Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.html



City of Philadelphia
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): "City of Brotherly Love","The City that Loves you Back", "Cradle of Liberty", "The Quaker City", "The Birthplace of America","The City of Neighborhoods", "Philly"
Motto: "Philadelphia maneto" ("Let brotherly love endure")
Coordinates: 39°57′12″N 75°10′12″W / 39.95333, -75.17
Country	United States
Commonwealth	Pennsylvania
County	Philadelphia
Founded	October 27, 1682
Incorporated	October 25, 1701
Government
- Mayor	Michael Nutter (D)
Area
- City	135 sq mi (349.6 km²)
- Land	127.4 sq mi (326.144 km²)
- Water	7.6 sq mi (19.6 km²)
- Urban	1,799.5 sq mi (4,660.7 km²)
- Metro	4,629 sq mi (11,989 km²)
Elevation	39 ft (12 m)
Population (July 1st, 2007)
- City	1,449,634 (6th)
- Density	10,882.8/sq mi (4,201.8/km²)
- Urban	5,325,000
- Metro	5,823,233
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Area code(s)	215, 267
Website: http://www.phila.gov

Philadelphia portal

Philadelphia (pronounced /ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə/) is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the sixth-most-populous city in the United States. It is the fifth-largest metropolitan area and fourth-largest urban area by population in the United States, the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research, and the 49th-most-populous city in the world. It is the county seat of Philadelphia County (with which it is coterminous). A popular nickname for Philadelphia is The City of Brotherly Love (from Greek: Φιλαδέλφεια, [pʰi.la.ˈdel.pʰeː.a], Modern Greek: [fi.la'ðɛl.fi.a], "brotherly love" from philos, "love", and adelphos "brother"). It is commonly and informally referred to as Philly. The city is recognized as a strong candidate global city.

In 2005, the population of the city proper was estimated to be over 1.4 million,¹ while the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area, with a population of 5.8 million, was the fifth-largest in the United States. A commercial, educational, and cultural center, the city was once the second-largest in the British Empire² (after London), and the social and geographical center of the original 13 American colonies. During the 18th century, it eclipsed New York City in political and social importance, with Benjamin Franklin taking a large role in Philadelphia's early rise to prominence. It was in this city that some of the ideas, and subsequent actions, gave birth to the American Revolution and American Independence, making Philadelphia a centerpiece of early American history. It was the most populous city of the young United States and served as the the nation's second capital.

History

Main article: History of Philadelphia

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Philadelphia area was the location of the Lenape (Delaware) Indian village Shackamaxon. Europeans arrived in the Delaware Valley in the early 1600s, with the first settlements founded by the Dutch, British and Swedish.

The Swedes sought to expand their influence by creating an agricultural (tobacco) and fur-trading colony to bypass French and British merchants. The New Sweden Company was chartered and included Swedish, Dutch and German stockholders. The first Swedish expedition to North America embarked from the port of Gothenburg in late 1637. It was organized and overseen by Clas Fleming, a Swedish admiral from Finland. Part of this colony, called New Sweden or Nya Sverige eventually included land on the west side of the Delaware River from just below the Schuylkill River: in other words, today's Philadelphia, southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.

In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their victory in a war against the English province of Maryland. A series of events led the Dutch — led by governor Peter Stuyvesant — to move an army to the Delaware River in the late summer of 1655. Though New Netherland now nominally controlled the colony, the Swedish and Finnish settlers continued to enjoy a degree of local autonomy, having their own militia, religion, court, and lands. This status lasted officially until the English conquest of the New Netherland colony, in October 1663-1664, and continued unofficially until the area was included in William Penn's charter for Pennsylvania, in 1682.

