti-Graffiti Network , is intended to beautify neighborhoods and also provide an outlet for graffiti artists. The Mural Arts Program, which became independent from the Anti-Graffiti Network in 1996, has funded more than 2,300 murals created by professional, staff and volunteer artists. The program also runs art education programs and tours of the murals. Music began to be a major part of city life in
13348-448: The world's 54th-largest urban park . Philadelphia is known for its arts, culture , cuisine , and colonial and Revolutionary-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. With five professional sports teams and one of the nation's most loyal and passionate fan bases, Philadelphia
13536-432: The 1870s and 1880s; over the next century, the neighborhood grew into a diverse community with immigrants from many Asian countries. By the 21st century, Philadelphia's two largest Asian ethnic groups were Chinese and Korean immigrants. Philadelphia became the earliest recorded East Coast city with a Korean community in the 1880s; early members were largely political exiles supporting Philip Jaisohn . Immigration from
13724-490: The 1980s. Historic areas such as Old City and Society Hill were renovated during the reformist mayoral era of the 1950s through the 1980s, making both areas among the most desirable Center City neighborhoods. Immigrants from around the world began to enter the U.S. through Philadelphia as their gateway, leading to a reversal of the city's population decline between 1950 and 2000, during which it lost about 25 percent of its residents. Philadelphia eventually began experiencing
13912-665: The 2 square miles (5.2 km ) of Center City to the roughly 134 square miles (350 km ) of Philadelphia County . In the latter half of the 19th century and leading into the 20th century, immigrants from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Italy, and African Americans from the southern U.S. settled in the city. Philadelphia was represented by the Washington Grays in the American Civil War . The African-American population of Philadelphia increased from 31,699 to 219,559 between 1880 and 1930, largely stemming from
14100-507: The 20th century was the gay community . The city's homosexual community is centered in a portion of Washington Square West , nicknamed the "gayborhood" by residents. The first black people in Philadelphia were slaves; with at most 1,500 people living as slaves in the city during the period slavery was legal. Slaves in Philadelphia usually lived in the same house of their owners and worked as servants or in their owners' shops. An abolition law in 1780 did not free any existing slaves, but banned
14288-748: The Artists Equity Association helped create the Percent for Art ordinance , the first for a U.S. city. The program, which has funded more than 200 pieces of public art, is administered by the Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture, the city's art agency. Philadelphia has more murals than any other U.S. city. In 1984, the Department of Recreation created the Mural Arts Program. The program, an extension of
14476-653: The Ciannachta, Eóganachta, and possibly the Soghain, a deified ancestor. This practice is paralleled by the Anglo-Saxon dynasties. One legend states that the Irish were descended from the Milesians , who supposedly conquered Ireland around 1000 BC or later. Haplogroup R1b is the dominant haplogroup among Irish males, reaching a frequency of almost 80%. R-L21 is the dominant subclade within Ireland, reaching
14664-603: The Declaration of Independence "one of the best-known sentences in the English language." Historian Joseph Ellis has written that the document contains "the most potent and consequential words in American history". Following the Battle of Gettysburg , the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War , President Abraham Lincoln famously referenced the Declaration of Independence in the Gettysburg Address , one of
14852-678: The Deep-minded , and a Gaelic slave brought to Iceland. The arrival of the Anglo-Normans brought also the Welsh , Flemish , Anglo-Saxons , and Bretons . Most of these were assimilated into Irish culture and polity by the 15th century, with the exception of some of the walled towns and the Pale areas. The Late Middle Ages also saw the settlement of Scottish gallowglass families of mixed Gaelic-Norse and Pict descent, mainly in
15040-455: The Delaware River and subdivided and resold their lots. Before Penn left Philadelphia for the final time, he issued the Charter of 1701 establishing it as a city. Though poor at first, Philadelphia became an important trading center with tolerable living conditions by the 1750s. Benjamin Franklin , a leading citizen, helped improve city services and founded new ones that were among the first in
15228-693: The Fairmount Park Art Association was created, the first private association in the United States dedicated to integrating public art and urban planning . The Association is responsible for the art along the Schuylkill River drives. In the late 1950s, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority included a clause in its development contracts requiring that at least one percent of construction budget be allocated to fine art. In 1959, lobbying by
15416-596: The Fianna and the Fenian Cycle were purely fictional, they would still be representative of the character of the Irish people: ...such beautiful fictions of such beautiful ideals, by themselves, presume and prove beautiful-souled people, capable of appreciating lofty ideals. The introduction of Christianity to the Irish people during the 5th century brought a radical change to the Irish people's foreign relations. The only military raid abroad recorded after that century
15604-788: The Forrest Theater. Philadelphia produced several major theater actors, including Edwin Forrest , John Drew , and several members of the Barrymore family . The Philadelphia Theater Company , founded in 1974 and specializes in new American plays , used to perform in the Plays and Players Theatre but moved into the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on the Avenue of the Arts in 2007. Pennsylvania's oldest African-American theatre
15792-914: The Freedom Theater and the Bushfire Theater. Other theater companies include the Adrienne, the InterAct Theater Company, the Venture Company, the Mum Puppet Theater and the new play development conference PlayPenn . Every year the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival performs three Shakespeare plays. There are an estimated 120 theater organizations in the Philadelphia area. The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia
