History of Philadelphia

The city of Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn in the English Crown Province of Pennsylvania between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. Before then, the area was inhabited by the Lenape people. 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 was chosen to be the temporary capital of the United States. At the beginning of the 19th century, the federal and state governments left Philadelphia, but the city remained the cultural and financial center of the country. Philadelphia became one of the first U.S. industrial centers and the city contained a variety of industries, the largest being textiles.

After the American Civil War Philadelphia's government was controlled by a Republican political machine and by the beginning of the 20th century Philadelphia was described as "corrupt and contented." Various reform efforts slowly changed city government with the most significant in 1950 where a new city charter strengthened the position of mayor and weakened the Philadelphia City Council. At the same time Philadelphia moved its supports from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, which has since created a strong Democratic organization.

The city began a population 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

and the surrounding areas that has slowed the population decline.

History

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Pre-settlement

Before Philadelphia was colonized by Europeans, the area was inhabited by the Lenape (Delaware) Indians. The Delaware River Valley was called the Zuyd, meaning "South" River, or Lënapei Sipu.

Located north of what will eventually become the

The first exploration of the area by Europeans was in 1609, when a Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson entered the Delaware River valley in search of the Northwest Passage. The Valley, including the future location of Philadelphia, became part of the New Netherland claim of the Dutch Republic. Around 1630s, to control the Great Minquas Path, a fur trade route to the Susquehannock which passed through Philadelphia region, the Dutch authority of New Netherland built a palisaded factorij located near the confluence of the Schuylkill River and the Delaware River, named Fort Beversreede.^[3]

In 1637, Swedish, Dutch, and German stockholders formed the New Sweden Company to trade for furs and tobacco in North America. Under the command of

The first English settlement occurred about 1642, when 50 Puritan families from the New Haven Colony in Connecticut, led by George Lamberton, tried to establish a theocracy at the mouth of the Schuylkill River. The New Haven Colony had earlier struck a deal with the Lenape to buy much of the Province of New Jersey south of present-day Trenton.^[5] The Dutch and Swedes in the area burned the English colonists' buildings. A Swedish court under Swedish Governor Johan Björnsson Printz convicted Lamberton of "trespassing, conspiring with the Indians."^[6] The offshoot New Haven colony received no support. The Puritan Governor John Winthrop said it was dissolved owing to summer "sickness and mortality."^[7] The disaster contributed to New Haven's losing control of its area to the larger Connecticut Colony.^{[citation needed]}

Johan Björnsson Printz was appointed to be the first royal governor of New Sweden, arriving in the colony on February 15, 1643. Under his ten-year rule, the administrative center of New Sweden was moved north to Tinicum Island, to the immediate southwest of present-day Philadelphia, where he built an outpost called Fort New Gothenburg and his own manor house which he called the Printzhof.^[8]

In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannock in their successful conflict with Maryland colonists led by General Harrison II. With the alliance with Susquehannock, the Swedes further strengthened their claims for land at the mouth of the Schuylkill River. In 1648, New Sweden built a stockaded 30-by-20-foot blockhouse directly in front of the Dutch Fort Beversreede, called Fort Nya Korsholm or Fort New Korsholm. The Swedish building was said to be only twelve feet from the gate of the Dutch fort and was meant to intimidate the Dutch residents and intercept trade.^[9][10] As a result, the Dutch abandoned Fort Beversreede in 1651 and dismantled and relocated the nearby Fort Nassau to the Christina River, downstream from the Swedes' Fort Christina. The Dutch consolidated their forces at the rebuilt fort, renamed Fort Casimir.^[11]

The Dutch never recognized the legitimacy of the Swedish claim and, in the late summer of 1655, Director-General

The Swedish immigration and expansion continued in the Philadelphia region. In 1669, one of the founders of the New Sweden, Sven Gunnarsson, moved into the region and settled at a place called Wicaco, a former native settlement located on today's Society Hill and Queens Village in present-day South Philadelphia, beginning with a log blockhouse. The Swedish congregation on Tinicum Island moved to Wicaco in 1677, and repurposed the blockhouse as their church, five years before the founding of the city of Philadelphia. Sven Gunnarsson died in 1678 and was one of the first buried at the church.^[13] The church and the cemetery eventually became the Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church of Philadelphia, the oldest church in Pennsylvania.^[14]

