192-726: The Philadelphia Inquirer , often referred to simply as The Inquirer , is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Founded on June 1, 1829, The Philadelphia Inquirer is the third-longest continuously operating daily newspaper in the United States. The newspaper has the largest circulation of any newspaper in both Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region, which includes Philadelphia and its surrounding communities in southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey , northern Delaware , and
384-802: A travelogue , American Notes for General Circulation . In Notes , Dickens includes a powerful condemnation of slavery which he had attacked as early as The Pickwick Papers , correlating the emancipation of the poor in England with the abolition of slavery abroad citing newspaper accounts of runaway slaves disfigured by their masters. In spite of the abolitionist sentiments gleaned from his trip to America, some modern commentators have pointed out inconsistencies in Dickens's views on racial inequality. For instance, he has been criticised for his subsequent acquiescence in Governor Eyre 's harsh crackdown during
576-743: 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
768-495: 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
960-456: A brief illness in 1837. Unusually for Dickens, as a consequence of his shock, he stopped working, and he and Catherine stayed at a little farm on Hampstead Heath for a fortnight. Dickens idealised Mary; the character he fashioned after her, Rose Maylie , he found he could not now kill, as he had planned, in his fiction, and, according to Ackroyd, he drew on memories of her for his later descriptions of Little Nell and Florence Dombey. His grief
1152-403: 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
1344-474: 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
1536-747: A clerk in the Navy Pay Office afforded him a few years of private education, first at a dame school and then at a school run by William Giles, a dissenter , in Chatham. This period came to an end in June 1822, when John Dickens was recalled to Navy Pay Office headquarters at Somerset House and the family (except for Charles, who stayed behind to finish his final term at school) moved to Camden Town in London. The family had left Kent amidst rapidly mounting debts and, living beyond his means, John Dickens
1728-653: A contract agreement with the union representing the company's newspaper delivery drivers. Philadelphia Newspapers, represented by Lawrence G. McMichael of Dilworth Paxson LLP, challenged the right of creditors to credit bid at a bankruptcy auction. Their claim was ultimately heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit , which agreed that that credit bidding was not permitted. In September 2010, both newspapers again were placed for auction, and again Philadelphia Media Network (PMN) won
1920-798: A few alterations and embellishments", as "Mrs Pipchin" in Dombey and Son . Later, he lived in a back-attic in the house of an agent for the Insolvent Court , Archibald Russell, "a fat, good-natured, kind old gentleman ... with a quiet old wife" and lame son, in Lant Street in Southwark. They provided the inspiration for the Garlands in The Old Curiosity Shop . On Sundays—with his sister Frances , free from her studies at
2112-581: A freelance reporter. A distant relative, Thomas Charlton, was a freelance reporter at Doctors' Commons and Dickens was able to share his box there to report the legal proceedings for nearly four years. In 1830, Dickens met his first love, Maria Beadnell, thought to have been the model for the character Dora in David Copperfield . Maria's parents disapproved of the courtship and ended the relationship by sending her to school in Paris. In 1832, at
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#17327762969402304-525: A friendship with William Harrison Ainsworth , the author of the highwayman novel Rookwood (1834), whose bachelor salon in Harrow Road had become the meeting place for a set that included Daniel Maclise , Benjamin Disraeli , Edward Bulwer-Lytton and George Cruikshank . All these became his friends and collaborators, with the exception of Disraeli, and he met his first publisher, John Macrone, at
2496-460: A good school: "Much of the haphazard, desultory teaching, poor discipline punctuated by the headmaster's sadistic brutality, the seedy ushers and general run-down atmosphere, are embodied in Mr Creakle's Establishment in David Copperfield ." Dickens worked at the law office of Ellis and Blackmore, attorneys, of Holborn Court, Gray's Inn , as a junior clerk from May 1827 to November 1828. He
2688-497: 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
2880-474: A group of local business leaders paid $ 55 million for the newspaper, less than 15 percent of the $ 515 million spent to buy the papers in 2006. In June 2014, PMN was sold to H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest , who appointed C.Z. "Terry" Egger as publisher and chief executive officer four months later, in October 2015. Philadelphia Philadelphia , colloquially referred to as Philly , is the most populous city in
3072-716: 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 )
3264-488: A home for the redemption of fallen women of the working class. Coutts envisioned a home that would replace the punitive regimes of existing institutions with a reformative environment conducive to education and proficiency in domestic household chores. After initially resisting, Dickens eventually founded the home, named Urania Cottage , in the Lime Grove area of Shepherd's Bush , which he managed for ten years, setting
3456-631: 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
3648-475: A larger building on Chestnut Street . Following the Civil War, The Inquirer faced financial challenges, and Harding became ill. Despite Philadelphia's population growth, distribution fell from 70,000 during the Civil War to 5,000 in 1888. In 1889, the newspaper was sold to publisher James Elverson, who moved The Inquirer to a new building that included the latest printing technology. Elverson also increased
3840-422: A lasting impression on Dickens and later influenced his fiction and essays, becoming the foundation of his interest in the reform of socio-economic and labour conditions, the rigours of which he believed were unfairly borne by the poor. He later wrote that he wondered "how I could have been so easily cast away at such an age". As he recalled to John Forster (from Life of Charles Dickens ): The blacking-warehouse
4032-462: A major contributor to the journals Household Words (1850–1859) and All the Year Round (1858–1870). Both journals contained a mix of fiction and non-fiction, and dealt with aspects in the culture. For example, the latter journal included Dickens' assessment of Madame Tussauds wax museum on Baker Street, which he called "something more than an exhibition, it is an institution." In 1854, at
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#17327762969404224-559: 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
4416-425: A mother find her proper sphere inside the home: "I never afterwards forgot, I never shall forget, I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my being sent back." His mother's failure to request his return was a factor in his dissatisfied attitude towards women. Righteous indignation stemming from his own situation and the conditions under which working-class people lived became major themes of his works, and it