15980-537: The Irish and other Celtic populations (Welsh, Highland Scots and Cornish) and showing a possible link to the Bretons ; and a 'West Norwegian' component related to the Viking era. As of 2016, 10,100 Irish nationals of African descent referred to themselves as "Black Irish" in the national census. The term "Black Irish" is sometimes used outside Ireland to refer to Irish people with black hair and dark eyes. One theory
16168-583: The Irish and the Basques was first challenged in 2005, and in 2007 scientists began looking at the possibility of a more recent Mesolithic- or even Neolithic-era entrance of R1b into Europe. A new study published in 2010 by Balaresque et al. implies either a Mesolithic- or Neolithic- (not Paleolithic-) era entrance of R1b into Europe. Unlike previous studies, large sections of autosomal DNA were analyzed in addition to paternal Y-DNA markers. They detected an autosomal component present in modern Europeans which
16356-673: The Irish came to be seen as a nation of "saints and scholars". The 6th-century Irish monk and missionary Columbanus is regarded as one of the "fathers of Europe", followed by saints Cillian and Fergal . The scientist Robert Boyle is considered the "father of chemistry ", and Robert Mallet one of the "fathers of seismology ". Irish literature has produced famous writers in both Irish- and English-language traditions, such as Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin , Dáibhí Ó Bruadair , Jonathan Swift , Oscar Wilde , W. B. Yeats , Samuel Beckett , James Joyce , Máirtín Ó Cadhain , Eavan Boland , and Seamus Heaney . Notable Irish explorers include Brendan
16544-481: The Irish have been primarily a Gaelic people (see Gaelic Ireland ). From the 9th century, small numbers of Vikings settled in Ireland, becoming the Norse-Gaels . Anglo-Normans also conquered parts of Ireland in the 12th century, while England 's 16th/17th century conquest and colonisation of Ireland brought many English and Lowland Scots to parts of the island, especially the north. Today, Ireland
16732-513: The Irish in Ulster in the Nine Years' War (Ireland) ; which was not exclusively confined to Ulster. The English would try again to colonize Ireland fearing another rebellion in Ulster, using previous colonial Irish endeavours as their influence. King James would succeed Queen Elizabeth the I, because King James I was previously King James VI of Scotland, he would plant both English and Scottish in
16920-513: The Irish language, during the famine millions of Irish people died and emigrated during Ireland's largest famine. The famine lasted from 1845 - 1849, and it was worst in the year 1847, which became known as Black '47. The famine occurred due to the extremely impoverished Irish population's staple food the potato being infected with Blight , and the British administration appropriating all other crops and livestock to feed her armies abroad. This meant
17108-423: The Irish shows that there is fine-scale population structure between different regional populations of the island, with the largest difference between native 'Gaelic' Irish populations and those of Ulster Protestants known to have recent, partial British ancestry. They were also found to have most similarity to two main ancestral sources: a 'French' component (mostly northwestern French) which reached highest levels in
17296-487: The Irish, but it was not until the Catholic queen Mary I of England who started the first plantations in Ireland in 1550, this would become the model for English colonization moving forward in Ireland and would later form the British imperial model The 1550 plantation counties were known as Philipstown (now Daingean) and Maryborough (now Portlaoise) named by the English planters at the time. A group of explorers, known as
17484-475: The Navigator , Sir Robert McClure , Sir Alexander Armstrong , Sir Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean . By some accounts, the first European child born in North America had Irish descent on both sides. Many presidents of the United States have had some Irish ancestry. The population of Ireland is about 6.9 million, but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish forebears, making
17672-685: The Romans never attempted to conquer Ireland, although it may have been considered. The Irish were not, however, cut off from Europe; they frequently raided the Roman territories, and also maintained trade links. Among the most famous people of ancient Irish history are the High Kings of Ireland , such as Cormac mac Airt and Niall of the Nine Hostages , and the semi-legendary Fianna . The 20th-century writer Seumas MacManus wrote that even if
17860-713: The Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777, and the city later served as the meeting place for the Constitutional Convention , which ratified the Constitution in Independence Hall in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. Philadelphia served as capital of the United States for much of the colonial and early post-colonial periods, including for a decade, from 1790 to 1800, while Washington, D.C. ,
18048-585: The United States after Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Philadelphia's neighborhoods are divided into six large sections that surround Center City: North Philadelphia , Northeast Philadelphia , South Philadelphia , Southwest Philadelphia , West Philadelphia , and Northwest Philadelphia . The city's geographic boundaries have been largely unchanged since these neighborhoods were consolidated in 1854. However, each of these large areas contains numerous neighborhoods, some of whose boundaries derive from
18236-697: The art exhibits from the Centennial Exposition . The museum holds over 225,000 pieces of artwork including work by Vincent van Gogh , Pablo Picasso , and Marcel Duchamp . Not far from the Museum of Art is the Rodin Museum . The museum, founded in 1929, is the largest collection of Auguste Rodin work outside France. Planned nearby is a new museum intended to hold the collection of the Barnes Foundation . In 1923, Albert C. Barnes
18424-471: The board. Business boards such as the boards for the Pennsylvania Railroad and Philadelphia Savings Fund Society were important, but so were charitable, institutional, cultural and social boards. The Philadelphia upper class engaged in fox hunting , race horse breeding, attending balls and lavishly entertaining in their townhouses or mansions. The elite also joined exclusive clubs such as