Penn envisioned a city where all people regardless of religion could worship freely and live together. Being a

Some of the first settlers lived in caves dug out of the river bank, but the city grew with construction of homes, churches, and wharves. The new landowners did not share Penn's vision of a non-congested city. Most people bought land along the Delaware River instead of spreading westward towards the Schuylkill. The lots they bought were subdivided and resold with smaller streets constructed between them. Before 1704, few settlers lived west of Fourth Street.[19]

Philadelphia grew from a few hundred European inhabitants in 1683 to over 2,500 in 1701. The population was mostly English, Welsh, Irish, Germans, Swedes, Finns, and Dutch. Before William Penn left Philadelphia for the last time on October 25, 1701, he issued the Charter of 1701.^[20] The charter established Philadelphia as a city and gave the mayor, aldermen, and councilmen the authority to issue laws and ordinances and regulate markets and fairs.^[21] The first known Jewish resident of Philadelphia was Jonas Aaron, a German who moved to the city in 1703. He is mentioned in an article entitled "A Philadelphia Business Directory of 1703," by Charles H. Browning. It was published in The American Historical Register, in April, 1895.^[22][23]

In 1681, King

In the first half of the 18th century, Philadelphia – like other American cities – was generally dirty, with garbage and animals littering the streets. The roads were unpaved and in rainy seasons impassable. Early attempts to improve quality of life were ineffective as laws were poorly enforced.[33] By the 1750s, Philadelphia was turning into a major city. Christ Church and the Pennsylvania State House, better known as Independence Hall, were built. Streets were paved and illuminated with oil lamps.^[34] Philadelphia's first newspaper, Andrew Bradford's American Weekly Mercury, began publishing on December 22, 1719.^[35]

The city also developed culturally and scientifically. Schools, libraries and theaters were founded.

When the French and Indian War began in 1754 as part of the Seven Years' War, Franklin recruited militias. During the war, the city attracted many refugees from the western frontier. When Pontiac's Rebellion occurred in 1763, refugees again fled into the city, including a group of Lenape hiding from other Native Americans, angry at their pacifism, and white frontiersmen. The Paxton Boys tried to follow them into Philadelphia for attacks, but was prevented by the city's militia and Franklin, who convinced them to leave.^[38]

American Revolution

In the 1760s, the British Parliament's passage of the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts, combined with other frustrations, increased political tension and anger against Britain in the colonies. Philadelphia residents joined boycotts of British goods. After the Tea Act in 1773, there were threats against anyone who would store tea and any ships that brought tea up the Delaware. After the Boston Tea Party, a shipment of tea had arrived in December, on the ship the Polly. A committee told the captain to depart without unloading his cargo.^[39]

A series of acts in 1774 further angered the colonies; activists called for a general congress and they agreed to meet in Philadelphia. The First Continental Congress was held in September in Carpenters' Hall. During the American Revolutionary War, Philadelphia was the site of the First and Second Continental Congresses.

American Revolutionary War

After the American Revolutionary War began in April 1775 following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress met in May at the Pennsylvania State House. There, they also met a year later to write and sign the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. Philadelphia was important to the war effort; Robert Morris said,

You will consider Philadelphia, from its centrical situation, the extent of its commerce, the number of its artificers, manufactures and other circumstances, to be to the United States what the heart is to the human body in circulating the blood.^[40]

After Washington's defeat at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia was defenseless, and the city prepared for what was seen as an inevitable British Army attack. Because bells could easily be recast into munitions, one of those preparations was hastily removing the Liberty Bell and other Philadelphia bells and sending them by heavily guarded wagon train to the Zion German Reformed Church in Northampton Town in present-day Allentown, where it was hidden under the church floor boards during the British occupation of Philadelphia.^[41] The Liberty Bell remained hidden in Allentown from September 1777 until its return to Philadelphia in June 1778, following the British retreat from Philadelphia on June 18, 1778.^[42]

After the Revolution's conclusion in 1783, Philadelphia was chosen to be the temporary capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800, and the city continued for some years to be the country's cultural and financial center. Its large free black community aided fugitive slaves and founded the first independent black denomination in the nation, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The port city was vulnerable to capture by the British by sea. Officials recruited soldiers and studied defenses for invasion from