4608-488: A portmanteau he inhabited long before The Economist took it up. For a writer who made his reputation crusading against the squalor of the Industrial Revolution , Dickens was a creature of capitalism; he used everything from the powerful new printing presses to the enhanced advertising revenues to the expansion of railroads to sell more books. Dickens ensured that his books were available in cheap bindings for
4800-417: A pot of ointment from an apothecary's shop. When a certain number of grosses of pots had attained this pitch of perfection, I was to paste on each a printed label, and then go on again with more pots. Two or three other boys were kept at similar duty down-stairs on similar wages. One of them came up, in a ragged apron and a paper cap, on the first Monday morning, to show me the trick of using the string and tying
4992-676: A pseudonym for some years. Dickens apparently adopted it from the nickname 'Moses', which he had given to his youngest brother Augustus Dickens , after a character in Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield . When pronounced by anyone with a head cold, "Moses" became "Boses"—later shortened to Boz . Dickens's own name was considered "queer" by a contemporary critic, who wrote in 1849: "Mr Dickens, as if in revenge for his own queer name, does bestow still queerer ones upon his fictitious creations." Dickens contributed to and edited journals throughout his literary career. In January 1835,
5184-549: A renewed enthusiasm for the joys of Christmas in Britain and America. The seeds for the story became planted in Dickens's mind during a trip to Manchester to witness the conditions of the manufacturing workers there. This, along with scenes he had recently witnessed at the Field Lane Ragged School , caused Dickens to resolve to "strike a sledge hammer blow" for the poor. As the idea for the story took shape and
5376-595: A reply confirming Powell's embezzlement, but once the directors realised this information might have to be produced in court, they refused to make further disclosures. Owing to the difficulties of providing evidence in America to support his accusations, Dickens eventually made a private settlement with Powell out of court. Angela Burdett Coutts , heir to the Coutts banking fortune, approached Dickens in May 1846 about setting up
5568-403: A satire on the judicial system, helped support a reformist movement that culminated in the 1870s legal reform in England. A Tale of Two Cities (set in London and Paris) is regarded as his best-known work of historical fiction. The most famous celebrity of his era, he undertook, in response to public demand, a series of public reading tours in the later part of his career. The term Dickensian
5760-440: A significant artistic break in Dickens's career as his novels became more serious in theme and more carefully planned than his early works. At about this time, he was made aware of a large embezzlement at the firm where his brother, Augustus , worked (John Chapman & Co). It had been carried out by Thomas Powell , a clerk, who was on friendly terms with Dickens and who had acted as mentor to Augustus when he started work. Powell
5952-815: 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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6144-657: 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
6336-505: A trip 30 miles into Illinois . During his American visit, Dickens spent a month in New York City, giving lectures, raising the question of international copyright laws and the pirating of his work in America. He persuaded a group of 25 writers, headed by Washington Irving , to sign a petition for him to take to Congress, but the press were generally hostile to this, saying that he should be grateful for his popularity and that it
6528-422: A work called The Life of Our Lord (1846), a book about the life of Christ, written with the purpose of sharing his faith with his children and family. In a scene from David Copperfield , Dickens echoed Geoffrey Chaucer 's use of Luke 23:34 from Troilus and Criseyde (Dickens held a copy in his library), with G. K. Chesterton writing, "among the great canonical English authors, Chaucer and Dickens have
6720-445: A year-long dispute between Philadelphia Media Holdings and its creditors. Creditors, including banks and hedge funds , sought to take control of Philadelphia Newspapers LLC themselves and opposed efforts by Philadelphia Media Holdings to maintain control of the newspaper's operations. Philadelphia Media Holdings was supported by most of the newspaper's unions. It also launched a public relations campaign to promote its continued control of
6912-484: Is 31 minutes. Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens ( / ˈ d ɪ k ɪ n z / ; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist , journalist , short story writer and social critic . He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era . His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by
7104-466: 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
7296-492: 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,
7488-665: 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
7680-501: 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
7872-598: 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
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8064-573: Is the Sam Weller Bump." A publishing phenomenon, John Sutherland called The Pickwick Papers "[t]he most important single novel of the Victorian era". The unprecedented success led to numerous spin-offs and merchandise including Pickwick cigars, playing cards, china figurines, Sam Weller puzzles, Weller boot polish and joke books. The Sam Weller Bump testifies not merely to Dickens's comic genius but to his acumen as an "authorpreneur",
8256-433: 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 ,
8448-514: Is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States. In 1962, an Inquirer -commissioned historian traced The Inquirer to John Dunlap 's The Pennsylvania Packet , which was founded on October 28, 1771. In 1850, The Packet was merged with another newspaper, The North American , which later merged with the Philadelphia Public Ledger . The Public Ledger , in turn, merged with The Philadelphia Inquirer in
8640-495: Is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social or working conditions, or comically repulsive characters. Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 at 1 Mile End Terrace (now 393 Commercial Road), Landport in Portsea Island ( Portsmouth ), Hampshire , the second of eight children of Elizabeth Dickens (née Barrow; 1789–1863) and John Dickens (1785–1851). His father
8832-456: 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
9024-788: 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
9216-624: 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
9408-735: The Corn Laws . Dickens lasted only ten weeks on the job before resigning due to a combination of exhaustion and frustration with one of the paper's co-owners. A Francophile, Dickens often holidayed in France and, in a speech delivered in Paris in 1846 in French, called the French "the first people in the universe". During his visit to Paris, Dickens met the French literati Alexandre Dumas , Victor Hugo , Eugène Scribe , Théophile Gautier , François-René de Chateaubriand and Eugène Sue . In early 1849, Dickens started to write David Copperfield . It
9600-614: 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
9792-684: 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
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#17327762969409984-531: The Evening Bulletin shut down in 1982, The Inquirer hired 17 Bulletin reporters and doubled its bureaus to attract former Bulletin readers. By 1989, Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.'s editorial staff reached a peak of 721 employees. In the 1990s, The Inquirer again confronted challenges with diminishing circulation and advertisement revenue. While part of a nationwide trend, the impact was exacerbated by, according to dissatisfied Inquirer employees,
