The original capital of the nation, PHILADELPHIA was laid
out by William Penn Jr. in 1682, on a grid system that was to
provide the pattern for most American cities. It was envisaged as a
"greene countrie towne" and today, for all its historical and
cultural significance, it still manages to retain a certain
quaintness. Just a few blocks away from downtown, shady cobbled
alleys stand lined with red-brick colonial houses, while the peace
and quiet of huge Fairmount Park make it easy to forget you're in a
major metropolis.
Settled by Quakers , Philadelphia prospered swiftly on
the back of trade and commerce, and by the 1750s had become the
second largest city in the British Empire. Economic power fueled
strong revolutionary feeling, and the city was the capital during
the War of Independence (except for nine months under
British occupation in 1778). It also served as the US capital until
1800, while Washington, DC was being built. The Declaration of
Independence was written, signed and first publicly read here
in 1776, as was the US Constitution ten years later.
Philadelphia was also a hotbed of new ideas in the arts and
sciences, as epitomized by the scientist, philosopher, statesman,
inventor and printer Benjamin Franklin .
Philadelphia, which translated from Greek means "City of
Brotherly Love," is in fact one of the most ethnically mixed
US cities, with substantial communities of Italians, Irish, Eastern
Europeans and Asians living side by side. Many of the city's
residents are descendants of the migrants who flocked here after
the Civil War when, like Chicago, Philadelphia was seen as a place
of tolerance and liberalism. More recently, it voted in the
nation's first black mayor, and has the country's best museum
dedi-cated to African-American history and culture.
Once known as "Filthydelphia," and the butt of derision from
W.C. Fields in the 1930s (as in his famous epitaph: "On the whole,
I'd rather be in Philadelphia"), the city underwent a remarkable
resurgence preparing for the nation's bicentennial celebrations in
1976. Philadelphia's strength today is its great energy fueled by
history, strong cultural institutions, and a new influx of income
due to its new downtown convention center grounded in its many
staunchly traditional neighborhoods, especially Italian South
Philadelphia . An impressive amount of new construction and
revitalization is currently being undertaken in the downtown area,
further testimony of the city's economic boom.