18612-472: The boroughs, townships, and other communities that constituted Pennsylvania County before their inclusion within the city. The City Planning Commission , tasked with guiding growth and development of the city, has divided the city into 18 planning districts as part of the Philadelphia2035 physical development plan. Much of the city's 1980 zoning code was overhauled from 2007 to 2012 as part of
18800-510: The capital of both colonial-era British America and then, until 1800, as the first capital of the United States . Present-day Philadelphia was formerly inhabited by Lenape , a Native American tribe. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Philadelphia was known globally for its freedom of religion and a city where people could live without fear of persecution because of their religious affiliations or practices. Thousands of Quakers , Mennonites , and other Protestant denominations at odds with
18988-587: The city for its outlying railroad commuting towns and newer housing. The resulting reduction in Philadelphia's tax base and the resources of local government caused the city to struggle through a long period of adjustment, and it approached bankruptcy by the late 1980s. In 1985, the MOVE Bombing of the Cobbs Creek neighborhood by city helicopters occurred, killing 11 and destroying 61 homes. Revitalization and gentrification of neighborhoods began in
19176-532: The city's 17th century founding through the present, Philadelphia has been the birthplace or home to an extensive number of prominent and influential Americans . Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the early 17th century, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon . They were also called the Delaware Indians, and their historical territory was along
19364-456: The city's director of public safety, but political pressure still prevented long-term success in fighting crime and corruption. In 1940, non-Hispanic whites constituted 86.8% of the city's population. In 1950, the population peaked at more than two million residents, then began to decline with the restructuring of industry that led to the loss of many middle-class union jobs. In addition, suburbanization enticed many affluent residents to depart
19552-424: The city's first African American mayor, Wilson Goode , being elected in 1984. Starting at the end of the 20th century a new wave of immigrants directly from Africa settled in the city. Coming from over thirty different countries there are an estimated 55,000 African immigrants in Philadelphia. By the second half of the 18th century Philadelphia had developed an upper-class society. Many of the families that made up
19740-500: The city's first Catholic and Jewish mayors elected in 1963 and 1992 respectively. In the second half of the 19th century, immigration began from Latin America , mainly from Puerto Rico and Cuba . Starting in the 1950s, large numbers of Puerto Ricans settling primarily in North Philadelphia . By the end of the 20th century, Puerto Ricans became the largest Latino group in Philadelphia. Immigrants from China founded Chinatown in
19928-399: The city's tallest building. The Comcast Technology Center was completed in 2018, reaching a height of 1,121 ft (342 m), as the tallest building in the United States outside of Manhattan and Chicago. For much of Philadelphia's history, the typical home has been the row house . The row house was introduced to the United States via Philadelphia in the early 19th century and, for
20116-519: The city's total park space, including municipal, state, and federal parks in the city, amounts to 11,211 acres (17.5 sq mi). Philadelphia's largest park is Fairmount Park , which includes the Philadelphia Zoo and encompasses 2,052 acres (3.2 sq mi) of the total parkland. Fairmount Park's adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park contains 2,042 acres (3.2 sq mi). Fairmount Park, when combined with Wissahickon Valley Park,
20304-403: The city, Philadelphia is one of the nation's leading centers for higher education and academic research . The city 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
20492-578: The city, including William Williams who introduced oil painting to another Philadelphia artist, Benjamin West . In 1805, an art collector, believing Philadelphia the best place for the encouragement of artistic taste, offered the city numerous paintings, sculptures, engravings and other art work. To accept the gift the city formed the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts . The Academy,
20680-446: The city. African Americans became the city's largest ethnic group, with most of North Philadelphia , West Philadelphia, Germantown and portions of South Philadelphia becoming black neighborhoods. Old black working-class neighborhoods became ghettos filled with vacant lots and houses due to loss of industrial jobs. Starting in the 1970s African Americans began to gain significant independent political influence in city government, with
20868-403: The city. Some of these immigrants were Catholic , which fueled anti-Catholic feelings and organizations. In the 1840s Philadelphia became a major base for anti-Catholic Protestant groups which soon led to deadly riots in 1844 . However, by the end of the 19th century, Roman Catholics had become the largest single denomination in Philadelphia, though all Protestant denominations combined remained
21056-694: The city. The Liberty Bell was taken to Zion German Reformed Church in Northampton Town, which is present-day Allentown , where it was hidden under the church's floor boards for nine months from September 1777 until the British Army's departure from Philadelphia in June 1778. Two Revolutionary War battles, the Siege of Fort Mifflin , fought between September 26 and November 16, 1777, and the Battle of Germantown , fought on October 4, 1777, took place within Philadelphia's city limits. In Philadelphia,
21244-497: The collection to Philadelphia was based on financial reasons. In 1991, to promote Old City art galleries, the Old City Art Association began First Fridays . On the first Friday of every month, Old City galleries hold a collaborative open house night. Philadelphia has more public art than any other American city. The inclusion of decorative art in Philadelphia structures goes back to the 19th century. In 1872,
21432-608: The colonies made it a natural center for America's revolutionaries . By the 1750s, Philadelphia surpassed Boston as the largest city and busiest port in British America , and the second-largest city in the entire British Empire after London . In 1774, as resentment of British colonial practices and support for independence was burgeoning in the colonies, Philadelphia hosted the First Continental Congress . From 1775 to 1781, Philadelphia hosted