10176-417: The Evening Bulletin to shut down two years later. Between 1970 and 1985, however, The Inquirer experienced eleven strikes, the longest of which, in 1985, lasted 46 days. The Inquirer also faced criticism for its expanded international coverage, which led Time magazine to report that it was covering " Karachi better than Kensington ". Throughout the 1980s, however, the newspaper continued to grow. When
10368-583: 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
10560-615: 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,
10752-618: The Morning Chronicle launched an evening edition, under the editorship of the Chronicle ' s music critic, George Hogarth . Hogarth invited him to contribute Street Sketches and Dickens became a regular visitor to his Fulham house—excited by Hogarth's friendship with Walter Scott (whom Dickens greatly admired) and enjoying the company of Hogarth's three daughters: Georgina, Mary and 19-year-old Catherine. Dickens made rapid progress both professionally and socially. He began
10944-588: The Morning Journal in January 1830, the newspaper was moved to South Second Street. Ten years later, The Inquirer moved again, this time to its own building at the corner of Third Street and Carter's Alley. Harding expanded The Inquirer' s content, and the newspaper soon grew into a major Philadelphia newspaper. The expanded content included the addition of fiction. In 1840, Harding gained rights to publish several Charles Dickens novels for which Dickens
11136-545: The RMS Britannia during their first trip to the United States and Canada. At this time Georgina Hogarth , another sister of Catherine, joined the Dickens household, now living at Devonshire Terrace, Marylebone to care for the young family they had left behind. She remained with them as housekeeper, organiser, adviser and friend until Dickens's death in 1870. Dickens modelled the character of Agnes Wickfield after Georgina and Mary. He described his impressions in
11328-594: The Record went out of business, and The Philadelphia Inquirer emerged as Philadelphia's only major daily morning newspaper. While still trailing behind Philadelphia's largest newspaper, the Evening Bulletin , The Inquirer also continued to operate profitably. In 1948, Walter Annenberg expanded the Inquirer Building with a new structure that housed new printing presses for The Inquirer . During
11520-406: The Record 's circulation had dropped to 204,000 from 328,322. In 1939, Annenberg was charged with income tax evasion . Annenberg pleaded guilty before his trial and was sentenced to three years in prison. While incarcerated, he fell ill and died from a brain tumor six weeks after his release from prison in June 1942. Upon Moses Annenberg's death, his son, Walter Annenberg , took over. In 1947,
11712-655: The Royal Academy of Music —he spent the day at the Marshalsea. Dickens later used the prison as a setting in Little Dorrit . To pay for his board and to help his family, Dickens was forced to leave school and work ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse, on Hungerford Stairs, near the present Charing Cross railway station , where he earned six shillings a week pasting labels on pots of boot blacking. The strenuous and often harsh working conditions made
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#173277629694011904-559: 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
12096-480: 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
12288-536: 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
12480-509: 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
12672-448: 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
12864-440: The 1860s Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica and his failure to join other British progressives in condemning it. From Richmond, Virginia , Dickens returned to Washington, D.C., and started a trek westward, with brief pauses in Cincinnati and Louisville, to St. Louis, Missouri. While there, he expressed a desire to see an American prairie before returning east. A group of 13 men then set out with Dickens to visit Looking Glass Prairie,
13056-570: The 18th-century magazines Tatler and The Spectator . Dickens was perturbed by the return to power of the Tories, whom he described as "people whom, politically, I despise and abhor." He had been tempted to stand for the Liberals in Reading, but decided against it due to financial straits. He wrote three anti-Tory verse satires ("The Fine Old English Gentleman", "The Quack Doctor's Proclamation", and "Subjects for Painters") which were published in The Examiner . On 22 January 1842, Dickens and his wife arrived in Boston , Massachusetts, aboard
13248-504: The 1930s. Between 1962 and 1975, a line on The Inquirer ' s front page claimed that the newspaper is the United States' oldest surviving daily newspaper. If the lineage of The Packet and The North American is counted in the newspaper's history, The Inquirer would currently be the longest continuously published newspaper in the nation. Six months after The Inquirer was founded, with competition from eight established daily newspapers, lack of funds forced Norvell and Walker to sell
13440-466: The 1950s and 1960s, Annenberg acquired Seventeen magazine and TV Guide . In 1957, Annenberg bought the Philadelphia Daily News and combined the Daily News ' facilities with The Inquirer 's. In 1958, a 38-day strike in 1958 hurt The Inquirer and, following the strike, so many reporters had accepted buyout offers and left that the newsroom was noticeably empty, leaving many copy clerks with little experience responsible for reporting. One of
13632-555: The 1980s, The Philadelphia Inquirer has won three Pulitzers: a 1997 award for "Explanatory Journalism.", the public service award (the top category) in 2012 for "its coverage of pervasive violence in the city's schools", and the 2014 prize for criticism, won by the newspaper's architecture critic, Inga Saffron. In 1998, Inquirer reporter Ralph Cipriano filed a libel suit against Knight Ridder, The Philadelphia Inquirer , and Inquirer editor Robert Rosenthal over comments Rosenthal made about Cipriano to The Washington Post , claiming it
13824-490: 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
14016-665: 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
14208-615: The 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today. Born in Portsmouth , Dickens left school at age 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father John was incarcerated in a debtors' prison . After three years, he returned to school before beginning his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years; wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and nonfiction articles; lectured and performed readings extensively;
14400-695: The Catholic Church as "that curse upon the world." Dickens also rejected the Evangelical conviction that the Bible was the infallible word of God. His ideas on Biblical interpretation were similar to the Liberal Anglican Arthur Penrhyn Stanley 's doctrine of " progressive revelation ". Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky referred to Dickens as "that great Christian writer". In December 1845, Dickens took up
14592-690: The Collected Farces of Elizabeth Inchbald . At the age of seven, he first saw Joseph Grimaldi —the father of modern clowning —perform at the Star Theatre in Rochester , Kent. He later imitated Grimaldi's clowning on several occasions, and would also edit the Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi . He retained poignant memories of childhood, helped by an excellent memory of people and events, which he used in his writing. His father's brief work as