Following Washington's defeat at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, thousands of Philadelphians fled north within Pennsylvania and east into New Jersey. Congress moved to Lancaster and then to York. Fearing the British Army would seize the Liberty Bell and other large Philadelphia bells, which could easily be recast into munitions, the Liberty Bell was hastily transported north, where it was hidden beneath the floor boards of the Zion German Reformed Church in Northampton Town , in present-day Allentown, Pennsylvania.^[41]

On September 23, 1777, as expected, British troops marched into a half-empty Philadelphia and were met by cheering Loyalist crowds.^[44] The British occupation of the colonial capital would last ten months. After the French entered the War on the side of the Continentals, the last British troops pulled out of Philadelphia on June 18, 1778, to help defend New York City and the Continentals arrived the same day and reclaimed Philadelphia, placing Major General Benedict Arnold in charge as the city's military commander. The city government returned a week later, and the Continental Congress returned in early July. The Liberty Bell, which had been hidden in an Allentown church since September 1777, was returned to Philadelphia following the British retreat from Philadelphia on June 18, 1778.

At the end of the American Revolutionary War, many Patriot soldiers had not been paid their wages for their service during the war. Congress refused the soldiers' request for payment of their salaries. In what is known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, hundreds of Patriot veterans of the war who were owed back pay marched with their weapons on the Pennsylvania statehouse in Philadelphia. Congress, lacking in funds, fled from Philadelphia to Princeton, New Jersey. With their departure and the departure of their families and staffs, Philadelphia was left all but deserted.^[45]

As a result of the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Congress fled Philadelphia, eventually settling in New York City, designated as the temporary capital. Besides the

Pennsylvania, which had abolished slavery in 1780, required any slaves brought to the city to be freed after six months' residency. The state law was challenged by French planters from Saint-Domingue, who brought their enslaved peoples with them, but defended by the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. Through 1796, 500 slaves from Saint-Domingue gained freedom in the city. Because of the violence accompanying the revolution on the island, Philadelphians, many of whom had southern ties, and residents of the Upper South worried that free people of color would encourage slave insurrections in the U.S.^[50]

Historian Gary B. Nash emphasizes the role of the working class, and their distrust of their betters, in northern ports. He argues that working class artisans and skilled craftsmen made up a radical element in Philadelphia that took control of the city starting about 1770 and promoted a radical Democratic form of government during the revolution. They held power for a while, and used their control of the local militia to disseminate their ideology to the working class and to stay in power until the businessmen staged a conservative counterrevolution.^[51] Philadelphia suffered serious inflation, causing problems especially for the poor, who were unable to buy needed goods. This led to unrest in 1779, with people blaming the upper class and Loyalists. A riot in January by sailors striking for higher wages ended up with their attacking and dismantling ships. In the Fort Wilson Riot of October 4, men attacked James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who was accused of being a Loyalist sympathizer. Soldiers broke up the riot, but five people died and 17 were injured.^[52]

However, Philadelphia was selected as the temporary United States capital for ten years starting in 1790. The United States Congress, founded in March 1789, occupied the Philadelphia County Courthouse, which became known as Congress Hall, and the Supreme Court worked at City Hall. Robert Morris donated his home at 6th and Market Street as a residence for President Washington, known as the President's House.^[53]

During the city's 10 years as federal capital, members of Congress were exempt from the abolition law, but the many slaveholders in the executive and judicial branches were not. President Washington, Vice-president Jefferson and others brought slaves as domestic servants, and evaded the law by regularly shifting their slaves out of the city before the 6-month deadline. Two of Washington's slaves escaped from the

The Pennsylvania state government left Philadelphia in 1799 and the United States government left in 1800. By this time, the city had become one of the United States' busiest ports and the country's largest city, with 67,787 people living in Philadelphia and its contiguous suburbs.[55] Philadelphia's maritime trade was interrupted by the Embargo Act of 1807 and then the War of 1812. After the war, Philadelphia's shipping industry never returned to its pre-embargo status, and New York City succeeded it as the busiest port and largest city.^[56]