In 1681, as part of a repayment of a debt, Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for what would become the Pennsylvania colony. Part of Penn's plan for the colony was to create a city on the Delaware River to serve as a port and place for government. Despite already having been given the land by Charles II, Penn bought the land from the local Lenape to be on good terms with the Native Americans and ensure peace for his colony.³ According to legend Penn made a treaty of friendship with Lenape chief Tammany under an elm tree at Shackamaxon, in what is now the city's Kensington section.⁴ As a Quaker, Penn had experienced religious persecution and wanted his colony to be a place where anyone could worship freely despite their religion. Penn named the city Philadelphia, which is Greek for brotherly love (philos, "love" or "friendship", and adelphos, "brother").⁵

"Penn's Treaty with the Indians" by Benjamin West.

William Penn's plan was that Philadelphia would be like an English rural town instead of a city. The city's roads were designed with a grid plan with the idea that houses and businesses would be spread far apart and surrounded by gardens and orchards. The city's inhabitants didn't follow Penn's plans and crowded by the Delaware River and subdivided and resold their lots.⁶ Before Penn left Philadelphia for the last time, he issued the Charter of 1701 establishing Philadelphia as a city. The city soon grew and established itself as an important trading center. Conditions in the city were poor at first, but by the 1750s living conditions had improved. A significant contributor to Philadelphia at the time was Benjamin Franklin. Franklin helped improve city services and founded new ones, such as the American Colonies' first hospital.⁷ Due to Philadelphia's central location in the colonies, during the American Revolution the city was used as the location for the First Continental Congress before the war, the Second Continental Congress, which signed the United States Declaration of Independence, during the war, and the Constitutional Convention after the war. A number of battles during the war were fought in Philadelphia and its environs as well. Unsuccessful lobbying after the war to make Philadelphia the United States capital helped make the city the temporary U.S. capital in the 1790s.⁸

Benjamin Franklin

The state government left Philadelphia in 1799 and the federal government left soon after in 1800. However Philadelphia was still the largest city in the United States and a financial and cultural center. New York City soon surpassed Philadelphia in population, but construction of roads, canals, and railroads helped turn Philadelphia into the United States' first major industrial city. Throughout the 19th century Philadelphia had a large variety of industries and businesses, the largest being textiles. Major corporations in the 19th and early 20th centuries included the Baldwin Locomotive Works, William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, and the Pennsylvania Railroad.⁹ Industry, along with the U.S. Centennial, was celebrated in 1876 with the Centennial Exposition, the first official World's Fair in the United States. Immigrants, mostly German and Irish, settled in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts. The rise in population of the surrounding districts helped lead to the Act of Consolidation of 1854 which extended the city of Philadelphia to include all of Philadelphia County.¹⁰ In the later half of the century immigrants from Russia, Eastern Europe and Italy and African Americans from the southern U.S. settled in the city.¹¹

8th and Market Street, showing the Strawbridge and Clothier department store, 1910s.

By the 20th century Philadelphia had become known as "corrupt and contented." Philadelphians were content with the city's lack of change or excitement, and single-party politics, centered on the city's entrenched Republican political machine, allowed corruption to flourish. The machine and corruption permeated in all parts of city government and reformers had little success.¹² The first major success in reform came in 1917 when outrage over the murder of a police officer during that year's election led to the shrinking of the Philadelphia City Council from two houses to just one.¹³ In the 1920s the public flouting of Prohibition laws, mob violence, and police involvement in illegal activities led to the appointment of Brigadier General Smedley Butler of the U.S. Marine Corps as director of public safety, but political pressure prevented any long term success in fighting crime and corruption.¹⁴

After struggling through the Great Depression, World War II created jobs and brought the city out of the Depression. However, after the war there was a severe housing shortage with about half the city's housing being built in the 19th century, many of which lacked proper facilities. Adding to housing problem was white flight, as African Americans and Puerto Ricans moved into new neighborhoods resulting in racial tension.¹⁵ After a population peak of over two million residents in 1950 the city's population declined while the suburban neighboring counties grew. After a five year investigation into corruption into city government, the outcry with what the investigation found led the drafting of a new city charter in 1950. The city charter strengthened the position of the mayor and weakened the city council among other changes to help prevent the corruption of the past. The first Democratic mayor since the first half of the 19th century was elected in 1951. However, after two early reform mayors, a Democratic political organization had established itself replacing the old Republican one.¹⁶

