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Portal:Philadelphia/Selected article archive

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Old Philadelphia Portal selected article archive

Selected article archive

Selected article archive

These articles about Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are either featured articles and featured lists or Good articles.




Portal:Philadelphia/Selected article archive/1
Comcast Center
Comcast Center
Comcast Center is a skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia. The 58-story, 975 feet (297 m) tower is the second-tallest building in Philadelphia after the Comcast Technology Center. Originally called One Pennsylvania Plaza when first announced in 2001, the Comcast Center underwent two redesigns before construction began in 2005. Designed by architect Robert A. M. Stern for Liberty Property Trust, the Comcast Center was delayed as the developers tried to get the site designated a Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone. The designation would exempt tenants from most taxes for fifteen years as a way to encourage development in disadvantaged areas. Giving the Comcast Center the designation was supported by many state and city officials who hoped to keep corporations within Philadelphia, but was strongly opposed by other building owners who felt the building would have an unfair advantage in attracting tenants. Even though the bill was not approved in the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2004, Liberty Property Trust went forward with construction. At the beginning of 2005, the final redesign and its new name the Comcast Center was unveiled. The building is named after its lead tenant, cable company Comcast, which makes the skyscraper its corporate headquarters. Leasing 1,094,212 square feet (100,000 m2), Comcast occupies 89 percent of the building. The building features retail and restaurant space and a connection to the nearby Suburban Station. In the lobby is the Comcast Experience, which is a 2,000 square feet (190 m2) high-definition LED screen that has become a tourist attraction. Designed to be environmentally friendly, the skyscraper is the tallest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building in the United States.



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The Inquirer Building on North Broad Street.
The Inquirer Building on North Broad Street.
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The newspaper, founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer, is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States. Owned by the local group Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, The Inquirer has the nineteenth-largest average weekday U.S. newspaper circulation and has won eighteen Pulitzer Prizes. The paper has risen and fallen in prominence throughout its history. The Inquirer first became a major newspaper during the American Civil War when its war coverage was popular on both sides. The paper's circulation dropped after the war, then rose again by the end of the century. Originally supportive of the Democratic Party, The Inquirer's political affiliation eventually shifted towards the Whig Party and then the Republican Party, before officially becoming politically independent in the middle of the 20th century. By the end of the 1960s, The Inquirer trailed its chief competitor, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, and lacked modern facilities and experienced staff. In the 1970s, new owners and editors turned the newspaper into one of the country's most prominent, winning 17 Pulitzers in 15 years. Its prestige has since waned because of cost-cutting and a shift of focus to more local coverage.



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Liberty Bell with Independence Hall beyond window across Chestnut St.
Liberty Bell with Independence Hall beyond window across Chestnut St.
The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American independence. Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence Hall), the bell today is located in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park. The bell was commissioned in 1752 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from the London firm of Lester and Pack (known subsequently as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry), and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof," a Biblical reference from the Book of Leviticus (25:10). The bell first cracked when rung after its arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose last names appear on the bell. In its early years the bell was used to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens about public meetings and proclamations. Many bells—most likely including the Liberty Bell—were rung on July 8, 1776 in Philadelphia to announce the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, four days after its signing. In the 1830s, the bell was adopted as a symbol by abolitionist societies, who were the first to call it the Liberty Bell. The bell acquired its distinctive large crack in the early 19th century. A widespread story claims it cracked while ringing after the death of Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835. Beginning in 1885, the City of Philadelphia sent it to various expositions and patriotic gatherings. The bell attracted huge crowds wherever it went, additional cracking occurred and pieces were chipped away by souvenir hunters. The last journey occurred in 1915, after which all requests were refused. The city allowed the National Park Service to take custody of the bell after World War II, with the city retaining ownership. In 1976, the bell was moved from its longtime home in Independence Hall to a glass pavilion across the street on Independence Mall, and then to the larger Liberty Bell Center in 2003. The bell has a circumference of 12 ft (3.7 m), a diameter of 3.82 ft (1.16 m), and a mass of 2,080 lb (940 kg).



