The Philadelphia Portal

The Philadelphia skyline from the South Street Bridge, January 2020

Philadelphia (/ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə/ FIL-ə-DEL-fee-ə), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census. The city is the urban core of the larger Delaware Valley, also known as the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the nation's eighth-largest metropolitan area and seventh-largest combined statistical area with 6.245 million residents and 7.366 million residents, respectively.

Philadelphia maintains extensive contemporary influence in business and industry, culture, sports, and music. With 17 four-year universities and colleges in the city, Philadelphia is one of the nation's leading centers for higher education and academic research. The city is a national cultural center, hosting more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other city in the nation. Fairmount Park, when combined with adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the same watershed, is 2,052 acres (830 ha), representing one of the nation's largest and the world's 55th-largest urban park. Philadelphia is known for its arts, culture, cuisine, and colonial and Revolutionary-era history; in 2016, it attracted 42 million domestic tourists who spent $6.8 billion, representing $11 billion in economic impact to the city and its surrounding Pennsylvania counties. With five professional sports teams and one of the nation's most loyal and passionate fan bases, Philadelphia is often ranked as the nation's best city for professional sports fans. The city has a culturally and philanthropically active LGBTQ+ community. Philadelphia also has played an immensely influential historic and ongoing role in the development and evolution of American music, especially R&B, soul, and rock. (Full article...)

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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South 9th Street at Montrose Street in the Italian Market. Frank Rizzo, a mayor from the 1970s, is depicted in the mural.

The Italian Market is the popular name for the South 9th Street Curb Market, an area of Philadelphia featuring many grocery shops, cafes, restaurants, bakeries, cheese shops, butcher shops, etc., many with an Italian influence. It is generally considered to extend along 9th Street from Fitzwater Street at the north to Wharton Street at the south. The term Italian Market is also used to describe the surrounding neighborhood that's nestled between South Street to the North and Wharton Street to the South running a few blocks to the east and west of 9th street.

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Albert Alexander "Ox" Wistert.
Albert Alexander "Ox" Wistert.

Al Wistert is a former All-Pro American football offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played his entire nine-year NFL career for the Eagles and became the team's captain. He played college football for the University of Michigan Wolverines. He is one of the three Wistert brothers (Alvin, Francis) who were named All-American Tackles at Michigan and later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame; they are three of only seven players who have had their numbers retired by the Michigan Wolverines football program. He was named to play in the NFL's first Pro Bowl as an Eagle, the first Michigan alumnus to be so recognized. During most of his pro career there were no football All-star games, although he was named to the league All-Pro team eight times. Wistert was inducted into the Eagles Honor Roll on September 29, 2009, along with Randall Cunningham. Wistert has an active petition campaign to pursue Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. After football, he became a successful life insurance salesman, over a 40-year career. Since retirement he has lived in California and Grants Pass, Oregon. He was married to his late wife Ellie for 61 years and has three daughters (Pam, Dianna and Kathy) and three grandchildren.

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"Philadelphia is a city to be happy in...Everything is well conditioned and cared for. If any fault could be found it would be that of too much regularity and too nice precision."

Nathaniel Parker Willis

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