Philadelphia tourist information

Before Europeans arrived, the Delaware (Lenape) Indian town of Shackamaxon was located where Philadelphia now stands, specifically the Germantown neighborhood. Although the area lay within the bounds described in the 1632 Charter of Maryland, the Calvert family's influence never reached this far north, and the first European settlers were mostly Swedes, who called it Wiccacoa. A congregation was formed in 1646 on Tinicum Island by Swedish missionary Johannes Campanius; in 1700, the group built Gloria Dei Church, also known as Old Swedes'.

City of Brotherly Love
Philadelphia is a planned city, founded and developed in 1682 by William Penn, a Quaker. The city's name means "brotherly love" in Greek. Penn hoped that the city, as the capital of his new colony founded on principles of freedom and religious tolerance, would be a model of this philosophy. During early immigration by Quakers and others, immigrants who purchased land in the city also received farmland outside the city; this was intended to allow the population to leave the city easily. Penn also mandated the construction of alleyways and open spaces, in the hope of controlling fires and disease, which were then common problems in London and other major cities.

The Declaration of Independence and US Constitution
Philadelphia was a major center of the independence movement during the American Revolutionary War. The Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were drafted here and signed in the city's Independence Hall. The United States Marine Corps also began here on November 10, 1775, when Samuel Nicholas began recruiting men at Tun Tavern.

During the American Revolutionary War Philadelphia's population was split between Loyalists and Patriots. When the British Army took the city in 1777 many people lined the streets and sang 'God Save the King'. Upon the retaking of the city for the American cause in 1778 it was the turn of the Patriot population to line the streets in celebration, especially as the population had suffered through a bitter winter with many of the provisions going to the British Army. The subsequent harsh treatment of the Loyalists who had not fled the city was further suffering for Philadelphians.

The Largest City
For a time in the 18th century, Philadelphia was the largest city in the Americas north of Mexico City, and the fourth largest under the rule of the British crown (after London, Bristol, and Dublin).

In 1790, as the result of a compromise between a number of Southern congressmen and Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, the seat of the United States Government was moved from Federal Hall in New York to Congress Hall in Philadelphia, before assuming its current site in Washington, DC. In exchange for locating a permanent capital on the banks of the Potomac, the congressmen agreed to support Hamilton's financial proposals. Philadelphia served as capital for a decade, until 1800, when the Capitol building in the new federal city of Washington, DC was opened.

Broad Street and Market Street
The two most noticeable streets are Broad (north-south) and Market (east-west). Two rivers, for a time, bounded the city: to the west, the Schuylkill, and to the east, the Delaware, separating Pennsylvania from New Jersey.

Baldwin Locomotive Works
An early railroad center, Philadelphia was the original home of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the world's largest builder of steam locomotives (which eventually relocated to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania). The Pennsylvania Railroad, once America's largest railroad by revenue and traffic volume and at one time the largest public corporation in the world, was headquartered in the city, as was its merger successor, the Penn Central, and in turn its freight railroad successor, Conrail.

In 1876 Philadelphia hosted the World's Fair, known as the Centennial Exposition. Memorial Hall and the expansive mall in front of it are remnants of this fair.

In 1926, the city held the Sesquicentennial Exposition to celebrate the nation's 150th birthday.

In 1976, Philadelphia was one of the participating cities in the United States Bicentennial observances that took place nationwide.

Airports
Two airports serve Philadelphia: Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) in Tinicum Township, Delaware County, and Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE), a general aviation reliever airport in Northeast Philadelphia. Philadelphia International Airport provides scheduled domestic and international air service, while Northeast Philadelphia Airport serves general and corporate aviation.

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Roads
Interstate 95 (I-95), which runs through the city along the Delaware River, is the main north-south artery. The city is also served by the Schuylkill Expressway, a portion of Interstate 76 that runs along the Schuylkill River. It meets the Pennsylvania Turnpike at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, providing access to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and points west.

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Interstate 676, the Vine Street Expressway, was completed in 1991 after years of planning. A link between I-95 and I-76, it runs below street level through Center City, connecting to the Ben Franklin Bridge at its eastern end.

Roosevelt Boulevard and the Roosevelt Expressway (U.S. Route 1) connect Northeast Philadelphia with Center City. The boulevard was built for the Lincoln Highway as part of the City Beautiful movement. In recent years, it has become a traffic bottleneck, and includes the second and third deadliest intersections in the U.S. within a single mile, according to a study by State Farm Insurance.

The Woodhaven Expressway (PA Route 63), built in 1966, serves the neighborhoods of Northeast Philadelphia, running between Interstate 95 and the Roosevelt Boulevard (U.S. Route 1). Plans to extend it westward into the suburbs were quashed by community opposition when the highway was first built. Severe traffic congestion over the past four decades on adjoining Byberry Road has led to renewed plans for extension and expansion. Several suggested plans would expand different roads using different methods to connect to the highway. A final decision has not yet been reached, and undoubtedly the construction phase will continue for several years after the planning stage is completed.

The Delaware River Port Authority operates four bridges in the Philadelphia area across the Delaware River to New Jersey: the Walt Whitman Bridge (I-76), the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (I-676 and US 30), the Betsy Ross Bridge (Route 90), and the Commodore Barry Bridge (US 322). The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge connects PA Route 73 with New Jersey's Route 73, and is maintained by the Burlington County Bridge Commission.

Other planned freeways have been cancelled, such as an Interstate 695 running southwest from downtown, and a freeway upgrade of Roosevelt Boulevard.

Not all highways important to Philadelphia cross into the city limits. The Pennsylvania Turnpike bypasses the city one mile to the north, and the New Jersey Turnpike, the main highway connection to New York City and points beyond, bypasses the city to the east and south.

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