14784-511: 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
14976-514: The Depression. The lack of growth allowed J. David Stern 's newspaper, The Philadelphia Record , to surpass The Inquirer in circulation and become the largest newspaper in Pennsylvania. Under Moses Annenberg, The Inquirer turned around. Annenberg added new features, increased staff and held promotions to increase circulation. By November 1938 Inquirer 's weekday circulation increased to 345,422 from 280,093 in 1936. During that same period
15168-550: The Riots of 'Eighty , as part of the Master Humphrey's Clock series (1840–41), were all published in monthly instalments before being made into books. Dickens biographer Peter Ackroyd has called Barnaby Rudge "one of Dickens's most neglected, but most rewarding, novels". The poet Edgar Allan Poe read Barnaby Rudge , and the talking raven that featured in the novel inspired in part Poe's 1845 poem " The Raven ". In
15360-794: 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. ,
15552-553: The US ended with a trip to Canada—Niagara Falls, Toronto, Kingston and Montreal—where he appeared on stage in light comedies. Soon after his return to England, Dickens began work on the first of his Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol , written in 1843, which was followed by The Chimes in 1844 and The Cricket on the Hearth in 1845. Of these, A Christmas Carol was most popular and, tapping into an old tradition, did much to promote
15744-644: The Union, but Harding wanted their coverage to remain neutral. Confederate generals often sought copies of the paper, believing that the newspaper's war coverage was accurate. During the Civil War, Inquirer journalist Uriah Hunt Painter was at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, a battle which ended in a Confederate victory. Initial reports from the government claimed a Union victory, but The Inquirer went with Painter's firsthand account. Crowds threatened to burn The Inquirer 's building down because of
15936-522: 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
16128-518: The age of 20, Dickens was energetic and increasingly self-confident. He enjoyed mimicry and popular entertainment, lacked a clear, specific sense of what he wanted to become, and yet knew he wanted fame. Drawn to the theatre—he became an early member of the Garrick Club —he landed an acting audition at Covent Garden, where the manager George Bartley and the actor Charles Kemble were to see him. Dickens prepared meticulously and decided to imitate
16320-720: The behest of Sir John Franklin 's widow Lady Jane , Dickens viciously attacked Arctic explorer John Rae in Household Words for his report to the Admiralty , based on interviews with local Inuit , that the members of Franklin's lost expedition had resorted to cannibalism . These attacks would later be expanded on his 1856 play The Frozen Deep , which satirises Rae and the Inuit. Twentieth-century archaeology work in King William Island later confirmed that
16512-479: The best-selling novels of all time. Themes in Great Expectations include wealth and poverty, love and rejection, and the eventual triumph of good over evil. In early September 1860, in a field behind Gads Hill, Dickens made a bonfire of most of his correspondence; he spared only letters on business matters. Since Ellen Ternan also destroyed all of his letters to her, the extent of the affair between
16704-531: The bid. After successfully negotiating a contract with all of the newspaper's 14 unions, the $ 139 million deal was finalized on October 8. The Philadelphia Inquirer continued with profitability, largely due to emerging competition from digital media sources. By May 2012, the combined journalist staff at all of Philadelphia Media Network was about 320, and some of the same stories and photographs appear both in The Inquirer and Daily News . On April 2, 2012,
16896-472: 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
17088-587: 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
17280-532: 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
17472-456: 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
17664-399: 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
17856-519: 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,
18048-403: 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
18240-694: 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,
18432-608: 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
18624-473: 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
18816-452: The comedian Charles Mathews, but ultimately he missed the audition because of a cold. Before another opportunity arose, he had set out on his career as a writer. In 1833, Dickens submitted his first story, "A Dinner at Poplar Walk", to the London periodical Monthly Magazine . His uncle William Barrow offered him a job on The Mirror of Parliament and he worked in the House of Commons for
19008-465: The comedic merits of Punch and Judy , a puppet show dominated by the anarchic clowning of Mr. Punch. In late November 1851, Dickens moved into Tavistock House where he wrote Bleak House (1852–53), Hard Times (1854) and Little Dorrit (1856). It was here that he indulged in the amateur theatricals described in Forster's Life of Charles Dickens . During this period, he worked closely with
19200-461: The company defaulted in payments of maturity notes. Ownership of The Inquirer then returned to the Patenôtre family and Elverson Corp. Charles A. Taylor was elected president of The Inquirer Co. and ran the paper until it was sold to Moses L. Annenberg in 1936. During the period between Elverson Jr. and Annenberg The Inquirer stagnated, its editors ignoring most of the poor economic news of
19392-402: 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
19584-547: The couple returned to lodgings at Furnival's Inn . The first of their ten children , Charles, was born in January 1837 and a few months later the family set up home in Bloomsbury at 48 Doughty Street, London (on which Charles had a three-year lease at £80 a year) from 25 March 1837 until December 1839. Dickens's younger brother Frederick and Catherine's 17-year-old sister Mary Hogarth moved in with them. Dickens became very attached to Mary, and she died in his arms after
19776-880: The coverage of breaking news. In June 2006, Knight Ridder was acquired by its rival, The McClatchy Company . The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News were among the 12 least profitable Knight Ridder newspapers that McClatchy put up for sale in March 2006. On June 29, 2006, The Inquirer and Daily News were sold to Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC (PMH), a group of Philadelphia-area business people, including Brian Tierney , PMH's chief executive. The new owners announced plans to spend US$ 5 million on advertisements and promotions to increase The Inquirer 's profile and readership. Following PMH's acquisition, The Inquirer advertising and other revenue, especially its national advertising revenue, fell considerably, and
19968-490: 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
20160-429: The early 1960s before Karafin was exposed in 1967 and was subsequently convicted of extortion a year later, in 1968. As the newspaper entered the 1970s, circulation and advertising revenue was declining, and the newspaper had become, as Time magazine reported, "uncreative and undistinguished." In 1969, Samuel Newhouse offered Annenberg $ 55 million to acquire The Inquirer . But having earlier promised John S. Knight
