Portal:Pennsylvania

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Pennsylvania (/ˌpɛnsɪlˈveɪniə/ ^ⓘ PEN-sil-VAY-nee-ə, lit. 'Penn's forest country'), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Dutch: Pennsilfaani), is a U.S. state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryland to its south, West Virginia to its southwest, Ohio and the Ohio River to its west, Lake Erie and New York to its north, the Delaware River and New Jersey to its east, and the Canadian province of Ontario to its northwest via Lake Erie.

Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 through a royal land grant to William Penn, the son of the state's namesake. Prior to that, between 1638 and 1655, a southeast portion of the state was part of New Sweden, a Swedish Empire colony. Established as a haven for religious and political tolerance, the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania was known for its relatively peaceful relations with native tribes, innovative government system, and religious pluralism.

Pennsylvania played a vital and historic role in the American Revolution and the ultimately successful quest for independence from the British Empire, hosting the First and Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which formed the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander in 1775, and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence the following year. On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania was the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. (Full article...)

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Aerial view of Presque Isle toward the east-northeast

Presque Isle State Park (/prɛsk/ PRESK) is a 3,112-acre (1,259 ha) Pennsylvania State Park on an arching, sandy peninsula jutting into Lake Erie, 4 miles (6 km) west of the city of Erie, in Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The peninsula sweeps northeastward, surrounding Presque Isle Bay along the park's southern coast. It has 13 miles (21 km) of roads, 21 miles (34 km) of recreational trails, 13 beaches for swimming, and a marina. Popular activities at the park include swimming, boating, hiking, biking, and birdwatching.

The recorded history of Presque Isle begins with the Erielhonan, a Native American tribe who gave their name to Lake Erie, and includes French, British, and American forts, as well as serving as a base for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet in the War of 1812. With the growing importance of shipping on Lake Erie in the 19th century, Presque Isle became home to several lighthouses and what later became a United States Coast Guard station. In 1921, it became a state park, and as of 2007 it hosts over 4 million visitors per year, the most of any Pennsylvania state park. (Full article...)

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West Creek on the outskirts of Benton, looking upstream

West Creek is a tributary of Fishing Creek, in Columbia County and Sullivan County, in Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is 9.1 miles (14.6 km) long and flows through Davidson Township in Sullivan County and Jackson Township, Sugarloaf Township, Benton Township, and Benton in Columbia County. The water temperature of the creek ranges from 0 °C (32 °F) to 25 °C (77 °F). The discharge ranges from nearly zero to ten cubic meters per second (0 to 353 cu ft/s). Rock formations in the watershed include the Trimmers Rock Formation, the Catskill Formation, and the Huntley Mountain Formation. The creek's watershed has an area of 16.6 square miles (43 km²), most of which is agricultural, forested, or urban land. A small number of dams, mills, and schoolhouses were built on West Creek in the 19th and early 20th century. West Creek has the highest level of biodiversity of any stream in the upper Fishing Creek watershed. (Full article...)

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Credit: Nicholas T.
Rainbows and departing storm clouds over Minsi Lake in Northampton County.

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... that Worlds End State Park (pictured) in Pennsylvania is sometimes erroneously known as "Whirls End State Park", its official name for seven years?
... that the Native American Sheshequin Path along Lycoming Creek, Pennsylvania was prone to such bad weather that an evil spirit was believed to reside there?
... that Tussey Mountain in Pennsylvania has been designated as an Important Bird Area, as it is home to several raptor species during their spring migration?
... that the summer stock theater at Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania regularly featured actress Jean Stapleton, well-known for her role as Edith Bunker on the 70's TV classic All in the Family?
... that Cowans Gap State Park in Pennsylvania was the site of a key road in the French and Indian War, a pioneer farm, a charcoal operation, and a CCC Camp?

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Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Pittsburgh

Erie	Lehigh Valley	Pennsylvania Roads

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Market and 15th Streets

Centre Square is an office complex in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The complex consists of two concrete high-rise towers: the 417 feet (127 m) Centre Square I, also known as Centre Square East, and the 490 feet (150 m) Centre Square II (Centre Square West) represent the 24th and 15th-tallest buildings in Philadelphia, respectively. Designed by Vincent Kling & Associates in the 1960s, Centre Square opened in 1973. The complex is credited with shifting Philadelphia's downtown office district from South Broad Street to West Market Street. A tenant since 1975, management consulting firm Willis Towers Watson is Centre Square's largest tenant.

The complex is best known for Claes Oldenburg's sculpture, Clothespin, in the plaza in front of the building. A fan of contemporary art, developer Jack Wolgin commissioned three works under Philadelphia's percent for art program: Clothespin, Jean Dubuffet's Milord la Chamarre, and a series of banners by Alexander Calder. The works helped Philadelphia gain a reputation for promoting public art. (Full article...)

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Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were both debated and ratified

Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers of the United States. The structure, which is the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park, was designated a World Heritage Site in 1979.

The construction of Independence Hall, initially called the Pennsylvania State House, was completed in 1753. It served as the first capitol of both the colonial-era of the Province of Pennsylvania and, following American independence, the nation's first capital and the capital of Pennsylvania. (Full article...)

