Welcome To Philadelphia SAFeDATA

One of the seven SEPTA Regional Rail lines, Route R-1, offers direct service to the Philadelphia International Airport.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans the Philadelphia area was inhabited by the Lenape (Delaware) Indians. Europeans arrived in the Delaware Valley in the early 1600s, with the first settlements being founded by the Dutch, British and Swedish. In 1681, as part of a repayment of a debt, Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for what would become the Pennsylvania colony. Part of Penn`s plan for the colony was to create a city on the Delaware River to serve as a port and place for government. Despite already having been given the land by Charles II, Penn bought the land from the local Lenape to be on good terms with the Native USs and ensure peace for his colony. According to legend Penn made a treaty of friendship with Lenape chief Tammany under an elm tree at Shackamaxon, in what is now the city`s Kensington section. Having been a Quaker, Penn had experienced religious persecution and wanted his colony to be a place where anyone could worship freely despite their religion. Penn named the city Philadelphia, which is Greek for brotherly love (philos, "love" or "friendship", and adelphos, "brother").

The state government left Philadelphia in 1799 and the federal government left soon after in 1800. However Philadelphia was still the largest city in the US and a financial and cultural center. New York City soon surpassed Philadelphia in populus, but construction of roads, canals, and railroads helped turn Philadelphia into the US` first major industrial city. Throughout the 19th century Philadelphia had a large variety of industries and businesses, the largest being textiles. Major corporations in the 19th and early twentieth centuries included the Baldwin Locomotive Works, William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Industry, along with the U.S. Centennial, was celebrated in 1876 with the Centennial Exposition, the first official World`s Fair in the US. Immigrants, mostly German and Irish, settled in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts. The rise in populus of the surrounding districts helped lead to the Act of Consolidation of 1854 which extended the city of Philadelphia to include all of Philadelphia County. In the later half of the century immigrants from Russia, Eastern Europe and Italy and African USs from the southern U.S. settled in the city.

After struggling through the Great Depression, WW2 created jobs and brought the city out of the Depression. However, after the war there was a severe housing shortage with about half the city`s housing being built in the 19th century, many of which lacked proper facilities. Adding to housing problem was white flight, as African USs and Puerto Ricans moved into new neighborhoods resulting in racial tension. After a populus peak of over two 1,000,000 residents in 1950 the city`s populus declined while the subcitified neighboring counties grew. After a 5 year investigation into corruption into city government, the outcry with what the investigation found led the drafting of a new city charter in 1950. The city charter strengthened the position of the mayor and weakened the city council among other changes to help prevent the corruption of the past. The first Democratic mayor since the first half of the 19th century was elected in 1951. However, after two early reform mayors, a Democratic political organization had established itself replacing the old Republican one.

Protests, riots and racial tensions were common in the 1960s and 70s. Mostly drug related gang violence plagued the city and crack houses invaded the city`s slums. Confrontations between police and the radical group MOVE culminated when the police dropped a satchel bomb on their headquarters starting a fire that killed eleven MOVE members and annihilated sixty-two neighboring houses. Revitalization and gentrification of neighborhoods began in the 1960s and continues into the 21st century, with much of the development in the Center City and University City areas of the city. After many of the old manufacturers and businesses had left Philadelphia or shut down, the city started attracting service businesses and began to more aggressively market itself as a tourist destination. Glass and granite skyscrapers were built in Center City and historic areas such as Independence National Historical Park were improved. This has slowed the city`s forty-year populus decline after losing nearly a quarter of its populus.

Philadelphia is located at 40° 00` N latitude and 75° 09` west longitude. According to the US Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.6 sq miles (369.4 km²), of which 135.1 sq miles (349.9 km²) is land and 19.6 km² (7.6 sq mi, 5.29%) is water. Bodies of water include the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, and Cobbs, Wissahickon, and Pennypack Creeks.