The Philadelphia Portal
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Philadelphia_skyline_from_South_Street_Bridge_January_2020_%28rotate_2_degrees_perspective_correction_crop_4-1%29.jpg/325px-Philadelphia_skyline_from_South_Street_Bridge_January_2020_%28rotate_2_degrees_perspective_correction_crop_4-1%29.jpg)
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 nation, 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 seventh-largest and one of the world's largest metropolitan regions with 6.245 million residents in its metropolitan statistical area and 7.366 million residents in its combined statistical area.
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...)
Selected article -
Interstate 476 is a 132.10 mi (212.59 km)-long auxiliary Interstate Highway, designated between Interstate 95 near Chester, Pennsylvania and Interstate 81 near Scranton, Pennsylvania. It serve as the primary north-south Interstate corridor through eastern Pennsylvania. It consists of both the 21.5-mile Mid-County Expressway, locally referred to as the "Blue Route", through the suburban-Philadelphia counties of Delaware and Montgomery, and the 110.6-mile Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which connects the Philadelphia metropolitan area with the Lehigh Valley, the Poconos, and the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Proposed as early as 1929, construction of the Mid-County Expressway through Delaware County was not completed until 1991 due to massive community and environmental opposition during the freeway revolts of the 1960s and 1970s. After completion of the Mid-County Expressway, in 1996 the Interstate 476 designation was extended to include the entire length of the existing Northeast Extension. Since the extension, I-476 has been the longest auxiliary Interstate highway in the United States.
Selected image -
Independence Hall is the building where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and adopted. It is now the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park. The building was completed in 1753 as the colonial legislature (later Pennsylvania State House) for the Province of Pennsylvania and was used in that capacity until the state capital moved to Lancaster in 1799. It became the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783 and was the site of the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787. A convention held in Independence Hall in 1915, presided over by William Howard Taft, marked the formal announcement of the formation of the League to Enforce Peace, which led to the League of Nations and eventually the United Nations. The building was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1979.
Selected biography -
![Leonore Annenberg.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Leonore_Annenberg.jpg/80px-Leonore_Annenberg.jpg)
Leonore Annenberg was a billionaire former Chief of Protocol of the United States. A prominent philanthropist, she was married to Walter Annenberg, who was an Ambassador to the United Kingdom and a business magnate. She served as the chairman and president of the Annenberg Foundation. Born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, she graduated from Stanford University. After her first two marriages ended in divorce, she married business magnate Walter Annenberg, who was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1969. In her role as the ambassador's wife, Leonore directed a major renovation of the ambassador's official residence. The Annenbergs contributed to Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign and upon his inauguration, Leonore was named Chief of Protocol, placing her in charge of advising the president, vice president, and Secretary of State on matters relating to diplomatic protocol. The Annenbergs became major philanthropists, donating money to education facilities, charitable causes, and the arts. Leonore served on many committees and boards as well. Following Walter Annenberg's death in 2002, she continued to donate money and promote the Annenberg Foundation.
Did you know (auto-generated) -
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg/47px-Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg.png)
- ... that Leverington Cemetery has the most orbs and apparitions in Philadelphia?
- ... that a rabbit played for the Philadelphia Eagles – as there's a drive into deep left field by Castellanos, that will be a home run. And so that will make it a 4–0 ballgame?
- ... that exhibits at Peale's Philadelphia Museum included the first nearly complete skeleton of a mastodon?
- ... 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 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 Glenwood Memorial Gardens in Broomall, Pennsylvania, was initially established in 1849 as Glenwood Cemetery in North Philadelphia and contained the graves of 702 Union soldiers?
Selected anniversaries - July
- July 1, 1874 - After being delayed by the American Civil War, the Philadelphia Zoo opens.
- July 4, 1776 - The Declaration of Independence is adopted at Independence Hall.
- July 7, 1844 - A deadly Nativist riot erupts outside a Catholic church in Southwark.
- July 27, 1976 - The first recognized outbreak of Legionellosis begins at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel.
Quotes -
"Socially, Philadelphia was still a fairly provincial city, its business community governed by the mores of the Main Line. Politically, it was a cauldron of ethnic rivalries, dominated by competing Irish and Italian constituencies."
Related portals
Things you can do
Help and improve articles related to Philadelphia.
Topics
List articles
Categories
Featured articles
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Cscr-featured.png/30px-Cscr-featured.png)
Latest Featured Articles and Lists
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus