Pennsylvania had the first covered bridge in the United States and the most such bridges in both the 19th and 21st centuries. They were a transition between stone and metal bridges, with the roof and sides protecting the wooden structure from weather. The Forksville bridge is a Burr arch truss type, with a load-bearingarch sandwiching multiple vertical king posts, for strength and rigidity. The building of the Forksville bridge was supervised by the 18-year-old Sadler Rogers, who used his hand-carved model of the structure. It served as the site of a stream gauge from 1908 to 1913 and is still an official Pennsylvania state highway bridge. The United States Department of TransportationFederal Highway Administration uses it as the model of a covered bridge "classic gable roof", and it serves as the logo of a Pennsylvania insurance company. (Full article...)
Levittown is 40 feet (12 m) above sea level. Though not a municipality, it is sometimes recognized as the largest suburb of Philadelphia while Upper Darby, Lower Merion, Bensalem, Abington, and Bristol townships are municipalities larger in size within the three surrounding Pennsylvania counties. Starting with land purchased in 1951, it was planned and built by Levitt & Sons. The brothers William Levitt and architect Alfred Levitt designed its six typical houses. (Full article...)
... that Peter Herdic, a 19th century Pennsylvania lumber baron, millionaire, and philanthropist, also invented the horse-drawn herdic, an early form of taxicab?
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Seal of the Pennsylvania Ministerium
The Pennsylvania Ministerium was the first Lutheran church body in North America. With the encouragement of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–1787), the Ministerium was founded at a Church Conference of Lutheran clergy on August 26, 1748. The group was known as the "German Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of North America" until 1792, when it adopted the name "German Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States".
The Pennsylvania Ministerium, also referred to as the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, was the source of the first Lutheranliturgy in America. Because of its unique place in the history of North American Lutheranism, the Ministerium continued to influence the church politics of Lutherans in America into the 20th century. (Full article...)
Image 8One of only two confirmed photos of Abraham Lincoln (sitting in center, facing camera, without his traditional top hat) at Gettysburg a few hours prior to giving the Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 1863. The address, which was only 271 words in length, ranks among the most famed speeches in American history. (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 28Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem was one of the world's leading steel manufacturers for most of the 19th and 20th century. In 1982, however, it discontinued most of its operations, declared bankruptcy in 2001, and was dissolved in 2003. (from Pennsylvania)
Image 30The locomotive Tioga in Philadelphia in 1848; Pennsylvania was an important railroad center throughout the 19th century. (from History of Pennsylvania)
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