Protests, riots and racial tensions were common in the 1960s and 70s. Mostly drug related gang violence plagued the city. In the mid 1980s, crack houses invaded the city's slums. Confrontations between police and the radical group MOVE culminated when the police dropped a satchel bomb on their headquarters starting a fire that killed eleven MOVE members and destroyed sixty-two neighboring houses. Revitalization and gentrification of neighborhoods began in the 1960s and continues into the 21st century, with much of the development in the Center City and University City areas of the city. After many of the old manufacturers and businesses had left Philadelphia or shut down, the city started attracting service businesses and began to more aggressively market itself as a tourist destination. Glass and granite skyscrapers were built in Center City. Historic areas such as Independence National Historical Park located in Society Hill were resuscitated during the reformist mayoral era of the 1950s through the 1980s and are now among the most desirable living areas of Center City. This has slowed the city's forty-year population decline after losing nearly a quarter of its population.¹⁷¹⁸

Geography

Topography

A simulated-color satellite image of Philadelphia taken on NASA's Landsat 7 satellite. The Delaware River is visible in this shot.

Philadelphia is located at 40° 00′ north latitude and 75° 09′ west longitude. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.6 square miles (369.3 km²), of which 135.1 square miles (349.9 km²) is land and 7.6 square miles (19.7 km²), or 5.29%, is water. Bodies of water include the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, and Cobbs, Wissahickon, and Pennypack Creeks.

The lowest point is sea level, while the highest point is in Chestnut Hill, at approximately 445 feet (136 m) above sea level (near the intersection of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike).¹⁹

Philadelphia is located on the Fall Line separating the Atlantic Coastal Plain from the Piedmont.²⁰ The rapids on the Schuylkill River at East Falls disappeared after the completion of the Fairmount Dam.²¹

The city is the seat of its own county. The adjacent counties are Montgomery to the north; Bucks to the northeast; Burlington County, New Jersey to the east; Camden County, New Jersey to the southeast; Gloucester County, New Jersey to the south; and Delaware County to the west.

	Pennsylvania Main Line	Jenkintown	Bristol	v • d • e
	Upper Darby		Camden, New Jersey
		Philadelphia
	Chester	Glassboro, New Jersey	Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Climate

Philadelphia falls in the northern periphery of the humid subtropical climate zone. Summers are typically hot and muggy, fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is cold. Snowfall is variable, with some winters bringing moderate snow and others bringing some snowstorms. Annual snowfall averages 21 inches (534 mm). Precipitation is generally spread throughout the year, with eight to eleven wet days per month,²² at an average annual rate of 42 inches (1068 mm).

January lows average 25 °F (−4 °C) and highs average 39 °F (4 °C). The lowest officially recorded temperature was −11 °F (−24 °C) on February 9, 1934,²³ but temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C) occur only a few times a decade. July lows average 70 °F (21 °C) and highs average 86 °F (30 °C),²⁴ although heat waves accompanied by high humidity are frequent with highs above 95 °F (35 °C) and the heat index running as high as 110 °F (43 °C). The highest recorded temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) on August 7, 1918.²⁵ Early fall and late winter are generally driest, with February being the driest month, averaging only 2.74 inches (69.8 mm) of precipitation.

