Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This article is about Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For other uses of the term Philadelphia, please see Philadelphia (disambiguation).

Philadelphia as seen from the South Street Bridge (Schuylkill River) in 2016

Philadelphia is a large city on the eastern edge of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, situated just above the confluence of the Schuylkill River and the Delaware River. It is the most populous city in the state, and sixth most populous city in the U.S. and is often referred to as Philly or The City of Brotherly Love per the Greek words philos (love) and adelphos (brother).

Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn. Before the European settlers, an Indian tribe, the Lenape, had a village called Shackamaxon. Philadelphia was the capital of the United States of America from 1790-1800.

Philadelphia is home to one of the twelve district Federal Reserve System banks.

Geography

The original city of Philadelphia--now the referred to as the Center City neighborhood--was laid out on a grid, bounded by the Delaware River to the east, the Schuylkill River to the west, South Street to the south, and Vine Street to the north. There are six counties surrounding the Philadelphia county. They are Montgomery County to the north, Bucks County to the northeast, Burlington County in New Jersey to the east, Camden County in New Jersey to the southeast, Gloucester County also in New Jersey to the south and Delaware County to the west.

Education

Philadelphia is home to many world class institutions of higher education. They include:

• Drexel University
• La Salle University
• St. Joseph's University
• Temple University
• University of Pennsylvania
• Haverford College
• Bryn Mawr College
• Villanova University
• Swarthmore College
• Moore College of Art and Design

Museum District

The museum district, also called the cultural district, runs along Benjamin Franklin Parkway from the art museum (western end) to Logan Square (eastern end). It includes the following:

• the Philadelphia Museum of Art
• the Franklin Institute
• the Barnes Foundation
• the Moore College of Art and Design
• the Academy of Natural Sciences
• the Rodin Museum
• the Parkway Central Library (the main site for the Free Library of Philadelphia).

Sports

Philadelphia has several major sports teams:

• 76ers (Basketball)
• Eagles (Football)
• Flyers (Hockey)
• Philadelphia_Phillies (Baseball)
• Union (Soccer)

Public Transportation

Philadelphia's public transportation is provided by SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transport Authority). Septa operates regional rails, subways, trolleys, buses and light rails. The city has an Amtrak stop a 30th Street Station, which is adjacent to Center City. 30th Stree Station, Philadelphia, is the Amtrak junction for Amtrak trains running up and down the eastern seacoast to meet Amtrak trains heading due west towards Harrisburg, PA.

Bridges

Situated as it is along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, and with several other significant creeks running through it, it is not surprising that city has a lot of bridges.

Philadelphia is home to the oldest road bridge in the United States, the Frankford Avenue Bridge, which is a three-span stone arch built to span Pennypack Creek. It was built in 1697 to connect William Penn's house with the city of Philadelphia, which had been founded a mere 15 years previous. It is still standing, although it has been altered several times since. It is still part of U.S. Route 13. Another bridge of significant age in the city is Fisher's Lane Bridge, a stone arch bridge over Tacony Creek on Fisher's Lane, now located in Tacony Creek Park, which dates to 1796.

Among those bridges that cross the Delaware or Schuylkill, historically significant ones include Strawberry Mansion Bridge, a steel arch bridge over the Schuylkill on Strawberry Mansion that dates to 1897. The Walt Whitman bridge crosses the Delaware River in South Philadelphia and was built in the 1950's.

There are many bridges of historic interest that span Wissahickon Creek in Fairmount Park. These include, from north to south:

• Bells Mill Bridge, a road bridge that carries Bells Mill Road over Wissahickon Creek
• Thomas Mill Covered Bridge, the only covered bridge remaining in Philadelphia. It was built in 1855 and is now open to pedestrians only.
• Valley Green Bridge, a stone arch bridge dating from 1832.
• Walnut Lane Bridge, built in 1908 and at the time of its construction the largest concrete arch bridge in the world.
• Blue Stone Bridge, which carries Forbidden Drive over Wissahickon Creek, is a small stone bridge built in 1893.
• Wissahickon Memorial Bridge, also known as the Henry Avenue Bridge, is a bridge of similar design to Walnut Lane Bridge that dates from 1931

Another significant bridge in the area is Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge (sometimes referred to as Walnut Lane Bridge, although the builder's plate reads "Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge"), less than a mile east of Walnut Lane Bridge, carries Walnut Lane over Lincoln Drive. Completed in 1950, it was the first pre-stressed concrete girder bridge in the United States.