21620-473: The 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 neighborhood. Penn named the city Philadelphia, which is Greek for "brotherly love", derived from the Ancient Greek terms φίλος phílos (beloved, dear) and ἀδελφός adelphós (brother, brotherly). There were a number of cities named Philadelphia in
21808-535: The conversion of the Irish to Christianity, Irish secular laws and social institutions remained in place. The 'traditional' view is that, in the 4th or 5th century, Goidelic language and Gaelic culture was brought to Scotland by settlers from Ireland, who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast. This is based mostly on medieval writings from the 9th and 10th centuries. The archaeologist Ewan Campbell argues against this view, saying that there
21996-402: The country, and the first Black Episcopal Church . The free Black community also established many schools for its children with the help of Quakers . Large-scale construction projects for new roads, canals , and railroads made Philadelphia the first major industrial city in the United States. Throughout the 19th century, Philadelphia hosted a variety of industries and businesses; the largest
22184-490: The creation of five public parks in the city which were renamed in 1824. Centre Square was renamed Penn Square ; Northeast Square was renamed Franklin Square ; Southeast Square was renamed Washington Square ; Southwest Square was renamed Rittenhouse Square ; and Northwest Square was renamed Logan Circle/Square . Center City had an estimated 183,240 residents as of 2015 , making it the second-most populated downtown area in
22372-418: The crew list of 1492, no Irish or English sailors were involved in the voyage. An English report of 1515 states that the Irish people were divided into over sixty Gaelic lordships and thirty Anglo-Irish lordships. The English term for these lordships was "nation" or "country". The Irish term " oireacht " referred to both the territory and the people ruled by the lord. Literally, it meant an "assembly", where
22560-673: The crop failed and turned black. Starving people who tried to eat them would only vomit it back up soon afterwards. Soup kitchens were set up but made little difference. The British government produced little aid, only sending raw corn known as 'Peel's Brimstone' to Ireland. It was known by this name after the British Prime Minister at the time, Robert Peel , and the fact that many Irish weren't aware of how to cook corn. This led to little or no improvement. The British government set up workhouses which were disease-ridden (with cholera, TB and others) but they also failed as little food
22748-630: The cultural unity of Europe", and it was the 6th-century Irish monk Columbanus who is regarded as "one of the fathers of Europe". Another Irish saint, Aidan of Lindisfarne , has been proposed as a possible patron saint of the United Kingdom, while Saints Kilian and Vergilius became the patron saints of Würzburg in Germany and Salzburg in Austria, respectively. Irish missionaries founded monasteries outside Ireland, such as Iona Abbey ,
22936-534: The defeat of the Irish rebels would also plant New English in Ireland, known as the Protestant ascendency. There have been notable Irish scientists. The Anglo-Irish scientist Robert Boyle (1627–1691) is considered the father of chemistry for his book The Sceptical Chymist , written in 1661. Boyle was an atomist , and is best known for Boyle's Law . The hydrographer Rear Admiral Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), an Irish naval officer of Huguenot descent,
23124-445: The development of Philadelphia soul , led by producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff . Towards the end of the century Philadelphia artists made contribution to Hip hop music with artists such as DJ Jazzy Jeff , Will Smith , The Roots , and Schoolly D . Philadelphia is also a cultural center for rock music , with multiple nationally recognized rock music radio stations, including WMMR , the now-shuttered WYSP , and others. The city
23312-639: The end of the century the old rich families were overwhelmed by the new rich. By the late 20th century, membership in the upper class was defined less by ancestry, and organizations such as the Union League began to accept limited numbers of Jews , Catholics , and African Americans . Prior to the American Revolution the upper class increasingly supported the arts, particularly by commissioning portrait paintings. The demand for portraits made Philadelphia attractive to artists and many came to
23500-917: The families who bear them appear to have had Gaelic origins. "Fitz" is an old Norman French variant of the Old French word fils (variant spellings filz , fiuz , fiz , etc.), used by the Normans, meaning son . The Normans themselves were descendants of Vikings , who had settled in Normandy and thoroughly adopted the French language and culture. With the exception of the Gaelic-Irish Fitzpatrick ( Mac Giolla Phádraig ) surname, all names that begin with Fitz – including FitzGerald (Mac Gearailt), Fitzsimons (Mac Síomóin/Mac an Ridire) and FitzHenry (Mac Anraí) – are descended from
23688-620: The first modern International Style skyscraper 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 city until 1987 when One Liberty Place was completed. Numerous glass and granite skyscrapers were built in Center City beginning in the late 1980s. In 2007, the Comcast Center surpassed One Liberty Place to become
23876-420: The first official World's fair in the U.S. Immigrants, mostly from Ireland and Germany, settled in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts. These immigrants were largely responsible for the first general strike in North America in 1835, in which workers in the city won the ten-hour workday. The city was a destination for thousands of Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine in the 1840s; housing for them
24064-478: The founding of many of Ireland's most important towns, including Cork , Dublin, Limerick , and Waterford (earlier Gaelic settlements on these sites did not approach the urban nature of the subsequent Norse trading ports). The Vikings left little impact on Ireland other than towns and certain words added to the Irish language, but many Irish taken as slaves inter-married with the Scandinavians, hence forming
24252-513: The goddess Ériu . A variety of tribal groups and dynasties have inhabited the island, including the Airgialla , Fir Ol nEchmacht , Delbhna , the mythical Fir Bolg , Érainn , Eóganachta , Mairtine , Conmaicne , Soghain , and Ulaid . In the cases of the Conmaicne, Delbhna, and perhaps Érainn, it can be demonstrated that the tribe took their name from their chief deity, or in the case of