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Pennsylvania news

State facts

State Facts

Nickname: The Keystone State
Capital: Harrisburg
Largest city: Philadelphia
Total area: 119,283 square kilometers (46,055 square miles)
Population (2000 census): 12,281,054
Date admitted to the Union: December 12, 1787 (2^nd)

State symbols

Bird: Ruffed grouse
Fish: Brook trout
Floral emblem: Mistletoe
Flower: Mountain laurel
Insect: Pennsylvania firefly
Mammal: White-tailed deer
Tree: Eastern Hemlock
Fossil: Trilobite
Soil: Hazleton
Song: Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania topics

General images

The following are images from various Pennsylvania-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Philadelphia International Airport, the busiest airport in the state and the 21st-busiest airport in the nation with nearly 10 million passengers annually as of 2021 (from Pennsylvania)
Image 2The Stonycreek Township crash site of Flight 93, one of four planes hijacked in the September 11 attacks; the site is now a national memorial. Flight 93 passengers wrestled with al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers for control of the plane, preventing it from being flown into the White House or U.S. Capitol. (from Pennsylvania)
Image 3Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in American professional sports (from Pennsylvania)
Image 4Köppen climate types in Pennsylvania (from Pennsylvania)
Image 5The colonial possessions of Britain (in pink), France (in blue), and Spain (in orange) as of 1750. The French later lost their possessions in North America to Britain following its defeat in the French and Indian War, fought from 1754 to 1763 (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 6Frederick Winslow Taylor of Philadelphia, a late 19th and early 20th century pioneer in scientific management (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 7A woodcut illustration of the crowd at the first Republican National Convention in 1856 at Musical Fund Hall at 808 Locust Street in Philadelphia (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 8Autumn in North Branch Township in Wyoming County in October 2011 (from Pennsylvania)
Image 9The Philadelphia Eagles are presented with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018 (from Pennsylvania)
Image 10William Penn, a Quaker and son of a prominent admiral, founded the colonial Province of Pennsylvania in 1681. (from Pennsylvania)
Image 11Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom's Steel Force and Thunderhawk roller coasters in Allentown; Steel Force is the eighth-longest steel roller coaster in the world with a first drop of 205 feet (62 m) and a top speed of 75 miles per hour (121 km/h). (from Pennsylvania)
Image 12Map of Pennsylvania's 67 counties (from Pennsylvania)
Image 13The locomotive Tioga in Philadelphia in 1848; Pennsylvania was an important railroad center throughout the 19th century. (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 14The Hershey Company in Hershey (from Pennsylvania)
Image 15The Birth of Pennsylvania, a portrait of William Penn (standing with document in hand), who founded the Province of Pennsylvania in 1681 as a refuge for Quakers after receiving a royal deed to it from King Charles II (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 16Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were adopted in 1776 and 1787-88, respectively (from Pennsylvania)
Image 17On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln (center, facing camera) arrived in Gettysburg and delivered the Gettysburg Address, considered one of the best-known speeches in American history. (from Pennsylvania)
Image 18Shelter House in Emmaus, constructed in 1734 by Pennsylvania German settlers, is the oldest continuously occupied building structure in the Lehigh Valley and one of the oldest in Pennsylvania (from Pennsylvania)
Image 19Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father of the United States and Pennsylvania delegate to the Second Continental Congress, which created the Continental Army in 1775 and unanimously adopted and issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 20The Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg (from Pennsylvania)
Image 21Lenape chief Lappawinsoe, depicted in a 1735 painting by Gustavus Hesselius (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 22Pittsburgh Steelers' fans waving the Terrible Towel, a tradition that dates back to 1975 (from Pennsylvania)
Image 23Rivers Casino, located in the Chateau section of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River, one of Pennsylvania's 16 casinos (from Pennsylvania)
Image 24Ethnic origins of Pennsylvanians (from Pennsylvania)
Image 25The Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1–3, 1863 in Gettysburg, was the Civil War's deadliest battle but also is widely considered the war's turning point in the Union's ultimate victory. The battle is depicted in this 1887 Thure de Thulstrup painting, Battle of Gettysburg. (from Pennsylvania)
Image 26Pat's King of Steaks in South Philadelphia is widely credited with inventing the cheesesteak in 1933 (from Pennsylvania)
Image 27An Amish family riding in a traditional Amish buggy in Lancaster County; Pennsylvania has the largest Amish population of any state. (from Pennsylvania)
Image 28Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem was one of the world's leading steel manufacturers for most of the 19th and 20th century. In 1982, however, it discontinued most of its operations, declared bankruptcy in 2001, and was dissolved in 2003. (from Pennsylvania)
Image 29The Gettysburg campaign, which culminated in the Battle of Gettysburg, was a major turning point in the American Civil War and the war's bloodiest battle with an estimated 46,000 to 51,000 casualties (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 30NASCAR racing at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond (from Pennsylvania)
Image 31A map of New Netherland (in magenta) and New Sweden (in blue) in the 17th century; New Sweden was later absorbed by New Netherland and then the British in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 32Simon Cameron of Maytown was Secretary of War and head of Pennsylvania's Republican Party, whose party machine controlled Pennsylvania into the 20th century. (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 332024 U.S. presidential election results by county in Pennsylvania
Democratic
Republican
(from Pennsylvania)
Image 34Amtrak's Pennsylvanian on Horseshoe Curve in Logan Township (from Pennsylvania)
Image 35
Pennsylvania's unemployment rate between 1976 and 2021
The U.S. unemployment rate during these years
(from Pennsylvania)
Image 36The statue of Benjamin Franklin on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution in Philadelphia ranked one of world's top universities (from Pennsylvania)
Image 37Stephen Decatur, a 19th-century naval commander who served in the War of 1812 and other engagements (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 38South Philadelphia High School on Broad Street in South Philadelphia in February 2010 (from Pennsylvania)
Image 39One of only two confirmed photos of Abraham Lincoln (sitting in center, facing camera, without his traditional top hat) at Gettysburg a few hours prior to giving the Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 1863. The address, which was only 271 words in length, ranks among the most famed speeches in American history. (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 40Pennsylvania population density map (from Pennsylvania)