19th century

In the mid and late 1850s, immigrants from Ireland and Germany streamed into the city, swelling the population of Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Violence was a serious problem; gangs like the Moyamensing Killers and the Blood Tubs controlled various neighborhoods. During the 1840s and early 1850s when volunteer fire companies, some of which were infiltrated by gangs, responded to a fire, fights with other fire companies often broke out. The lawlessness among fire companies virtually ended in 1853 and 1854 when the city took more control over their operations.^[59] During the 1840s and 50s violence was directed against immigrants by people who feared their competition for jobs and resented newcomers of different religions and ethnicity. Nativists often held mostly anti-Catholic, anti-Irish meetings. Violence against immigrants also occurred, the worst being the nativist riots in 1844. Violence against African Americans was also common during the 1830s, 40s, and 50s. Immigrants competed with them for jobs, and deadly race riots resulted in the burning of African-American homes and churches. In 1841, Joseph Sturge commented "...there is probably no city in the known world where dislike, amounting to the hatred of the coloured population, prevails more than in the city of brotherly love!"^[60] Several anti-slavery societies had been formed and free blacks, Quakers and other abolitionists operated safe houses associated with the Underground Railroad, but working class and ethnic whites opposed the abolitionist movement.

The lawlessness and the difficulty in controlling it, along with residential development just north of Philadelphia, led to the Act of Consolidation in 1854. The act passed on February 2, making Philadelphia's borders coterminous with Philadelphia County, and incorporating various subdistrict within the county.^[61]

American Civil War

Once the American Civil War began in 1861, Philadelphia's pro-southern leanings were reduced. Popular hostility shifted against southern sympathizers. Mobs threatened a secessionist newspaper and the homes of suspected sympathizers, and were only turned away by the police and Mayor Alexander Henry.^[62] Philadelphia supported the war with soldiers, ammunition, and war ships and its manufacturers produced many army uniforms. Philadelphia was also a major receiving place of the wounded, with more than 157,000 soldiers and sailors treated within the city. Philadelphia began preparing for invasion in 1863, but the Confederate Army was repelled by Union forces at Gettysburg.^[63]

In the years following the American Civil War, Philadelphia's population continued to grow. The population grew from 565,529 in 1860 to 674,022 in 1870. By 1876, the city's population stood at 817,000. The dense population areas were not only growing north and south along the Delaware River, but also moving westward across the Schuylkill River.^[64] A large portion of the growth came from immigrants, still mostly Irish and German. In 1870, twenty-seven percent of Philadelphia's population was born outside the United States.

By the 1880s, immigration from Russia,

Philadelphia's major industries of the era were the Baldwin Locomotive Works, William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Westward expansion of the Pennsylvania Railroad helped Philadelphia keep up with nearby New York City in domestic commerce, as both cities fought for dominance in transporting iron and coal resources from Pennsylvania. Philadelphia's other local railroad was the Reading Railroad, but after a series of bankruptcies, it was taken over by New Yorkers. The Panic of 1873, which occurred when the New York City branch of the Philadelphia bank Jay Cooke and Company failed, and another panic in the 1890s hampered Philadelphia's economic growth.^[72] While the depressions hurt the city, its diverse array of industries helped it weather difficult times. It had numerous iron and steel-related manufacturers, including Philadelphian-owned iron and steel works outside the city, most notably the Bethlehem Iron Company in the city by that name. The largest industry in Philadelphia was textiles. Philadelphia produced more textiles than any other U.S. city; in 1904 the textile industry employed more than 35 percent of the city's workers. The cigar, sugar, and oil industries also were strong in the city.^[73] During this time the major department stores: Wanamaker's, Gimbels, Strawbridge and Clothier, and Lit Brothers, were developed along Market Street.^[74]

By the end of the century, the city provided nine municipal swimming pools, making it a leader in the nation.^[75]

Philadelphia became one of the first U.S. industrial centers with a variety of industries, the largest being textiles. It had many economic and family ties to the South, with southern planters maintaining second homes in the city and having business connections with banks, sending their daughters to French finishing schools run by refugees from Saint-Domingue in Haiti, selling their cotton to textile manufacturers, which in turn sold some products to the South, for instance, clothing for slaves. At the beginning of the American Civil War, there were many southern sympathizers, although most city residents became firmly Union as the war went on.