Weather averages for Philadelphia
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	74 (23)	79 (26)	87 (31)	95 (35)	97 (36)	102 (39)	104 (40)	106 (41)	102 (39)	96 (36)	84 (29)	73 (23)	106 (41)
Average high °F (°C)	39 (4)	42 (6)	51 (11)	62 (17)	72 (22)	81 (27)	86 (30)	84 (29)	77 (25)	66 (19)	55 (13)	44 (7)	63.3 (17)
Average low °F (°C)	25 (-4)	28 (-2)	35 (2)	44 (7)	55 (13)	64 (18)	70 (21)	69 (21)	61 (16)	49 (9)	40 (4)	31 (-1)	47.6 (9)
Record low °F (°C)	-7 (-22)	-11 (-24)	5 (-15)	14 (-10)	28 (-2)	44 (7)	51 (11)	44 (7)	35 (2)	25 (-4)	8 (-13)	-5 (-21)	-11 (-24)
Precipitation inches (mm)	3.52 (89.4)	2.74 (69.6)	3.81 (96.8)	3.49 (88.6)	3.89 (98.8)	3.29 (83.6)	4.39 (111.5)	3.82 (97)	3.88 (98.6)	2.75 (69.9)	3.16 (80.3)	3.31 (84.1)	42.05 (1,068.1)
Source: The Weather Channel26 2008-09-27

Cityscape

Neighborhoods

A street in the Washington Square West neighborhood.

See also: List of Philadelphia neighborhoods

Philadelphia has many neighborhoods, each with its own identity. The large Philadelphia sections, North, Northeast, Northwest, West, South and Southwest Philadelphia surround Center City, which falls within the original city limits prior to consolidation in 1854. Numerous smaller neighborhoods within the areas coincide with the boroughs, townships, and other communities that made up Philadelphia County before their absorption by the city. Other neighborhoods formed based on ethnicity, religion, culture, and commercial reasons.²⁷

Downtown Philadelphia from City Hall showing the Comcast Center and other buildings

Architecture

Row houses in West Philadelphia.

Main article: Buildings and architecture of Philadelphia

See also: List of tallest buildings in Philadelphia

Philadelphia's architectural history dates back to Colonial times and includes a wide range of styles. The earliest structures were constructed with logs, but brick structures were common by 1700. During the 18th century, the cityscape was dominated by Georgian architecture, including Independence Hall. In the first decades of the 19th century, Federal architecture and Greek Revival architecture were popular.²⁸ In the second half of the 19th century, Victorian architecture was common. In 1871, construction began on the Second Empire-style Philadelphia City Hall. Despite the construction of steel and concrete skyscrapers in the 1910s, '20s and '30s, the 548 ft (167 m) City Hall remained the tallest building in the city until 1987 when One Liberty Place was constructed. Numerous glass and granite skyscrapers were built from the late 1980s onwards. In 2007, the Comcast Center surpassed One Liberty Place to become the city's tallest building.²⁹ For much of Philadelphia's history, the typical Philadelphia home has been the row house. The row house was introduced to the United States via Philadelphia in the early 1800s and, for a time, row houses built elsewhere in the United States were known as "Philadelphia rows".³⁰ There is a variety of row houses throughout the city from Victorian-style homes in North Philadelphia to twin row houses in West Philadelphia. While newer homes are scattered throughout the city, much of Philadelphia's housing is from the early 20th century or older. The age of the city's homes has created numerous problems which has led to blight and vacant lots in many parts of the city, while other neighborhoods such as Society Hill, which has the largest concentration of 18th-century architecture in the United States, have been rehabilitated and gentrified.³¹³²

Culture

Main article: Culture of Philadelphia

See also: List of people from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Independence Hall in Philadelphia

Philadelphia contains many national historical sites that relate to the founding of the United States. Independence National Historical Park is the center of these historical landmarks. Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and the Liberty Bell are the city's most famous attractions. Other historic sites include homes for Edgar Allan Poe, Betsy Ross, and Thaddeus Kosciuszko, early government buildings like the First and Second Banks of the United States, Fort Mifflin, and the Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church National Historic Site.³³

Philadelphia's major science museums include the Franklin Institute, which contains the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, the Academy of Natural Sciences, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. History museums include the National Constitution Center, the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia History, the National Museum of American Jewish History, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in the state of Pennsylvania and The Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania and Eastern State Penitentiary. Philadelphia is home to the United States' first zoo and hospital.

