Portal:Philadelphia

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The Philadelphia skyline from the South Street Bridge, January 2020

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

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

Independence Hall in the 1770s.
Independence Hall in the 1770s.

The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 (also known as the Philadelphia Mutiny) was an anti-government protest by nearly 400 soldiers of the Pennsylvania Militia in June 1783. The militiamen, veterans of the Revolutionary War, surrounded Independence Hall demanding that the state legislature, meeting on the second floor, pay them their long-overdue wages. The United States Congress, meeting on the first floor, felt threatened and demanded that John Dickinson, President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, remove the soldiers by force, which he refused to do. The noisy protest resulted in Congress vacating Philadelphia (for Princeton, New Jersey), and illustrated the need for the national capital to be in a district under federal control.

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Mount Pleasant is a historic mansion in east Fairmount Park, situated atop a hill overlooking the Schuylkill River. The mansion was built around 1761–62 in what was then the countryside outside the city. The owner was John Macpherson, a Scottish privateer who named the house Clunie. The architect was Thomas Nevell (1721–1797), an apprentice of Edmund Woolley who had built Independence Hall. Later owners included Benedict Arnold and finally Jonathan Williams, who was Benjamin Franklin's grandnephew and the first superintendent of West Point. The house is administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966. Mount Pleasant was also designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974.

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Walter O'Malley was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. He served as Brooklyn Dodgers chief legal counsel when Jackie Robinson broke the racial color barrier in 1947. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he brought major league baseball to the West Coast, moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and coordinating the move of the New York Giants to San Francisco at a time when there were no teams west of Missouri. For this, he was long vilified by Brooklyn Dodgers fans. However, neutral parties describe him as a visionary for the same business action, and many authorities cite him as one of the most influential sportsmen of the 20th century. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to and influence on the game of baseball. O'Malley's Irish father, Edwin Joseph O'Malley, was politically connected. Walter, a University of Pennsylvania Salutatorian, went on to obtain a Juris Doctor, and he used the combination of his family connections, his personal contacts, and both his educational and vocational skills to rise to prominence. First, he became an entrepreneur involved in public works contracting, and then he became an executive with the Dodgers. He progressed from being a team lawyer to being both the Dodgers' owner and president, and he eventually made the business decision to relocate the Dodgers franchise. Although he moved the franchise, O'Malley is known as a businessman whose major philosophy was stability through loyalty to and from his employees. O'Malley ceded the team presidency to his son, Peter, in 1970 but retained the titles of owner and chairman of the Dodgers until his death in 1979. During the 1975 season, the Dodgers' inability to negotiate a contract with Andy Messersmith led to the Seitz decision, which limited the baseball reserve clause and paved the way for modern free agency.

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"In Boston they ask how much does he know. In New York, how much is he worth. In Philadelphia, who were his parents."

Mark Twain

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