After the American Civil War, city government was controlled by the Republican Party; it established a political machine that gained power through patronage. By the beginning of the 20th century, Philadelphia was described as "corrupt and contented." Various reform efforts slowly changed city government; in 1950, a new city charter strengthened the position of mayor and weakened the Philadelphia City Council. Beginning during the Great Depression, voters changed from traditional support for the Republican Party to increasing support for the Democratic Party of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has now been predominant in local politics for many decades.

The population grew dramatically at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, through immigration from

The embargo and decrease in foreign trade led to the development of local factories to produce goods no longer available as imports.

Along with an image of "dullness" and of poor governance practices, Philadelphia was known for its political corruption. The Republican-controlled political machine, run by

William, had created their own organization in South Philadelphia. With no central authority, Senator Boies Penrose took charge. In 1910, infighting between McNichol and the Vares contributed to the reform candidate, Rudolph Blankenburg, to be elected mayor. During his administration, he made numerous cost-cutting measures and improvements to city services, but he served only one term. The machine again gained control.^[86]

In 1910, a general strike occurred across the city, starting originally among streetcar workers it then spread to 65,000 - 70,000 workers shutting down the entire city.^[87]

The policies of

Brigadier General Smedley Butler of the U.S. Marine Corps as director of public safety. Butler cracked down on bars and speakeasies and tried to stop corruption within the police force, but demand for liquor and political pressure made the job difficult, and he had little success. After two years, Butler left in January 1926 and most of his police reforms were repealed. On August 1, 1928, Boss Vare suffered a stroke, and two weeks later a grand jury investigation into the city's mob violence and other crimes began. Numerous police officers were dismissed or arrested as a result of the investigation, but no permanent change resulted.^[89] Strong support among some residents for the Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith, who was Catholic, marked the city's turning away in the 20th century from the Republican Party.^[90]

Philadelphia continued to grow with immigrants coming from Eastern Europe and Italy and African American migrants from the South.

Hog Island, which constructed ships, trains, and other items needed in the war effort, helped attract blacks in the Great Migration. In September 1918, cases of the influenza pandemic were reported at the Naval Yard and began to spread. The disease became widespread following the Philadelphia Liberty Loans Parade, which was attended by more than 200,000 people. Mortality on some days was several hundred people and, by the time the pandemic began to subside in October, more than 12,000 people had died.^[92]

The rising popularity of automobiles led to widening of roads and creation of Northeast (Roosevelt) Boulevard in 1914, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1918, the changing of many existing streets to one-way streets in the early 1920s, and construction of the Delaware River (Benjamin Franklin) Bridge to New Jersey in 1926. Philadelphia began to modernize, steel and concrete skyscrapers were constructed, old buildings were wired for electricity, and the city's first commercial radio station was founded.^[93] In 1907, the city constructed the first subway. It hosted the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition in South Philadelphia, and in 1928 opened the Philadelphia Museum of Art.^[94][95]

In the three years after the

S. Davis Wilson instituted numerous programs financed by Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal's Works Progress Administration, despite condemning the program during his mayoral campaign. At the peak of WPA-financed jobs in 1936, 40,000 Philadelphians were employed under the program.^[97][98]

With encouragement from the state government and labor's founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), Philadelphia became a union city. Many trade unions discriminated against African Americans for years, and they were closed out of some labor advances. Workers' dissatisfaction with conditions led to numerous strikes in the textile unions, and the CIO organized labor in other industries, with more strikes taking place. During the 1930s, the Democratic Party began to grow in Philadelphia, influenced by the leadership of the Roosevelt administration during the Depression. A newly organized Independent Democratic Committee reached out to residents. In 1936, the Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia. The majority of voters in the city reelected the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt as president; they also voted for Democratic Congressmen and state representatives. City government continued to be dominated by Republicans, but the politicians were elected by small margins.^[99]

The beginning of World War II in Europe and the threat of the U.S. becoming involved generated new jobs in defense-related industries. After the U.S. became involved in the war in 1941, the city mobilized. Philadelphia consistently met war bond quotas and when the war ended in 1945, 183,850 residents were in the U.S. armed forces. With so many men serving in the military, there had been a labor shortage; businesses and industries hired women and workers from outside the city. In 1944, the Philadelphia Transportation Company promoted African Americans to positions as motormen and conductors (from which they had previously been excluded) on public transportation vehicles. Resentful, other PTC workers protested and began a strike that nearly immobilized the city. President Roosevelt sent troops to replace the striking workers. After a federal ultimatum, the workers returned after six days.^[100]

After World War II ended, Philadelphia had a serious housing shortage. Around half of the city's housing had been built in the 19th century, and many units lacked proper sanitary facilities, were overcrowded, and in poor condition. Competition for housing, as African Americans (many had come to the city in the Great Migration from the South) and Puerto Ricans moved into new neighborhoods, resulted in racial tension. The wealthier middle-class residents, often white, continued to move out to the suburbs in what became called white flight.