See also: List of sites of interest in Philadelphia

Arts

Two statues, The Amazon and Rocky, outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The city contains many art museums such as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Rodin Museum, the largest collection of work by Auguste Rodin outside of France. The city’s major art museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is one of the largest art museums in the United States and features the steps made popular by the film Rocky.³⁴

The city is home to the Philadelphia Sketch Club, one of the country's oldest artists' clubs; and to a profusion of art galleries, many of which participate in the First Friday event. The first Friday of every month galleries in Old City are open late. Annual events include film festivals and parades, the most famous being the New Year's Day Mummers Parade.

Areas such as South Street and Old City have a vibrant night life. The Avenue of the Arts in Center City contains many restaurants and theaters, such as the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which is home to the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Academy of Music, the nation's oldest continually operating venue, home to the Opera Company of Philadelphia.³⁴

Philadelphia sculptor James Peniston's Keys To Community in the Old City neighborhood, one of the city's many public artworks featuring images of Benjamin Franklin. Location: 39°57′09″N 75°08′47″W / 39.952414, -75.146301

Philadelphia has more public art than any other American city.³⁵ In 1872, the Fairmount Park Art Association was created, the first private association in the United States dedicated to integrating public art and urban planning.³⁶ In 1959, lobbying by the Artists Equity Association helped create the Percent for Art ordinance, the first for a U.S. city.³⁷ The program, which has funded more than 200 pieces of public art, is administered by the Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture, the city's art agency.³⁸

In particular, Philadelphia has more murals than any other U.S. city, thanks in part to the 1984 creation of the Department of Recreation's Mural Arts Program, which seeks to beautify neighborhoods and provide an outlet for graffiti artists. The program has funded more than 2,700 murals by professional, staff and volunteer artists.³⁹

Philadelphia has had a prominent role in music. In the 1970s, Philadelphia soul influenced the music of that and later eras. On July 13, 1985, Philadelphia hosted the American end of the Live Aid concert at John F. Kennedy Stadium. The city reprised this role for the Live 8 concert, bringing some 700,000 people to the Ben Franklin Parkway on July 2, 2005.⁴⁰

Cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of Philadelphia

The city is known for its hoagies, scrapple, soft pretzels, water ice, and is home to the cheesesteak. Its high-end restaurants include Morimoto, run by chef Masaharu Morimoto, who rose to prominence on the Iron Chef television show.

Sports

Main article: Sports in Philadelphia

See also: U.S. cities with teams from four major sports

Philadelphia has a long history of professional sports teams, and is one of thirteen U.S. cities to have all four major sports: the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League, the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League of Major League Baseball, and the Philadelphia 76ers in the National Basketball Association. Until the Phillies' World Series championship in 2008, the last major professional sport team to win a championship was the 76ers, which won the NBA Championship in 1983.Due to the length of this streak without winning a sports championship, in 2004 ESPN ranked Philadelphia as number two in its list of The Fifteen Most Tortured Sports Cities.⁴¹ The failure of Philadelphia's major professional sports teams to win championships since that date was sometimes attributed, in jest, to the so-called "Curse of Billy Penn". The Oakland Athletics and Golden State Warriors were originally from Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is also home to professional, semi-professional and elite amateur teams in other sports, including cricket. Philadelphia also hosts other major sporting events, including the Penn Relays, Stotesbury Cup, Philadelphia Marathon, and Philadelphia International Championship bicycle race, and the Dad Vail Regatta.

Philadelphia is also known for the Philadelphia Big 5, a group of five Division I college basketball programs: Big 5 are Saint Joseph's University, University of Pennsylvania, La Salle University, Temple University, and Villanova University. The sixth NCAA Division I school in Philadelphia is Drexel University. At least one of the teams is competitive nearly every year and at least one team has made the NCAA tournament for the past four decades.

In February 2008, Philadelphia beat out competition from several other cities, namely St. Louis, to be awarded the 16th Major League Soccer franchise. They will enter the league in 2010 calling Chester Stadium their home (a soccer specific stadium) in Chester, PA.