24440-416: The grandson of") and Mac with Nic (reduced from Iníon Mhic – "daughter of the son of"); in both cases the following name undergoes lenition. However, if the second part of the surname begins with the letter C or G, it is not lenited after Nic. Thus the daughter of a man named Ó Maolagáin has the surname Ní Mhaolagáin and the daughter of a man named Mac Gearailt has the surname Nic Gearailt . When anglicised,
24628-707: The initial Norman settlers. A small number of Irish families of Goidelic origin came to use a Norman form of their original surname—so that Mac Giolla Phádraig became Fitzpatrick—while some assimilated so well that the Irish name was dropped in favour of a new, Hiberno-Norman form. Another common Irish surname of Norman Irish origin is the 'de' habitational prefix, meaning 'of' and originally signifying prestige and land ownership. Examples include de Búrca (Burke), de Brún, de Barra (Barry), de Stac (Stack), de Tiúit, de Faoite (White), de Londras (Landers), de Paor (Power). The Irish surname "Walsh" (in Irish Breathnach )
24816-627: The intersection of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike at: 40.07815 N, 75.20747 W. Philadelphia is located on the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line that separates the Atlantic Plain from the Piedmont . The Schuylkill River's rapids at East Falls were inundated by completion of the dam at Fairmount Water Works . The city is the seat of its own county . The city is bordered by six adjacent counties: Montgomery to
25004-477: The largest religion to settle in the city during this period. Supplementing the already settled German Jews, the city's Jewish population swelled from 5,000 in 1881 to 100,000 in 1905. Philadelphia's Italian population changed from 300 in 1870 to 77,000 in 1910. Hungarian and Polish immigrants also settled in the city, but in smaller numbers. In the 20th century political power began to shift from primarily white Protestants to Irish and Italian Catholics and Jews, with
25192-551: The last occurrence of such a temperature being July 21, 2019. The lowest officially recorded temperature was −11 °F (−24 °C) on February 9, 1934. Temperatures at or below 0 °F (−18 °C) are rare, with the last such occurrence being January 19, 1994 . The record low maximum is 5 °F (−15 °C) on February 10, 1899, and December 30, 1880. The record high minimum is 83 °F (28 °C) on July 23, 2011, and July 24, 2010. See or edit raw graph data . Philadelphia County received an ozone grade of F and
25380-487: The late 1970s and continues into the 21st century with much of the development occurring in the Center City and University City neighborhoods. But this expanded a shortage of affordable housing in the city. After many manufacturers and businesses left Philadelphia or shut down, the city started attracting service businesses and began to market itself more aggressively as a tourist destination. Contemporary glass-and-granite skyscrapers were built in Center City beginning in
25568-487: The majority of Irish emigrants to Australia were in fact prisoners. A substantial proportion of these committed crimes in hopes of being extradited to Australia, favouring it to the persecution and hardships they endured in their homeland. Emigrants travelled on ' Coffin Ships' , which got their name from the often high mortality rates on board. Many died of disease or starved. Conditions on board were abysmal - tickets were expensive so stowaways were common, and little food stuff
25756-400: The middle of the 18th century. Organs began to appear in non- Quaker churches and the city staged its first opera , The Beggar's Opera . The city's musical scene grew in the 19th century with the music of William Henry Fry , and the founding of the Musical Fund Society which began underwriting concerts in 1820. The Musical Fund Society begat the Academy of Music in 1857, which now hosts
25944-434: The most famous speeches in American history, saying, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." In the 19th and 20th century, immigration and migration led to large concentrations of Irish , Italians , Germans , Asians , Puerto Ricans and African Americans . Philadelphia continues to be
26132-429: The most people of Irish descent, while in Australia those of Irish descent are a higher percentage of the population than in any other country outside Ireland. Many Icelanders have Irish and Scottish Gaelic ancestors due to transportation there as slaves by the Vikings during their settlement of Iceland . During the past 33,000 years, Ireland has witnessed different peoples arrive on its shores. Pytheas made
26320-467: The name can remain O' or Mac, regardless of gender. There are a number of Irish surnames derived from Norse personal names, including Mac Suibhne (Sweeney) from Swein and McAuliffe from "Olaf". The name Cotter , local to County Cork , derives from the Norse personal name Ottir. The name Reynolds is an Anglicization of the Irish Mac Raghnaill, itself originating from the Norse names Randal or Reginald. Though these names were of Viking derivation some of
26508-582: The nation, including a fire company , library , and hospital . A number of philosophical societies were formed, which were centers of the city's intellectual life, including 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 societies developed and financed new industries that attracted skilled and knowledgeable immigrants from Europe. Philadelphia's importance and central location in
26696-597: The new factories refused to hire African Americans, with only about one percent of Philadelphia's African American population finding employment with the factories. In 1899, W. E. B. Du Bois said that ninety percent of the African American population in the city was below the poverty line . White-collar office jobs also refused to hire African Americans and many worked as domestic workers. There were African Americans that did manage to own their own businesses, while other became professionals such as doctors and lawyers. In 1884 Christopher J. Perry founded The Philadelphia Tribune ,
26884-455: The north; due to similarities of language and culture they too were assimilated. The Irish were among the first people in Europe to use surnames as we know them today. It is very common for people of Gaelic origin to have the English versions of their surnames beginning with 'Ó' or 'Mac' (Over time however many have been shortened to 'O' or Mc). 'O' comes from the Irish Ó which in turn came from Ua, which means " grandson ", or " descendant " of