20352-561: The editorship of the London-based Daily News , a liberal paper through which Dickens hoped to advocate, in his own words, "the Principles of Progress and Improvement, of Education and Civil and Religious Liberty and Equal Legislation." Among the other contributors Dickens chose to write for the paper were the radical economist Thomas Hodgskin and the social reformer Douglas William Jerrold , who frequently attacked
20544-595: The end of the 19th century. Originally supportive of the Democratic Party , The Inquirer ' s political orientation eventually shifted toward the Whig Party and then the Republican Party before stating, in the mid-20th century, that it was politically independent. By the end of the 1960s, The Inquirer trailed its chief competitor, The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin in circulation, and
20736-527: The event, but reserved his fury for Indians, wishing that he was the commander-in-chief in India so that he would be able to "do my utmost to exterminate the Race upon whom the stain of the late cruelties rested." In 1857, Dickens hired professional actresses for The Frozen Deep , which he and his protégé Wilkie Collins had written. Dickens fell in love with one of the actresses, Ellen Ternan , and this passion
20928-478: The expectation of this legacy, Dickens was released from prison. Under the Insolvent Debtors Act , Dickens arranged for payment of his creditors, and he and his family left the Marshalsea, for the home of Mrs Roylance. Charles's mother, Elizabeth Dickens, did not immediately support his removal from the boot-blacking warehouse. This influenced Dickens's view that a father should rule the family and
21120-550: The family moved to Norfolk Street, Fitzrovia . When Charles was four, they relocated to Sheerness and thence to Chatham , Kent, where he spent his formative years until the age of 11. His early life seems to have been idyllic, though he thought himself a "very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy". Charles spent time outdoors, but also read voraciously, including the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding , as well as Robinson Crusoe and Gil Blas . He read and re-read The Arabian Nights and
21312-402: The few star reporters of the 1950s and 1960s was investigative reporter Harry Karafin , who exposed corruption and wrote exclusive stories for The Inquirer , but also extorted money out of individuals and organizations. Karafin told sources that he had harmful information on them, and would demand money in exchange for him not making the information public. This went on from the late 1950s into
21504-620: 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
21696-543: 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
21888-478: The first time early in 1832. He rented rooms at Furnival's Inn and worked as a political journalist, reporting on Parliamentary debates, and he travelled across Britain to cover election campaigns for the Morning Chronicle . His journalism, in the form of sketches in periodicals, formed his first collection of pieces, published in 1836: Sketches by Boz —Boz being a family nickname he employed as
22080-404: The following year in England and Ireland. Other works soon followed, including A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and Great Expectations (1861), which were resounding successes. Set in London and Paris, A Tale of Two Cities is his best-known work of historical fiction and includes the famous opening sentence "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." It is regularly touted as one of
22272-420: The house rules, reviewing the accounts and interviewing prospective residents. Emigration and marriage were central to Dickens's agenda for the women on leaving Urania Cottage, from which it is estimated that about 100 women graduated between 1847 and 1859. As a young man, Dickens expressed a distaste for certain aspects of organised religion. In 1836, in a pamphlet titled Sunday Under Three Heads , he defended
22464-420: The house. The success of Sketches by Boz led to a proposal from publishers Chapman and Hall for Dickens to supply text to match Robert Seymour 's engraved illustrations in a monthly letterpress . Seymour committed suicide after the second instalment and Dickens, who wanted to write a connected series of sketches, hired " Phiz " to provide the engravings (which were reduced from four to two per instalment) for
22656-627: 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
22848-616: The knot. His name was Bob Fagin; and I took the liberty of using his name, long afterwards, in Oliver Twist. When the warehouse was moved to Chandos Street in the smart, busy district of Covent Garden , the boys worked in a room in which the window gave onto the street. Small audiences gathered and watched them at work—in Dickens's biographer Simon Callow 's estimation, the public display was "a new refinement added to his misery". A few months after his imprisonment, John Dickens's mother, Elizabeth Dickens, died and bequeathed him £450. On
23040-551: 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
23232-546: 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
23424-522: The lower orders as well as in morocco-and-gilt for people of quality; his ideal readership included everyone from the pickpockets who read Oliver Twist to Queen Victoria, who found it "exceedingly interesting". On its impact on mass culture, Nicholas Dames in The Atlantic writes, " 'Literature' is not a big enough category for Pickwick . It defined its own, a new one that we have learned to call 'entertainment'." In November 1836, Dickens accepted
23616-490: The members of the Franklin expedition resorted to cannibalism. In 1855, when Dickens's good friend and Liberal MP Austen Henry Layard formed an Administrative Reform Association to demand significant reforms of Parliament, Dickens joined and volunteered his resources in support of Layard's cause. With the exception of Lord John Russell , who was the only leading politician in whom Dickens had any faith and to whom he later dedicated A Tale of Two Cities , Dickens believed that
23808-523: The midst of all his activity during this period, there was discontent with his publishers and John Macrone was bought off, while Richard Bentley signed over all his rights in Oliver Twist . Other signs of a certain restlessness and discontent emerged; in Broadstairs he flirted with Eleanor Picken, the young fiancée of his solicitor's best friend and one night grabbed her and ran with her down to
24000-408: The more profitable Philadelphia suburbs, while at the same time cutting staff and coverage of national and international stories. Some of The Inquirer 's best reporters accepted buyouts, and left for The New York Times and The Washington Post . By the late 1990s, all of the high-level editors who had worked with Roberts in the 1970s and 1980s had left, none at normal retirement age. Since
24192-624: The most in common." Dickens disapproved of Roman Catholicism and 19th-century evangelicalism , seeing both as extremes of Christianity and likely to limit personal expression, and was critical of what he saw as the hypocrisy of religious institutions and philosophies like spiritualism , all of which he considered deviations from the true spirit of Christianity, as shown in the book he wrote for his family in 1846. While Dickens advocated equal rights for Catholics in England, he strongly disliked how individual civil liberties were often threatened in countries where Catholicism predominated and referred to
24384-971: 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