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Schuylkill Expressway, approaching the South Street exit.
Schuylkill Expressway, approaching the South Street exit.
The Schuylkill Expressway is a freeway through southeastern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, and the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 in the state of Pennsylvania. It extends from the Valley Forge exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in King of Prussia, paralleling its namesake Schuylkill River for most of the route, to the Walt Whitman Bridge in South Philadelphia. It serves as the primary corridor into Philadelphia from points west. Constructed over a period of ten years from 1949 to 1959, a large portion of the expressway predates the 1956 introduction of Interstate Highway System; many of these portions were not built to contemporary standards. The rugged terrain and limited riverfront space covered by the route has largely stymied later attempts to upgrade or widen the highway, despite the road being highly over-capacity; it has become notorious for its chronic congestion. The Schuylkill Expressway is the busiest road in Philadelphia, as well as in the entire state of Pennsylvania.



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I-95 southwest of Philadelphia.
I-95 southwest of Philadelphia.
Interstate 95 in the state of Pennsylvania, officially known as the Delaware Expressway and locally known as "95," runs for 51 miles from the Delaware state line near Marcus Hook to the New Jersey state line crossing the Delaware River near Yardley. It parallels its namesake Delaware River for its entire route through the city of Philadelphia and its suburbs. It is a major route through the city and the metropolitan Delaware Valley, providing access to locally important landmarks such as Philadelphia International Airport, the Philadelphia Sports Complex, Penn's Landing, and Franklin Mills. The road is among the busiest in the commonwealth, second only to the Schuylkill Expressway. An estimated 169,000 motorists utilize the road daily.



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Independence Hall in 1855.
Independence Hall in 1855.
The history of Philadelphia goes back to its founding in 1682 by William Penn. The area had earlier been inhabited by the Lenape (Delaware) Indians and European settlers who first arrived in the area in the early 1600s. Philadelphia quickly grew into an important colonial city and during the American Revolution was the site of the First and Second Continental Congresses. After the Revolution the city served as the temporary capital of the United States. At the beginning of the 19th century, the federal and state governments left Philadelphia, but the city was still the cultural and financial center of the country. Philadelphia became one of the first industrial centers in the United States, and the city contained a variety of industries, the largest being textiles. After the American Civil War, Philadelphia's government was controlled by an increasingly corrupt Republican political machine and by the beginning of the 20th century the city was described as "corrupt and contented." Various reform efforts slowly changed city government with the most significant in 1950 when a new city charter strengthened the position of mayor and weakened the Philadelphia City Council. At the same time Philadelphia moved its support from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, which has since created a strong organization. The city's population began to decline in the 1950s as mostly white and middle-class families left for the suburbs. Many of Philadelphia's houses were in poor condition and lacked proper facilities, and gang and mafia warfare plagued the city. Revitalization and gentrification of certain neighborhoods started bringing people back to the city. Promotions and incentives in the 1990s and the early 21st century have improved the city's image and created a condominium boom in Center City and the surrounding areas that has slowed the population decline.



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Philadelphia skyline with the five tallest buildings being (left-to-right) Comcast Technology Center, Comcast Center, BNY Mellon Center, One Liberty Place and Two Liberty Place
Philadelphia skyline with the five tallest buildings being (left-to-right) Comcast Technology Center, Comcast Center, BNY Mellon Center, One Liberty Place and Two Liberty Place

At the top of the list of tallest buildings in Philadelphia is the 60-story Comcast Technology Center, which topped out at 1,121 feet (342 m) in Center City on November 27, 2017 and was completed in 2018. Comcast Technology Center is the tallest building outside lower Manhattan and Chicago, and is the tenth-tallest building in the United States, as of 2019. Philadelphia is home to more than 300 completed high-rise buildings up to 330 feet (100 m), and 56 completed skyscrapers of 330 feet (100 m) or taller, of which 31 are 400 feet (122 m) or taller.