27072-449: The northwest; Bucks to the north and northeast; Burlington County, New Jersey to the east; Camden County, New Jersey to the southeast; Gloucester County, New Jersey to the south; and Delaware County to the southwest. Philadelphia was created in the 17th century, following the plan by William Penn 's surveyor Thomas Holme . Center City is structured with long, straight streets running nearly due east–west and north–south, forming
27260-412: The oldest art school and museum in the United States, helped establish many artists. Portraitist Charles Willson Peale and sculptor William Rush helped found the Academy of the Fine Arts and artists such as Thomas Eakins , Henry Ossawa Tanner and some of the members of the Philadelphia Ten studied there. The city's major art museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art was founded in 1876 to maintain
27448-462: The original Neolithic farming population was most similar to present-day Sardinians , while the three Bronze Age remains had a large genetic component from the Pontic-Caspian steppe . Modern Irish are the population most genetically similar to the Bronze Age remains, followed by Scottish and Welsh, and share more DNA with the three Bronze Age men from Rathlin Island than with the earlier Ballynahatty Neolithic woman. A 2017 genetic study done on
27636-423: The past, today most Irish people speak English as their first language. Historically, the Irish nation was made up of kin groups or clans , and the Irish also had their own religion , law code , alphabet and style of dress . There have been many notable Irish people throughout history. After Ireland's conversion to Christianity , Irish missionaries and scholars exerted great influence on Western Europe, and
27824-515: The plantations and went into decline. Among the last of the true bardic poets were Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig (c. 1580–1652) and Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (1625–1698). The Irish poets of the late 17th and 18th centuries moved toward more modern dialects. Among the most prominent of this period were Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta , Peadar Ó Doirnín , Art Mac Cumhaigh , Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna , and Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill . Irish Catholics continued to receive an education in secret "hedgeschools", in spite of
28012-512: The plantations of Ulster drawing upon the Munster Plantations, this proved to be the most successful they were settled in what's mostly Now Northern Ireland. The Plantations of Ireland introduced Tudor English settlers to Ireland, while The Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century introduced a great number of Scottish and to a lesser extent English as well as French Huguenots as colonists. All previous endeavours were solely an English venture. The Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (1653–1658) after
28200-408: The pracitices of the Church of England and Catholic Church at the time fled Europe to seek refuge in Philadelphia. Prior to the American Revolution and following it, Philadelphia grew quickly into a major political and economic center of the United States, serving as the nation's capital until 1800. During the Revolutionary War , the First and Second Continental Congress met at what today
28388-493: The protection and benefit of the law upon which just cause they do desire it. Another English commentator records that the assemblies were attended by "all the scum of the country"—the labouring population as well as the landowners. While the distinction between "free" and "unfree" elements of the Irish people was unreal in legal terms, it was a social and economic reality. Social mobility was usually downwards, due to social and economic pressures. The ruling clan's "expansion from
28576-420: The region was inhabited by the Lenape , a group of Native American people. The Lenape occasionally fought with the earliest Dutch settlers, but had much better relations with William Penn and the early inhabitants of the English subjects of the colony of Pennsylvania . Still, disease and development pushed the Lenape west. A member of the Religious Society of Friends who faced religious persecution and
28764-458: The region. The first American Presbytery was founded in 1706 in Philadelphia and a year later in September 1707 the Philadelphia Baptist Association was founded, the oldest Baptist association in the United States. The city's first Catholic chapel was built in 1733 and the city's first recorded practicing Jew , Nathan Levy, arrived as early as 1735. During most of the 19th century, immigrants mainly from Germany, England, and Ireland settled in
28952-434: The rich white families they worked for. There was also a small group of upper class African Americans, both educated, wealthy and Philadelphia born, who descended from freedmen earlier in the century. The aristocratic African Americans were generally isolated, not recognized or even known about by the white population and alienated from the rest of the city's African American population. As Philadelphia grew more industrialized
29140-570: The second half of the 19th century. His contemporaries included John McArthur Jr. , Addison Hutton , Wilson Eyre , the Wilson Brothers , and Horace Trumbauer . In 1871, construction 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
29328-425: The situation did not change substantially until 1682, when the area was included in William Penn 's charter for Pennsylvania. In 1681, in partial repayment of a debt, Charles II of England granted Penn a charter for what would become the Pennsylvania colony . Despite the royal charter, Penn bought the land from the local Lenape in an effort to establish good terms with the Native Americans and ensure peace for
29516-444: The slave trade in Pennsylvania and freed the children of slaves born after the law was passed once they reached a certain age. By the time the law was passed, about 400 slaves and 800 free black people lived in Philadelphia. Many newly freed slaves and escaped slaves from the South moved to the city, and by 1820 the city's African American population was nearly eleven percent. During this time one former slave, Richard Allen , founded
29704-467: The spine of the north–south highway system along the U.S. East Coast . Philadelphia is a city of many firsts, including the nation's first library (1731), hospital (1751), medical school (1765), national capital (1774), university (by some accounts) (1779), central bank (1781), stock exchange (1790), zoo (1874), and business school (1881). Philadelphia contains 67 National Historic Landmarks , including Independence Hall . From