24576-548: The newspaper continued to grow, eventually needing to move again. Elverson Jr. bought land at Broad and Callowhill Streets and built the 18-story Elverson Building, now known as the Inquirer Building . The first issue of The Inquirer was printed at the new building on July 13, 1925. Four years later, in 1929, Elverson Jr. died, and his sister, Eleanor Elverson Patenôtre, widow of Jules Patenôtre , assumed leadership of The Inquirer . Patenôtre ordered cuts throughout
24768-471: The newspaper resisting changes that many other daily newspapers implemented to keep readers and pressure from Knight Ridder to cut operating costs. During most of Roberts's time as editor, Knight Ridder allowed him a great deal of freedom in running the newspaper. In the late 1980s, however, Knight Ridder expressed concern about The Inquirer 's profitability and took a more active role in its operations. Knight Ridder pressured The Inquirer to expand into
24960-408: The newspaper to publisher and United States Gazette associate editor Jesper Harding . In 1829, The Inquirer moved from its original location between Front and 2nd streets to between 2nd and 3rd streets. After Harding acquired The Pennsylvania Inquirer , it was briefly published as an afternoon paper before returning to its original morning format in January 1830. When Harding bought and merged
25152-427: The newspaper won more journalism awards than any other newspaper in the United States. Time magazine named The Inquirer one of the ten best daily newspapers in the United States, calling Roberts' changes to the paper, "one of the most remarkable turnarounds, in quality and profitability, in the history of American journalism." In 1980, The Inquirer had emerged as the most circulated paper in Philadelphia, forcing
25344-476: The newspaper's circulation also continued to fall. As a result, the newspaper's management cut 400 jobs at The Inquirer and Daily News between 2006 and 2009. On February 21, 2009, despite cutting its operating costs, however, Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the company holding approximately US$ 390 million in debt, much of which was borrowed to acquire The Inquirer and Daily News . The bankruptcy filing kicked off
25536-454: The newspaper's publisher and chief executive officer is Elizabeth H. Hughes, and its editor is Gabriel Escobar. The Philadelphia Inquirer was founded June 1, 1829, by printer John R. Walker and John Norvell , former editor of Philadelphia's largest newspaper, the Aurora & Gazette . An editorial in the first issue of The Pennsylvania Inquirer promised that the paper would be devoted to
25728-597: The newspaper's staff. A new Philadelphia Inquirer premiered on March 1, 1889, and was successful enough that Elverson launched a Sunday edition of the newspaper. In 1890, in an attempt to increase circulation further, the price of The Inquirer was cut and the paper's size was increased, mostly with classified advertisements . After five years, The Inquirer had to move into a larger building on Market Street , and later expanded further into an adjacent property. After Elverson's death in 1911, his son by his wife Sallie Duvall, James Elverson Jr. took charge. Under Elverson Jr.,
25920-428: The newspaper, highlighting the value of local ownership of media. On April 28, 2010, at a bankruptcy auction, the group of lending creditors and a group of local investors allied with Tierney both bid for The Inquirer and Daily News . The lenders emerged with the winning bid for the newspapers, but the deal collapsed after the lenders, operating under the name of Philadelphia Media Network (PMN), were unable to reach
26112-522: The next decade, in which he was to write only two novels. His first reading tour, lasting from April 1858 to February 1859, consisted of 129 appearances in 49 towns throughout England, Scotland and Ireland. Dickens's continued fascination with the theatrical world was written into the theatre scenes in Nicholas Nickleby , and he found an outlet in public readings. In 1866, he undertook a series of public readings in England and Scotland, with more
26304-487: The northern Eastern Shore of Maryland . As of 2020, the newspaper has the 17th-largest circulation of any newspaper in the United States As of 2020, The Inquirer has won 20 Pulitzer Prizes . Several decades after its 1829 founding, The Inquirer began emerging as one of the nation's major newspapers during the American Civil War . Its circulation dropped after the Civil War's conclusion, but it rose again by
26496-449: 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
26688-456: The novelist and playwright Wilkie Collins . In 1856, his income from writing allowed him to buy Gads Hill Place in Higham, Kent . As a child, Dickens had walked past the house and dreamed of living in it. The area was also the scene of some of the events of Shakespeare 's Henry IV, Part 1 and this literary connection pleased him. During this time Dickens was also the publisher, editor and
26880-512: The other children. During this period, whilst pondering a project to give public readings for his own profit, Dickens was approached through a charitable appeal by Great Ormond Street Hospital to help it survive its first major financial crisis. His "Drooping Buds" essay in Household Words earlier on 3 April 1852 was considered by the hospital's founders to have been the catalyst for the hospital's success. Dickens, whose philanthropy
27072-665: The paper, but was not really interested in managing it, and ownership of the newspaper was put up for sale. Cyrus Curtis and Curtis-Martin Newspapers Inc. bought the newspaper on March 5, 1930. Curtis died a year later and his stepson-in-law, John Charles Martin , took charge. Martin merged The Inquirer with another paper, the Public Ledger , but the Great Depression hurt Curtis-Martin Newspapers and
27264-617: The peace of the world, and would be a rock in Louis Napoleon 's way," and that "I feel for Italy almost as if I were an Italian born." Dickens also published dozens of writings in Household Words supporting vaccination , including multiple laudations for vaccine pioneer Edward Jenner . Following the Indian Mutiny of 1857 , Dickens joined in the widespread criticism of the East India Company for its role in
27456-399: The people's right to pleasure, opposing a plan to prohibit games on Sundays. "Look into your churches—diminished congregations and scanty attendance. People have grown sullen and obstinate, and are becoming disgusted with the faith which condemns them to such a day as this, once in every seven. They display their feeling by staying away [from church]. Turn into the streets [on a Sunday] and mark
27648-442: The place, rise up visibly before me, as if I were there again. The counting-house was on the first floor, looking over the coal-barges and the river. There was a recess in it, in which I was to sit and work. My work was to cover the pots of paste-blacking; first with a piece of oil-paper, and then with a piece of blue paper; to tie them round with a string; and then to clip the paper close and neat, all round, until it looked as smart as
27840-609: The political aristocracy and their incompetence were the death of England. When he and Layard were accused of fomenting class conflict, Dickens replied that the classes were already in opposition and the fault was with the aristocratic class. Dickens used his pulpit in Household Words to champion the Reform Association. He also commented on foreign affairs, declaring his support for Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini , helping raise funds for their campaigns and stating that "a united Italy would be of vast importance to