The population peaked at more than two million residents in 1950; afterward the city's population declined while that of the neighboring suburban counties grew. Some residents moved out of the region altogether due to restructuring of industry and loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the city.^[101] Philadelphia lost five percent of its population in the 1950s, three percent in the 1960s and more than thirteen percent in the 1970s.^[102] Manufacturing and other major Philadelphia businesses, which had supported middle-class lives for the working class, were moving out of the area or shutting down in industrial restructuring, including major declines in railroads.

The city encouraged development projects in

Fairmount area. A non profit group Action Philadelphia was formed to improve and promote Philadelphia's image. The airport expanded, the Schuylkill Expressway and the Delaware Expressway (Interstate 95) were built, SEPTA was formed, and residential and industrial development took place in Northeast Philadelphia.^[103]

By the 1950s, much Philadelphia housing was aged and substandard. In the post-World War II era of suburbanization and construction of area highways, many middle-class families met their demand for newer housing by leaving the city for the suburbs. Population decline accompanied the industrial restructuring and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the mid 20th century. With increasing poverty and social dislocation in the city, gang and mafia warfare plagued the city in from the mid-20th century to the early 21st century.

By the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, revitalization and

condominium boom in Center City

and the surrounding areas.

Preparations for the United States Bicentennial in 1976 began in 1964. By the early 1970s, US$3 million had been spent but no plans were set. The planning group was reorganized and numerous citywide events were planned. Independence National Historical Park was restored and development of Penn's Landing was completed. Less than half the expected visitors came to the city for the Bicentennial, but the event helped revive the identity of the city, inspiring annual neighborhood events and fairs.^[104]

In 1947,

vice squad each committed suicide after criminal exposures.^[105]

The public and the press demanded reform and by the end of 1950, a new city charter was drafted. The new charter strengthened the position of the mayor and weakened the City Council. The council would be made of ten councilmen elected by district and seven at large. City administration was streamlined and new boards and commissions were created.

In 1951,

Joseph S. Clark was elected as the first Democratic mayor in 80 years. Clark filled administration positions based on merit and worked to weed out corruption.^[106] Despite reforms and the Clark administration, a powerful Democratic patronage organization eventually replaced the old Republican one.^[107] Clark was succeeded by Richardson Dilworth, who continued the policies of his predecessor. Dilworth resigned to run for governor in 1962, and city council president James Tate was elected as the city's first Irish Catholic mayor. Tate was elected mayor in 1963 and reelected in 1967 despite opposition from reformers who opposed him as an organization insider.^[108]

As elsewhere in major US cities, the 1960s was a turbulent decade for the city. Numerous

Columbia Avenue killed two people, injured over 300 and caused around US$3 million in damages. Crime was also a serious problem. Primarily drug-related gang warfare plagued the city, and in 1970 crime was rated the city's number one problem in a City Planning Commission survey. The court system was overtaxed and the tactics of the police department under Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo were controversial.^[110]

Rizzo was credited with preventing the level of violence seen in other cities at the time and was elected mayor in 1971.

The outspoken Rizzo, who was reelected in 1975, was a divisive figure who had loyal supporters and passionate opponents. Police and fire departments and cultural institutions were well supported under Rizzo, but other city departments like the Free Library, the Department of Welfare and Recreation, the City Planning Commission and the Streets Department experienced large cuts.

Powelton Village headquarters, resulting in the death of a police officer. Nine MOVE members were convicted at trial and sentenced to prison. In 1985, a stand-off occurred at the group's new headquarters in West Philadelphia, whose residents were believed to be armed resisters. The police dropped a satchel bomb on the house from a helicopter; it set off a fire that killed eleven MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed sixty-two neighboring houses.^[112]

Survivors sued the city in civil court and won damages.