29892-493: The surrounding Delaware Valley in the early 17th century. The first settlements were founded by Dutch colonists , who built Fort Nassau on the Delaware River in 1623 in what is now Brooklawn, New Jersey . The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony. In 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina , located in present-day Wilmington, Delaware , and quickly spread out in
30080-522: The ten largest combined statistical areas (CSAs) were ranked higher for ozone: Los Angeles (1st), New York City (9th), Houston (12th), Dallas (13th), and San Jose, California (18th). Many smaller CSAs were also ranked higher for ozone, including Sacramento (8th), Las Vegas (10th), Denver (11th), El Paso (16th), and Salt Lake City (20th). Only two of those same ten CSAs, San Jose and Los Angeles, were ranked higher than Philadelphia for both year-round and short-term particle pollution. As of
30268-466: The territory of the neighbouring Picts merged to form the Kingdom of Alba , and Goidelic language and Gaelic culture became dominant there. The country came to be called Scotland , after the Roman name for the Gaels: Scoti . The Isle of Man and the Manx people also came under massive Gaelic influence in their history. Irish missionaries such as Saint Columba brought Christianity to Pictish Scotland . The Irishmen of this time were also "aware of
30456-421: The top downwards" was constantly displacing commoners and forcing them into the margins of society. As a clan-based society, genealogy was all important. Ireland 'was justly styled a "Nation of Annalists"'. The various branches of Irish learning—including law, poetry, history and genealogy, and medicine—were associated with hereditary learned families. The poetic families included the Uí Dhálaigh (Daly) and
30644-432: The upper Ohio River basin. Following the American Revolutionary War and subsequent formation of an independent United States, the Lenape began moving further west. In the 1860s, the United States government sent most remaining Lenape in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma and surrounding territories as part of the Indian removal policy. Europeans first entered Philadelphia and
30832-449: The upper class could trace their lineage to the earliest Quaker settlers, though many of these had subsequently joined the Church of England or Presbyterian denominations. The Philadelphia upper class was exclusive; what mattered was a person's family, not a person's wealth. Inheritance was better than self-made wealth. In the late 19th century Mark Twain observed, "In Boston , they ask how much does he know. In New York , how much
31020-410: The use of a common language and mass Irish migration to Scotland in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. The Irish people of the Late Middle Ages were active as traders on the European continent. They were distinguished from the English (who only used their own language or French) in that they only used Latin abroad—a language "spoken by all educated people throughout Gaeldom". According to
31208-402: The valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their war against Maryland colonists. In 1648, the Dutch built Fort Beversreede on the west bank of the Delaware, south of the Schuylkill River near the present-day Eastwick section of Philadelphia, to reassert their dominion over the area. The Swedes responded by building Fort Nya Korsholm , or New Korsholm , named after
31396-460: The west was so widely dispersed in the schools of Ireland that if anyone knew Greek it was assumed he must have come from that country."' Since the time of Charlemagne , Irish scholars had a considerable presence in the Frankish court , where they were renowned for their learning. The most significant Irish intellectual of the early monastic period was the 9th century Johannes Scotus Eriugena , an outstanding philosopher in terms of originality. He
31584-414: The writer Seumas MacManus , the explorer Christopher Columbus visited Ireland to gather information about the lands to the west, a number of Irish names are recorded on Columbus' crew roster preserved in the archives of Madrid and it was an Irishman named Patrick Maguire who was the first to set foot in the Americas in 1492; however, according to Morison and Miss Gould , who made a detailed study of
31772-491: The year. The average window for freezing temperatures is November 6 to April 2, allowing a growing season of 217 days. Early fall and late winter are generally dry, with February having the lowest average precipitation at 2.75 inches (70 mm). The dewpoint in the summer averages between 59.1 and 64.5 °F (15 and 18 °C). The highest recorded temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) on August 7, 1918. Temperatures at or above 100 °F (38 °C) are not common, with
31960-486: Was 30.7 in (78 cm), which occurred in January 1996. Precipitation is generally spread throughout the year, with eight to eleven wet days per month, at an average annual rate of 44.1 inches (1,120 mm), but historically ranging from 29.31 in (744 mm) in 1922 to 64.33 in (1,634 mm) in 2011. The most rain recorded in one day occurred on July 28, 2013, when 8.02 in (204 mm) fell at Philadelphia International Airport . Philadelphia has
32148-439: Was available and many died on arrival as they were overworked. Some British political figures at the time saw the famine as a purge from God to exterminate the majority of the native Irish population. Irish people emigrated to escape the famine journeying predominantly to the east coast of the United States , especially Boston and New York , as well as Liverpool in England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Many records show
32336-413: Was being constructed and prepared to serve as the new national capital. In 1793, the largest yellow fever epidemic in U.S. history killed approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people in Philadelphia, or about ten percent of the city's population at the time. The capital of the United States was moved to Washington, D.C. in 1800 upon completion of the White House and U.S. Capitol buildings. The state capital
32524-549: Was burned. In the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century large numbers of African Americans migrated from the Southern United States to Philadelphia giving the city the largest African American population of a northern U.S. city. In 1896 W. E. B. Du Bois came to Philadelphia and wrote his sociological book The Philadelphia Negro . Du Bois' study of the city's African Americans found many lived in Center City with growing populations in West Philadelphia . Many African Americans lived in neighborhoods near