28032-478: The position of editor of Bentley's Miscellany , a position he held for three years, until he fell out with the owner. In 1836, as he finished the last instalments of The Pickwick Papers , he began writing the beginning instalments of Oliver Twist —writing as many as 90 pages a month—while continuing work on Bentley's and also writing four plays, the production of which he oversaw. Oliver Twist , published in 1838, became one of Dickens's better known stories and
28224-527: The price of the paper, began delivery routes and had newsboys sell papers on the street. In 1859, circulation had been around 7,000; by 1863 it had increased to 70,000. Part of the increase was due to the interest in news during the American Civil War . An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 copies of The Inquirer were distributed to Union Army soldiers during the war and several times the U.S. government asked The Philadelphia Inquirer to publish special editions for its soldiers. The Philadelphia Inquirer supported
28416-662: The principal partners at John Chapman & Co. Dickens immediately sent a letter to Lewis Gaylord Clark , editor of the New York literary magazine The Knickerbocker , saying that Powell was a forger and thief. Clark published the letter in the New-York Tribune and several other papers picked up on the story. Powell began proceedings to sue these publications and Clark was arrested. Dickens, realising that he had acted in haste, contacted John Chapman & Co to seek written confirmation of Powell's guilt. Dickens did receive
28608-659: The report. Another report about General George Meade , angered Meade enough that he punished Edward Crapsey, the reporter who wrote it. Crapsey and other Civil War correspondents at the newspaper later decided to attribute any victories of the Army of the Potomac , Meade's command, to Ulysses S. Grant , commander of the Union Army. Any defeats, conversely, were attributed to Meade. During the Civil War, The Inquirer continued to grow with more staff being added and another move into
28800-412: The right of a minority to voice their opinion and "the maintenance of the rights and liberties of the people, equally against the abuses as the usurpation of power." They pledged support to then- President Andrew Jackson and "home industries, American manufactures, and internal improvements that so materially contribute to the agricultural, commercial and national prosperity." The Philadelphia Inquirer
28992-402: The right of first refusal to any sale, Annenberg instead sold the newspaper to Knight, and The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News became part of Knight Newspapers and its new subsidiary, Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. (PNI). Five years later, in 1974, Knight Newspapers merged with Ridder Publications to form Knight Ridder . When The Inquirer was acquired, it was understaffed, its equipment
29184-605: The rigid gloom that reigns over everything around." Dickens honoured the figure of Jesus Christ . He is regarded as a professing Christian. His son, Henry Fielding Dickens , described him as someone who "possessed deep religious convictions". In the early 1840s, he had shown an interest in Unitarian Christianity and Robert Browning remarked that "Mr Dickens is an enlightened Unitarian." Professor Gary Colledge has written that he "never strayed from his attachment to popular lay Anglicanism ". Dickens authored
29376-531: The sea. He declared they were both to drown there in the "sad sea waves". She finally got free, and afterwards kept her distance. In June 1841, he precipitously set out on a two-month tour of Scotland and then, in September 1841, telegraphed Forster that he had decided to go to America. Master Humphrey's Clock was shut down, though Dickens was still keen on the idea of the weekly magazine, a form he liked, an appreciation that had begun with his childhood reading of
29568-570: 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
29760-408: The serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. Cliffhanger endings in his serial publications kept readers in suspense. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback. For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at
29952-425: 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
30144-467: 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
30336-433: The story. The resulting story became The Pickwick Papers and, although the first few episodes were not successful, the introduction of the Cockney character Sam Weller in the fourth episode (the first to be illustrated by Phiz) marked a sharp climb in its popularity. The final instalment sold 40,000 copies. On the impact of the character, The Paris Review stated, "arguably the most historic bump in English publishing
30528-493: 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
30720-522: 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
30912-426: The two remains speculative. In the 1930s, Thomas Wright recounted that Ternan had unburdened herself to a Canon Benham and gave currency to rumours they had been lovers. Dickens's daughter, Kate Perugini, stated that the two had a son who died in infancy to biographer Gladys Storey in an interview before the former's death in 1929. Storey published her account in Dickens and Daughter , though no contemporary evidence
31104-432: 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
31296-402: 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
31488-716: The way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her own disabilities, Dickens improved the character with positive features. His plots were carefully constructed and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the illiterate poor would individually pay a halfpenny to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers. His 1843 novella A Christmas Carol remains especially popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every creative medium. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1853 novel Bleak House ,
31680-451: The writing began in earnest, Dickens became engrossed in the book. He later wrote that as the tale unfolded he "wept and laughed, and wept again" as he "walked about the black streets of London fifteen or twenty miles many a night when all sober folks had gone to bed". After living briefly in Italy (1844), Dickens travelled to Switzerland (1846), where he began work on Dombey and Son (1846–48). This and David Copperfield (1849–50) mark
31872-491: 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
32064-486: 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
32256-415: Was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily stationed in the district. He asked Christopher Huffam, rigger to His Majesty's Navy, gentleman and head of an established firm, to act as godfather to Charles. Huffam is thought to be the inspiration for Paul Dombey, the owner of a shipping company in Dickens's novel Dombey and Son (1848). In January 1815, John Dickens was called back to London, and
32448-464: Was a gifted mimic and impersonated those around him: clients, lawyers and clerks. Captivated with London's theatre scene, he went to theatres obsessively: he claimed that for at least three years he went to the theatre every day. His favourite actor was Charles Mathews and Dickens learnt his " monopolylogues " (farces in which Mathews played every character) by heart. Then, having learned Gurney 's system of shorthand in his spare time, he left to become
32640-431: Was also an author and poet and knew many of the famous writers of the day. After further fraudulent activities, Powell fled to New York and published a book called The Living Authors of England with a chapter on Charles Dickens, who was not amused by what Powell had written. One item that seemed to have annoyed him was the assertion that he had based the character of Paul Dombey ( Dombey and Son ) on Thomas Chapman, one of
