Portal:Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Portal
Philadelphia, colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census. The city is the urban core of the larger Delaware Valley, also known as the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the nation's eighth-largest metropolitan area and seventh-largest combined statistical area with 6.245 million residents and 7.366 million residents, respectively.
As of 2022[update], the Philadelphia metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of US$518.5 billion and 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, 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, the spine of the north–south highway system along the U.S. East Coast. (Full article...)
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At the top of the list of tallest buildings in Philadelphia is the 60-story Comcast Technology Center, which topped out at 1,121 feet (342 m) in Center City on November 27, 2017 and was completed in 2018. Comcast Technology Center is the tallest building outside lower Manhattan and Chicago, and is the tenth-tallest building in the United States, as of 2019[update]. Philadelphia is home to more than 300 completed high-rise buildings up to 330 feet (100 m), and 56 completed skyscrapers of 330 feet (100 m) or taller, of which 31 are 400 feet (122 m) or taller.
The second-tallest building in Philadelphia is the 58-story Comcast Center at 974 feet (297 m), while the third-tallest building is One Liberty Place, which rises 61 floors and 945 feet (288 m). One Liberty Place stood as the tallest building in Pennsylvania for over 20 years until the completion of Comcast Center in 2008. Overall, seven of the ten tallest buildings in Pennsylvania are in Philadelphia, with the remainder being in Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is one of only five American cities with two or more completed buildings over 900 feet (270 m) tall, the others being New York City, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles.
Philadelphia's history of tall buildings is generally thought to have begun with the 1754 addition of the steeple to Christ Church, which was one of America's first high-rise structures. Through most of the 20th century, a "gentlemen's agreement" prevented buildings from rising higher than the 548-ft (167-m) Philadelphia City Hall. The completion of One Liberty Place in 1987 broke the agreement, and Philadelphia has since seen the construction of ten skyscrapers that eclipse City Hall in height.
Philadelphia has twice held the tallest habitable building in North America, first with Christ Church, then with City Hall. The latter reigned as the world's tallest building from 1894 to 1908, and is currently the world's second-tallest masonry building, only 1.6 feet (0.49 m) shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin. Like other large American cities, Philadelphia went through a massive building boom in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in the completion of 20 skyscrapers of 330 feet (100 m) or taller.
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The Schuylkill River flows through Philadelphia from the northwest. The total length of the river is approximately 130 miles (209 km) with a watershed of around 2000 square miles (5,000 km²) lying entirely within Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch starts in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in Schuylkill County. The west branch starts near Minersville and joins the eastern branch at the town of Schuylkill Haven. The Tulpehocken Creek joins it at the western edge of Reading. Wissahickon Creek joins it in Northwest Philadelphia. The river ends its course at the confluence with the Delaware River in South Philadelphia.
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Bart King was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. King was one of the Philadelphian cricketers that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. This period of cricket in the United States was dominated by gentleman players—men of independent wealth who did not need to work. King was an amateur from a middle-class family, who was able to devote time to cricket thanks to a job set up by his teammates. King was a skilled batsman, but proved his worth as a bowler. During his career, he set numerous records in North America and led the first-class bowling averages in England in 1908. He successfully competed against the best cricketers from England and Australia. King was the dominant bowler on his team when it toured England in 1897, 1903, and 1908. He dismissed batsmen with his unique delivery, which he called the "angler," and helped develop the art of swing bowling in the sport. Many of the great bowlers of today still use the strategies and techniques that he developed. Sir Pelham Warner described Bart King as one of the finest bowlers of all time, and Donald Bradman called him "America's greatest cricketing son."
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that in 2018, Donald Trump disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles from a Super Bowl LII victory ceremony at the White House after several players said they were not going to attend?
- ... that the Octavius V. Catto Memorial, unveiled in 2017, contains the first statue on Philadelphia public property of a specific African American?
- ... that Dom DiSandro, the Philadelphia Eagles' chief security officer, was ejected from a game for getting into a scuffle with an opposing player?
- ... that the 1834 Philadelphia race riot began at a carousel before spreading to other parts of the city?
- ... that in the 1932 baseball game in which pitcher Eddie Rommel won his last game, he pitched 17 innings in relief, an American League record?
- ... that judge Robert Bork's leaked list of video rentals included movies such as Citizen Kane, The Philadelphia Story and Sixteen Candles?
- ... that episodes of such game shows as Double Dare, Finders Keepers, and You Bet Your Life were filmed at the Philadelphia studios of a public TV station?
- ... that William F. Gannon died before reforming the membership of the married men's sodality in Philadelphia?
Selected anniversaries - November
- November 1, 1701 - William Penn leaves Philadelphia for England for the last time.
- November 10, 1876 - The Centennial Exposition in Fairmount Park ends after six months.
- November 21, 1976 - The film Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone, is released in U.S. theaters.
- November 29, 1929 - The Rodin Museum opens.
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"On September 5, 1774, forty-five of the weightiest colonial men formed the First Continental Congress at Philadelphia."*
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