32712-410: Was developed south of South Street and later occupied by succeeding immigrants. They established a network of Catholic churches and schools and dominated the Catholic clergy for decades. Anti- Irish , anti-Catholic nativist riots erupted in Philadelphia in 1844. The rise in population of the surrounding districts helped lead to the Act of Consolidation of 1854 , which extended the city limits from
32900-427: Was dominated by Georgian architecture , including Independence Hall and Christ Church . In the first decades of the 19th century, Federal and Greek Revival architecture were the dominant styles produced by Philadelphia architects such as Benjamin Latrobe , William Strickland , John Haviland , John Notman , Thomas Walter , and Samuel Sloan . Frank Furness is considered Philadelphia's greatest architect of
33088-433: Was formed in 1990 form its predecessor, the Performing Arts League of Philadelphia, to promote local theater; since 1994, the organization has presented the annual Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theater to theater productions in the area. Dance became a part of Philadelphia with the beginning of the Philadelphia Dancing Assemblies in 1748 which remained popular into the 20th Century. Major dancing organizations include
33276-433: Was founded in 1682 by William Penn , an English Quaker and advocate of religious freedom , and served as the capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era . The city went on to play a historic and vital role during the American Revolution and Revolutionary War , serving as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers , hosting the First Continental Congress in 1774, preserving
33464-423: Was given to passengers who were simply viewed as cargo in the eyes of the ship workers. Notable coffin ships include the Jeanie Johnston and the Dunbrody . There are statues and memorials in Dublin, New York and other cities in memory of the famine. The Fields of Athenry is a late-20th century song about the Great Famine and is often sung at national team sporting events in memory and homage to those affected by
33652-424: Was imprisoned in Great Britain for challenging established religious views of the Church of England , Penn envisioned his colony as a place where many groups of people could live together and worship freely. Mennonites , Amish , Moravians , and Pietists moved to the area during the 17th century. By the mid-18th century, Quakers and the English had become a minority in the colony as other ethnic groups such as
33840-439: Was in question, something that has been diminished with the loss of prefixes such as Ó and Mac. Different branches of a family with the same surname sometimes used distinguishing epithets, which sometimes became surnames in their own right. Hence the chief of the clan Ó Cearnaigh (Kearney) was referred to as An Sionnach (Fox), which his descendants use to this day. Similar surnames are often found in Scotland for many reasons, such as
34028-439: Was moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster in 1799, then ultimately to Harrisburg in 1812. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until the late 18th century. It also was the nation's financial and cultural center until ultimately being eclipsed in total population by New York City in 1790. In 1816, the city's free Black community founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church , the first independent Black denomination in
34216-501: Was not present in Neolithic or Mesolithic Europeans, and which would have been introduced into Europe with paternal lineages R1b and R1a, as well as the Indo-European languages. This genetic component, labelled as " Yamnaya " in the studies, then mixed to varying degrees with earlier Mesolithic hunter-gatherer and Neolithic farmer populations already existing in western Europe. A more recent whole genome analysis of Neolithic and Bronze Age skeletal remains from Ireland suggested that
34404-406: Was one of more than 36 industrial cities nationally to suffer a race riot during Red Summer in post- World War I unrest as recent immigrants competed with Blacks for jobs. In the 1920s, the public flouting of Prohibition laws, organized crime , mob violence, and corrupt police involvement in illegal activities led to the appointment of Brig. Gen. Smedley Butler of the U.S. Marine Corps as
34592-456: Was outraged that his collection of paintings by Paul Cézanne , Henri Matisse , Pablo Picasso , and Amedeo Modigliani was so poorly received by Philadelphians when put on display at the Academy of the Fine Arts that Barnes removed the collection and housed it in a building in Merion, Pennsylvania where Barnes enjoyed denying access to most Philadelphians. The controversial decision in 2002 to, against Barnes' wishes expressed in his will , move
34780-400: Was routinely given to settlers of Welsh origin, who had come during and after the Norman invasion. The Joyce and Griffin/Griffith (Gruffydd) families are also of Welsh origin. The Mac Lochlainn, Ó Maol Seachlainn, Ó Maol Seachnaill, Ó Conchobhair, Mac Loughlin and Mac Diarmada families, all distinct, are now all subsumed together as MacLoughlin. The full surname usually indicated which family
34968-414: Was the textile industry . Major corporations in the 19th and early 20th centuries included the Baldwin Locomotive Works , William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company , and the Pennsylvania Railroad . Established in 1870, the Philadelphia Conveyancers' Association was chartered by the state in 1871. Along with the U.S. Centennial in 1876, the city's industry was celebrated in the Centennial Exposition ,
35156-446: Was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force. George Boole (1815–1864), the mathematician who invented Boolean algebra , spent the latter part of his life in Cork . The 19th century physicist George Stoney introduced the idea and the name of the electron . He was the uncle of another notable physicist, George FitzGerald . The Irish bardic system, along with the Gaelic culture and learned classes, were upset by
35344-412: Was the earliest of the founders of scholasticism , the dominant school of medieval philosophy . He had considerable familiarity with the Greek language, and translated many works into Latin, affording access to the Cappadocian Fathers and the Greek theological tradition , previously almost unknown in the Latin West. The influx of Viking raiders and traders in the 9th and 10th centuries resulted in
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