Crime continued to be a problem in the 1980s. Deadly

William J. Green became mayor in 1980, and in 1984 W. Wilson Goode became Philadelphia's first African-American mayor. Development continued in areas in Old City and South Street, and large modern skyscrapers of glass and granite, designed by nationally known architects, were constructed in Center City. City employee labor contracts signed during the Rizzo administration helped set up a city financial crisis that Green and Goode were unable to prevent. The city was near bankruptcy at the end of the 1980s.^[112][113]

In 1985, the MOVE Bombing of the Cobbs Creek neighborhood by city helicopters occurred, killing 11 and destroying 61 homes.^[114]

A group of Hmong refugees settled in Philadelphia after the end of the 1970s Laotian Civil War associated with the Vietnam War. They were attacked in discriminatory acts, and the city's Commission on Human Relations held hearings on the incidents. Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, said that lower-class residents resented the Hmong receiving a $100,000 federal grant for employment assistance when they were also out of work; they believed that American citizens should be getting assistance.^[115]: 192 Between 1982 and 1984, three quarters of the Hmong people who had settled in Philadelphia left for other cities in the United States to join relatives living elsewhere.^[115]: 195 Vietnamese and other immigrants from Asia have settled in the city, many near the Italian Market area. In addition, numerous Hispanic immigrants from Central and South America have entered the city, settling in North Philadelphia.

In 1992, Ed Rendell was elected as the city's first Jewish mayor. At the time, the city had numerous unpaid bills, the lowest bond rating of the top fifty largest U.S. cities, and a budget deficit of US$250 million. Rendell attracted investment in the city, stabilized the city's finances, and produced small budget surpluses.^[112] Revitalization of parts of Philadelphia continued in the 1990s. In 1993, a new convention center was opened, creating a hotel boom with seventeen hotels opening between 1998 and 2000 when the city hosted the Republican National Convention. The city began promoting heritage tourism, and producing festivals and entertainment to attract tourists.^[116] In 2005, National Geographic Traveler named Philadelphia America's Next Great City, citing its recent revitalization and general compact cityscape.^[117]

21st century

John A Wilson in front of Union League of Philadelphia

in October 2011

Former city council president

condominium boom in Center City, increasing the population of Center City and helping slow the city's 40-year population decline. The population of Center City rose to 88,000 in 2005 from 78,000 in 2000 and the number of households grew by 24 percent.^[119]

The city has had struggles: a series of scandals in the 1990s plagued the police department, including underreporting of crime.

2003 reelection campaign.^[118] The 2000s had a rise of violent crime after a decline in the 1990s. In 2006, Philadelphia's murder rate was 27.8 per 100,000 inhabitants versus a rate of 18.9 in 2002.^[120]

The remains of the

Liberty Bell Center, which led to archeological work in 2007. In 2010, a memorial on the site opened to commemorate Washington's slaves, African Americans in Philadelphia and U.S. history, and to mark the house site.^[54]

In 2008, Michael Nutter, with a background in business, was elected as the city's third African-American mayor. From July 2007 to July 2009, the city's crime rate decreased 30%. Nutter helped launch Philadelphia's Foreclosure Prevention Program, which seeks to help residents keep their housing and which has been copied by many cities.^[121]

In 2015,

U.S. tour; he attended the 2015 World Meeting of Families and said mass to 1 million people on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

.

Tourism has become one of the city's main industries; as of 2018, Philadelphia was the eighth-most visited U.S. city.[122]

See also

• American urban history
• Timeline of Philadelphia
• List of mayors of Philadelphia
• List of newspapers in Pennsylvania in the 18th century#Philadelphia
• History of African Americans in Philadelphia
• History of Italian Americans in Philadelphia
• History of Irish Americans in Philadelphia