The second-tallest building in Philadelphia is the 58-story Comcast Center at 974 feet (297 m), while the third-tallest building is One Liberty Place, which rises 61 floors and 945 feet (288 m). One Liberty Place stood as the tallest building in Pennsylvania for over 20 years until the completion of Comcast Center in 2008. Overall, seven of the ten tallest buildings in Pennsylvania are in Philadelphia, with the remainder being in Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is one of only five American cities with two or more completed buildings over 900 feet (270 m) tall, the others being New York City, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles.

Philadelphia's history of tall buildings is generally thought to have begun with the 1754 addition of the steeple to Christ Church, which was one of America's first high-rise structures. Through most of the 20th century, a "gentlemen's agreement" prevented buildings from rising higher than the 548-ft (167-m) Philadelphia City Hall. The completion of One Liberty Place in 1987 broke the agreement, and Philadelphia has since seen the construction of ten skyscrapers that eclipse City Hall in height.

Philadelphia has twice held the tallest habitable building in North America, first with Christ Church, then with City Hall. The latter reigned as the world's tallest building from 1894 to 1908, and is currently the world's second-tallest masonry building, only 1.6 feet (0.49 m) shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin. Like other large American cities, Philadelphia went through a massive building boom in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in the completion of 20 skyscrapers of 330 feet (100 m) or taller.



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The Blue Route north of US 1.
The Blue Route north of US 1.
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.



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Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by [Howard Chandler Christy.
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by [Howard Chandler Christy.
The Philadelphia Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, to address problems in the United States of America following independence from Great Britain. At what came to be known as the Annapolis Convention, the few state delegates in attendance endorsed a motion that called for all states to meet in Philadelphia in May, 1787 to discuss ways to improve the Articles of Confederation in a "Grand Convention." Although it was purportedly intended only to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention of many of the Convention's proponents, chief among them James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, were from the outset to create a new government rather than "fix" the existing one. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the convention. The result of the Convention was the United States Constitution. The Convention is one of the central events in the history of the United States.



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The iconic Liberty Bell at Citizens Bank Park.
The iconic Liberty Bell at Citizens Bank Park.
The list of Philadelphia Phillies seasons documents the season-by-season records of the Phillies' franchise including their years as the "Quakers" and the years where they shared the names "Quakers" and "Phillies." The team was formed in the National League after the dissolution of the Worcester Ruby Legs in 1883, though there is no additional connection between the teams. At times, the Phillies' search for success has been seen as an exercise in futility, because of their long stretches of losing seasons, including an MLB-record sixteen straight from 1933 to 1948. However, the Phillies do own five National League pennants, won in 1915, 1950, 1980, 1983, and 1993, as well as two World Series championships - in 1980 over the Kansas City Royals and in 2008 over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Phillies also enjoyed an extended period of success in their history from 1975 to 1983, when they won five East Division championships as well as the first-half championship in the strike-shortened 1981 season. The team is currently having a period of extended success as well. They have finished with a winning percentage over .500 in all but one year since 2000; however, this winning has not translated to playoff success, as the team had been consistently left out until their division championship in 2007. Over their 124 completed seasons (through 2007), they have played 18,881 games, winning 8,853 and losing 10,028, for a winning percentage of .469. The Phillies are also a combined total of 22–38 (.367) in post-season play.



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Rohm and Haas Corporate Headquarters in 2007
Rohm and Haas Corporate Headquarters in 2007
The Rohm and Haas Corporate Headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the headquarters for the chemical manufacturing company Rohm and Haas. Completed in 1964, the building was the first private investment for the urban renewal of the Independence Mall area. Only two blocks from Independence Hall, the building, designed by Pietro Belluschi and George M. Ewing Co., was lauded for its respect to the nearby park and historical buildings. Philadelphia's city planners praised the building as a standard for all redevelopment buildings. The nine-story edifice's most notable feature is its facade of translucent, corrugated sunscreens; held in place by aluminum lattices, the sunscreens are made of Rohm and Haas's principal product, Plexiglas. In 2007 the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is today considered one of the best examples of the International style.