Philadelphia is also home to Alhambra Arena, the birthplace of Extreme Championship Wrestling and current home to multiple wrestling and boxing promotions.

Economy

Comcast Center, Philadelphia's newest office building.

Philadelphia's economy is relatively diversified, with meaningful portions of its total output derived from manufacturing, oil refining, food processing, health care and biotechnology, tourism and financial services. According to a study prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Philadelphia and its surrounding region had the fourth highest GDP among American cities, with a total GDP of $312 billion in 2005.⁴² Only New York City ($1,133 billion), Los Angeles ($693 billion), and Chicago ($460 billion) had higher total economic output levels among American cities.⁴² Philadelphia ranked below Tokyo ($1,191 billion), Paris ($460 billion), London ($452 billion), Osaka-Kobe ($391 billion), Mexico City ($315 billion), and above Washington, D.C. ($299 billion).⁴²

The city is home to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and several Fortune 500 companies, including cable television and internet provider Comcast, insurance companies CIGNA and Lincoln Financial Group, energy company Sunoco, food services company Aramark, Crown Holdings Incorporated, chemical makers Rohm and Haas Company and FMC Corporation, pharmaceutical companies Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline, Boeing helicopters division, and automotive parts retailer Pep Boys. Early in the 20th Century, it was also home to the pioneering brass era automobile company Biddle.⁴³

The federal government has several facilities in Philadelphia as well. The city served as the capital city of the United States, before the construction of Washington, D.C. Today, the East Coast operations of the United States Mint are based near the historic district, and the Federal Reserve Bank's Philadelphia division is based there as well. Philadelphia is also home to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Partly because of the historical presence of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the large ridership at 30th Street Station, Amtrak also maintains a significant presence in the city. These jobs include customer service representatives and ticket processing and other behind-the-scenes personnel, in addition to the normal functions of the railroad.

Baltimore Avenue towards Center City.

The city is also a national center of law because of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law,⁴⁴ Temple University Beasley School of Law, Rutgers University School of Law - Camden, Villanova University School of Law, and Widener University School of Law. Additionally, the headquarters of the American Law Institute is located in the city.

Philadelphia is also an important center for medicine, a distinction that it has held since the colonial period. The city is home to the first hospital in the British North American colonies, Pennsylvania Hospital, and the first medical school in what is now the United States, at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Penn, the city's largest private employer, also runs a large teaching hospital and extensive medical system. There are also major hospitals affiliated with Temple University School of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Philadelphia also has three distinguished children's hospitals: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the nation's first pediatric hospital (located adjacent to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania), St. Christopher's Hospital, and the Shriners' Hospital. In the city's northern section are Albert Einstein Hospital, and in the northeast section, Fox Chase Cancer Center. Together, healthcare is the largest sector of employment in the city. Several medical professional associations are headquartered in Philadelphia.

In part because of Philadelphia's long-running importance as a center for medical research, the region is a major center for the pharmaceutical industry. GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Wyeth, Merck, GE Healthcare, Johnson and Johnson and Siemens Medical Solutions are just some of the large pharmaceutical companies with operations in the region. The city is also home to the nation's first school of pharmacy, the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, now called the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

See also: List of companies based in the Philadelphia area

Shopping

Italian Market, South Philadelphia

Center City is home to The Gallery at Market East, The Shops at Liberty Place and The Shops at the Bellevue, and a variety of standalone retail stores. Rittenhouse Row, a section of Walnut Street in Center City, has higher-end stores and boutiques. Old City and Society Hill, as well, feature upscale boutiques and retailers from local and international merchandisers. Philadelphia also has several neighborhood shopping districts, including Manayunk and Chestnut Hill. Also noteworthy is South Street with blocks of inexpensive boutiques.