References

1. ^ Cotter, John L., Daniel G. Roberts, and Michael Parrington. The Buried Past: An Archaeological History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992, p.27.
2. ^ Cotter, p.28.
3. ^ The Great Trail Archived 2011-09-14 at the Wayback Machine Pennsylvania historical marker.
4. ^ Swedish Colonial Society Web site
5. ^ 1638 – New Haven – The Independent Colony – colonialwarsct.org – Retrieved November 12, 2007
6. ^ "Lamberton L Archives – rootsweb.com – Retrieved November 11, 2007". Archived from the original on 2007-12-09. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
7. ^ – New Sweden – usgennet.org – Retrieved November 12, 2007
8. ^ Johnson, Amandus. Instruction for Johan Printz, Governor of New Sweden, The First Constitution or Supreme Law of the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware. (translated from the Swedish. Philadelphia: The Swedish Colonial Society, 1930)
9. ^ Scharf, John Thomas; Westcott, Thompson (1884). History of Philadelphia: 1609-1884. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Company. p. 2399. beversrede fort.
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Bibliography

Main article: Bibliography of Philadelphia

• Arrigale, Lawrence M., and Thomas H. Keels. Philadelphia's Golden Age of Retail (Arcadia Publishing, 2012).
• Avery, Ron (1999), A Concise History of Philadelphia, Philadelphia: Otis Books,
  ISBN 0-9658825-1-9
• Bridenbaugh, Carl. Cities in the Wilderness-The First Century of Urban Life in America 1625–1742 (1938) online edition
• Bridenbaugh, Carl. Cities in Revolt: Urban Life in America, 1743–1776 (1955)
• Brookes, Karin; et al. (2005), Insight Guides: Philadelphia and Surroundings (2nd ed.), APA Publications,
  ISBN 1-58573-026-2
• Ershkowitz, Herbert. John Wanamaker: Philadelphia Merchant (Signpost Biographies-Da Capo Press, 1999)
• Holli, Melvin G., and Jones, Peter d'A., eds. Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors, 1820-1980 (Greenwood Press, 1981) short scholarly biographies each of the city's mayors 1820 to 1980. online; see index at p. 410 for list.
• Lane, Roger. William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours: On the Past and Future of the Black City in America ( Oxford University Press, 1991).
• Nash, Gary. Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia's Black Community, 1720–1840 (1988)
• Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson (1906), The literary history of Philadelphia, Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co
• Scharf, John Thomas; Westcott, Thompson (1884), History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884, vol. 2, Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co,
  ISBN 9781404758285
• Scranton, Philip. Figured Tapestry: Production, Markets, and Power in Philadelphia Textiles, 1885–1941 (1989).
• Scranton, Philip. Proprietary Capitalism: The Textile Manufacture at Philadelphia, 1800–1885 (1983)
• Simon, Roger D. Philadelphia: A Brief History (Pennsylvania Historical Association, 2003).
• Thomas, Allen Clapp (1913), A History of Pennsylvania, D. C. Heath
• Warner, Sam Bass. The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of Its Growth (1968)
• Weigley, RF et al. (eds) (1982), Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, New York and London:
  ISBN 0-393-01610-2 {{citation}}: |first= has generic name (help
  )
• Young, John Russell, ed. (1895), Memorial History of the City of Philadelphia: Special and biographical, 2 vol., New York{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

City directories and old sources

• H.C. Carey & I. Lea (1824), Philadelphia in 1824; or, a brief account of the various institutions and public objects in this metropolis, being a complete guide for strangers, Philadelphia, PA, USA: H.C. Carey & I. Lea
• City Directory. 1785; 1791; 1795; 1799; 1800; 1801; 1802; 1808; 1810; 1819; 1822; 1825; 1837; 1841; 1849; 1856; 1857; 1858; 1861; 1866; 1867
• Watson, John Fanning (1855), Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania: being a collection of memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the city and its inhabitants, and of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, from the days of the founders, vol. 1, Philadelphia, PA, USA: Parry and M'Millan
• Bowen, Daniel (1839), A history of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA: Daniel Bowen
• S.S. Moore; T.W. Jones (1804), "Philadelphia", The traveller's directory: or, A pocket companion, shewing the course of the main road from Philadelphia to New York; and from Philadelphia to Washington ... from actual survey (2nd ed.), Philadelphia: Printed for Mathew Carey,
  OCLC 9501780
• Myers, Albert Cook (1912), "Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630–1707", Jameson, J. Franklin (editor): Original Narratives of Early American History, Original narratives of early American history, vol. 12, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
  hdl:2027/loc.ark:/13960/t5n87rq7c

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to History of Philadelphia.

• Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, Historical Encyclopedia in progress
• Philadelphia: The Great Experiment
• PhillyHistory.org
• Philadelphia Center for Architecture