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Eagles 1999 1st round draft pick Donovan McNabb.
Eagles 1999 1st round draft pick Donovan McNabb.
The list of Philadelphia Eagles first-round draft picks began three years after the professional American football team based in Philadelphia joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1933 as a replacement team for the defunct Frankford Yellow Jackets. After the AFL–NFL merger, the Eagles were moved to the current NFC East division. Every April, each NFL franchise adds new players to its roster through a collegiate draft held at the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", more commonly known as the NFL draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on their previous season's records, with the worst record picking first, the second-worst picking second, and so on. Two exceptions to this order are made for teams that played in the previous Super Bowl: the Super Bowl champion picks last, and the Super Bowl loser picks next to last. Teams often trade their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or combinations thereof; thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual pick to differ from its assigned pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round. The Eagles' first selection as an NFL team was running back Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago. The Eagles have selected number one overall three times: Berwanger in 1936, Sam Francis in 1937, and Chuck Bednarik in 1949, as well as second overall five times, and third overall three times. Three eventual Hall of Famers have been drafted by the Eagles: Steve Van Buren, Bednarik, and Bob Brown. The team's most recent first-round choice was Brodrick Bunkley, a defensive tackle from Florida State University.



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Earle Mack School of Law.
Earle Mack School of Law.
The Earle Mack School of Law is the law school of Philadelphia's Drexel University. The school, which opened in Fall 2006, was the first new law school in the area in over thirty years, and is the newest school within Drexel. Serving both undergraduate and graduate students, the school offers Juris Doctor degrees and requires all students to take part in their cooperative education program. The 65,000-square-foot (6,000 m2) complex features a moot courtroom, a two-floor library, a two-story atrium for meetings and casual conversation, faculty/staff offices, and several rooms for students to meet and work; the building also shares the campus-wide wireless Internet access. The permanent location for the law school, on the corner of 33rd and Chestnut Streets, is projected to be completed and open in 2012. The inaugural class of the Earle Mack School of Law began classes on August 16, 2006.



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Exterior of Congress Hall.
Exterior of Congress Hall.

Congress Hall, located at the intersection of Chestnut and 6th Streets, served as the seat of the United States Congress from December 6, 1790 to May 14, 1800. During Congress Hall's duration as the capitol of the United States, the country admitted three new states, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee; ratified the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution; and oversaw the Presidential inaugurations of both George Washington (his second) and John Adams.

Congress Hall was restored in the 20th century to its original appearance in 1796. The building is now managed by the National Park Service within the Independence National Historical Park and is open for public tours. Congress Hall is conjoined with Independence Hall, which is adjacent to the east.



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Hugh Duffy, manager, 1904–1906.
Hugh Duffy, manager, 1904–1906.
The Philadelphia Phillies has employed 51 managers and 10 general managers (GMs). Duties of the manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field. Of those 51 managers, 15 have been "player-managers", who managed the team while still being signed as a player. In contrast, the general manager controls player transactions, hires and fires coaching staff, and negotiates players' contracts. The Phillies posted their franchise record for losses in a season during their record-setting streak of sixteen consecutive losing seasons (with a winning percentage below .500), with 111 losses in 154 games in 1941. During this stretch from 1933 to 1948, the team had seven different managers, all of whom posted winning percentages below .430 for their Phillies careers. Seven managers have taken the Phillies to the postseason, with Danny Ozark leading the team to three playoff appearances. Dallas Green and Charlie Manuel are the only Phillies managers to win a World Series: Green in 1980 against the Kansas City Royals; and Manuel in 2008 against the Tampa Bay Rays. The longest-tenured GM has been Paul Owens, with 11 years' service, from 1972 to 1983. Owens also served as the team manager in 1972, and from 1983 to 1984. After this, he served as a team executive until 2003, and was inducted into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame in recognition of his services.