32832-614: Was an indefatigable letter writer; and campaigned vigorously for children's rights , education and other social reforms. Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers , a publishing phenomenon—thanks largely to the introduction of the character Sam Weller in the fourth episode—that sparked Pickwick merchandise and spin-offs. Within a few years, Dickens had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most of them published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered
33024-413: 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
33216-410: 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
33408-435: Was difficult reporting negative stories in The Inquirer about the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia . Rosenthal later claimed that Cipriano had "a very strong personal point of view and an agenda...He could never prove (his stories)." The suit was later settled out of court in 2001. In the early 21st century, The Philadelphia Inquirer launched an online news desk to compete with local Philadelphia radio stations in
33600-427: 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
33792-412: Was forced by his creditors into the Marshalsea debtors' prison in Southwark , London in 1824. His wife and youngest children joined him there, as was the practice at the time. Charles, then 12 years old, boarded with Elizabeth Roylance, a family friend, at 112 College Place, Camden Town. Mrs Roylance was "a reduced impoverished old lady, long known to our family", whom Dickens later immortalised, "with
33984-433: 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
34176-405: Was given. On his death, Dickens settled an annuity on Ternan which made her financially independent. Claire Tomalin 's book The Invisible Woman argues that Ternan lived with Dickens secretly for the last 13 years of his life. The book was turned into a play, Little Nell , by Simon Gray , and a 2013 film . During the same period Dickens furthered his interest in the paranormal becoming one of
34368-437: Was lacking modern facilities and experienced staff. In the 1970s, however, following its acquisition by Knight Ridder and the hiring of new editors, it once again emerged as one of the nation's most prominent and influential newspapers. The Philadelphia Inquirer is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC , which also publishes Philadelphia Daily News , the city's daily tabloid , and the news portal philly.com. As of 2023,
34560-429: Was largely outdated, many of its employees were underskilled, and the newspaper trailed its chief competitor, the Evening Bulletin , in weekday circulation. In 1972, however, Eugene L. Roberts Jr. became The Inquirer 's executive editor, and once again turned the newspaper around. Between 1975 and 1990, The Inquirer won seventeen Pulitzers , six of which were won in consecutive years between 1975 and 1980, and
34752-506: Was mercenary to complain about his work being pirated. The popularity he gained caused a shift in his self-perception according to critic Kate Flint, who writes that he "found himself a cultural commodity, and its circulation had passed out his control", causing him to become interested in and delve into themes of public and personal personas in the next novels. She writes that he assumed a role of "influential commentator", publicly and in his fiction, evident in his next few books. His trip to
34944-439: 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
35136-406: 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
35328-410: Was paid a significant sum, even though the common practice was to pay little or nothing for the rights of foreign authors' works. Harding retired in 1859, and was succeeded by his son, William White Harding, who had become a partner three years earlier. William Harding changed the name of the newspaper to its current name, The Philadelphia Inquirer . In an attempt to increase circulation , Harding cut
35520-423: Was published between 1849 and 1850. In Dickens's biography, Life of Charles Dickens (1872), John Forster wrote of David Copperfield , "underneath the fiction lay something of the author's life". It was Dickens's personal favourite among his novels, as he wrote in the author's preface to the 1867 edition of the novel. His collection of letters included a correspondence with Mary Tyler, dated 6 November 1849, on
35712-659: Was so great that he was unable to meet the deadline for the June instalment of The Pickwick Papers and had to cancel the Oliver Twist instalment that month as well. The time in Hampstead was the occasion for a growing bond between Dickens and John Forster to develop; Forster soon became his unofficial business manager and the first to read his work. His success as a novelist continued. The young Queen Victoria read both Oliver Twist and The Pickwick Papers , staying up until midnight to discuss them. Nicholas Nickleby (1838–39), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–41) and, finally, his first historical novel, Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of
35904-414: 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 ,
36096-399: Was the first Victorian novel with a child protagonist . On 2 April 1836, after a one-year engagement, and between episodes two and three of The Pickwick Papers , Dickens married Catherine Thomson Hogarth (1815–1879), the daughter of George Hogarth, editor of the Evening Chronicle . They were married in St Luke's Church , Chelsea , London. After a brief honeymoon in Chalk in Kent,
36288-402: Was the last house on the left-hand side of the way, at old Hungerford Stairs. It was a crazy, tumble-down old house, abutting of course on the river, and literally overrun with rats. Its wainscoted rooms, and its rotten floors and staircase, and the old grey rats swarming down in the cellars, and the sound of their squeaking and scuffling coming up the stairs at all times, and the dirt and decay of
36480-486: Was this unhappy period in his youth to which he alluded in his favourite, and most autobiographical, novel , David Copperfield : "I had no advice, no counsel, no encouragement, no consolation, no assistance, no support, of any kind, from anyone, that I can call to mind, as I hope to go to heaven!" Dickens was eventually sent to the Wellington House Academy in Camden Town , where he remained until March 1827, having spent about two years there. He did not consider it to be
36672-552: Was to last the rest of his life. In 1858, when Dickens was 45 and Ternan 18, divorce would have been scandalous for someone of his fame. After publicly accusing Catherine of not loving their children and suffering from "a mental disorder"—statements that disgusted his contemporaries, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning —Dickens attempted to have Catherine institutionalised . When his scheme failed, they separated. Catherine left, never to see her husband again, taking with her one child. Her sister Georgina, who stayed at Gads Hill, raised
36864-524: Was well-known, was asked by his friend, the hospital's founder Charles West , to preside over the appeal, and he threw himself into the task, heart and soul. Dickens's public readings secured sufficient funds for an endowment to put the hospital on a sound financial footing; one reading on 9 February 1858 alone raised £3,000. After separating from Catherine, Dickens undertook a series of popular and remunerative reading tours which, together with his journalism, were to absorb most of his creative energies for
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