The Italian Market in South Philadelphia offers groceries, meats, cheeses and housewares from Italy and other countries. Geno's and Pat's, two famed cheesesteak outlets, are located here. The Reading Terminal Market in Center City includes dozens of restaurants, farm stalls, and shops, many run by Amish farmers from nearby Lancaster County. There are also neighborhood farmers' markets throughout the city.

There are also several large shopping malls in the region, including Franklin Mills in Northeast Philadelphia and King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; seven miles outside of Philadelphia. Franklin Mills offers shoppers tax-free clothing and shoes due to its location within the city's boundaries and saw an estimated 18 million visitors in 2006. The King of Prussia Mall is the largest shopping mall on the East Coast of the United States,⁴⁵ and the largest shopping mall in the country in terms of leasable retail space.

Philadelphia is the birthplace of the secondary ticket marketplace. Wanamaker Ticket Office, located in Center City, is among the nation's oldest ticket agencies.

Media

Main article: Media of Philadelphia

Philadelphia's two major daily newspapers are The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, both of which are owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C. The Philadelphia Inquirer, founded in 1829, is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States.⁴⁶ The Bulletin, another newspaper that operates in Philadelphia, traces its history back to The Philadelphia Bulletin that went defunct in 1982. The Bulletin is locally owned by The Bulletin, Inc.

The Inquirer Building on North Broad Street.

The first experimental radio license was issued in Philadelphia in August, 1912 to St. Joseph's College. The first commercial radio stations appeared in 1922. WIP, then owned by Gimbel's department store, became the first on March 17 of that year. Also launched that year were WFIL, WOO, WCAU and WDAS.⁴⁷ The highest-rated stations in Philadelphia include soft rock WBEB, KYW Newsradio, and urban adult contemporary WDAS-FM.

During the 1930s, the experimental station W3XE, which was owned by Philco Corp, became the first television station in Philadelphia. The station, which would later become KYW-TV (CBS), became NBC's first affiliate in 1939. WCAU-TV, WPVI-TV, WHYY-TV, WPHL-TV, and WTXF-TV had all been founded by the 1970s.⁴⁷ In 1952 WFIL (now WPVI), premiered the television show Bandstand, which later became the nationally broadcast show American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark.⁴⁸ Today, as in many large metropolitan areas, each of the commercial networks has an affiliate, and call letters have been replaced by corporate IDs: CBS3, 6ABC, NBC10, FOX29, Telefutura28, Telemundo62, Univision65, plus My PHL 17 and CW Philly 57. On the public media side, the Philadelphia region is served by WYBE-TV (Philadelphia), WHYY-TV (Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia), WLVT-TV (Lehigh Valley), and New Jersey Network. In September, 2007, Philadelphia approved a public access cable channel. On the radio side, Philadelphia is served by three large public radio stations, plus several smaller ones; the larger ones are WHYY-FM (NPR), WRTI (jazz, classical), and WXPN-FM (adult alternative music).

Philadelphia has a competitive rock radio market, especially between WMMR and WYSP, which both specialize in playing modern and classic rock. The two stations enjoy a very intense rivalry. Since 2005, WMMR has played more music due to a shift in WYSP's programming from a rock station (which also carried controversial shock jock Howard Stern) to a Free FM station. WYSP has since returned to the classic rock format it shed in 1995. WYSP also carries live radio broadcasts of all Philadelphia Eagles home and road games. WMMR has the top rated morning show in the Philadelphia area, The Preston and Steve Show, which has been at the top of the ratings since Howard Stern left for Sirius Radio. WYSP currently does not have a competing morning talk show.

Philadelphia's four urban stations (WUSL ("Power 99"), WPHI ("100.3 The Beat"), WDAS and WRNB) are popular choices on the FM dial. WNUW is the city's Adult Contemporary station. The station had been home of "Smooth Jazz" WJJZ after the format was dropped from the 106.1 frequency (now WISX) but the format was dropped once again due to poor ratings.

Innovation

Philadelphia is home to many "first-in-America" institutions, including:⁴⁹⁵⁰

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Philadelphia