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Andy Reid is the current head coach of the Eagles after being hired in 1999.
Andy Reid is the current head coach of the Eagles after being hired in 1999.
There have been twenty head coaches of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Eagles joined the National Football League (NFL) as an expansion team in 1933 Currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC), the team has won three NFL titles and made two Super Bowl appearances (1980 and 2004). There have been 20 head coaches of the Philadelphia Eagles in the National Football League (NFL). Two different coaches have won NFL championships with the team: Earl Neale in 1948 and 1949, and Buck Shaw in 1960. Andy Reid is the all-time leader in games coached, wins, and in winning percentage with .611 (with at least one full season coached). Bert Bell is statistically the worst coach the Eagles have had in terms of winning percentage, with .185 win/loss percentage. Of the 20 Eagles coaches, three have been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Bell, Neale, and Wayne Millner. Several former National Football League (NFL) players have been head coach for the Eagles, including Jerry Williams, Ed Khayat, and Marion Campbell. The current coach is Andy Reid, who was hired on January 11, 1999.



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Independence Hall in the 1770s.
Independence Hall in the 1770s.
The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 (also known as the Philadelphia Mutiny) was an anti-government protest by nearly 400 soldiers of the Pennsylvania Militia in June 1783. The militiamen, veterans of the Revolutionary War, surrounded Independence Hall demanding that the state legislature, meeting on the second floor, pay them their long-overdue wages. The United States Congress, meeting on the first floor, felt threatened and demanded that John Dickinson, President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, remove the soldiers by force, which he refused to do. The noisy protest resulted in Congress vacating Philadelphia (for Princeton, New Jersey), and illustrated the need for the national capital to be in a district under federal control.



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Rocky is a 1976 film written by and starring Sylvester Stallone and directed by John G. Avildsen. It tells the rags-to-riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but good-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in Philadelphia. Balboa is also a club fighter who gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship when the scheduled contender breaks his hand. Also starring are Talia Shire as Adrian, Burt Young as Adrian's brother Paulie, Burgess Meredith as Rocky's trainer Mickey Goldmill, and Carl Weathers as champion Apollo Creed. The film, made for only US$1.2 million and shot in just 28 days, was a sleeper hit; it made over US$117.2 million, won three Oscars, including Best Picture, to good reviews, and launched Stallone's career into the stratosphere. The film spawned five sequels, Rocky II, III, IV, V, and Rocky Balboa.



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The July 7, 1844 riot in Southwark.
The July 7, 1844 riot in Southwark.
The Philadelphia Nativist Riots were a series of riots that took place between May 6 and 8 and July 6 and 7, 1844 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and the adjacent districts of Kensington and Southwark. The riots were a result of rising anti-Catholic sentiment at the growing population of Irish Catholic immigrants. In the months prior to the riots, nativist groups had been spreading a rumor that Catholics were trying to remove the Bible from public schools. A nativist rally in Kensington erupted in violence on May 6 and started a deadly riot that would result in destruction of two Catholic churches and numerous other buildings. Riots erupted again in July after it was discovered that St. Philip Neri's Catholic Church in Southwark had armed itself for protection. Fierce fighting broke out between the nativists and the soldiers sent to protect the church, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. Grand juries investigating the riots found that fault lay mainly with the Irish Catholic population. However, nationally the riots helped fuel criticism of the nativist movement despite denials from nativist groups of responsibility. The riots made the deficiencies in law enforcement in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts readily apparent, influencing various reforms in local police departments and the eventual consolidation of the city in 1854.



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Cottman (PA-73) and Frankford Avenues, a central location in Northeast Philadelphia.
Cottman (PA-73) and Frankford Avenues, a central location in Northeast Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania Route 73 (PA 73) is a 62.51 miles (100.60 km) long east-west state highway in southeastern Pennsylvania. It runs from Pennsylvania Route 61 in Leesport to the New Jersey state line on the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge in Philadelphia, where it continues as New Jersey Route 73. Predating the Interstate and U.S. Highway Systems, the Skippack Pike, a modern section of the route, served as the primary connector between Philadelphia and the northwest suburbs.