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The coat of arms of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania PEN -sil-VAY -nee-əlit. ' Penn's forest country ' ), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Dutch : Pennsylvanie state spanning the Mid-Atlantic , Northeastern , Appalachian , and Great Lakes regions of the United States . It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryland to its south, West Virginia to its southwest, Ohio and the Ohio River to its west, Lake Erie and New York to its north, the Delaware River and New Jersey to its east, and the Canadian province of Ontario to its northwest.
Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 through a royal land grant to William Penn , the son of the state's namesake . Prior to that, between 1638 and 1655, a southeast portion of the state was part of New Sweden , a Swedish Empire colony. Established as a haven for religious and political tolerance, the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania was known for its relatively peaceful relations with native tribes, innovative government system , and religious pluralism . Pennsylvania played a vital and historic role in the American Revolution and the ultimately successful quest for independence from the British Empire , hosting the First and Second Continental Congress , leading to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the formation of the Continental Army . On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution . The bloodiest battle of the American Civil War , at Gettysburg over three days in July 1863, proved the war's turning point, leading to the Union's preservation . Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, the state's manufacturing-based economy contributed to the development of much of the nation's early infrastructure, including key bridges, skyscrapers , and military hardware used in U.S.-led victories in World War I , World War II , and the Cold War .
Pennsylvania's geography is highly diverse. The Appalachian Mountains run through the center of the state; the Allegheny and Pocono mountains span much of Northeastern Pennsylvania ; close to 60% of the state is forested . While it has no ocean shoreline, it has 140 miles (225 km) of waterfront along Lake Erie and the tidal Delaware River. (Full article...
This is a Featured article , which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia.. Taylor Alison Swift influential figure in popular culture and the subject of widespread public interest .
Swift signed with
Big Machine Records in 2005, starting as a
country pop singer with her first two albums
Taylor Swift (2006) and
Fearless (2008). Their singles "
Teardrops on My Guitar ", "
Love Story ", and "
You Belong with Me " were
crossover successes on
country and
pop radio formats. She experimented with
rock on
Speak Now (2010) and
electronic on
Red (2012), recalibrated her image from country to pop with the
synth-pop album
1989 (2014), and the ensuing media scrutiny inspired the
hip-hop -imbued
Reputation (2017); the albums contained the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together ", "
Shake It Off ", "
Blank Space ", "
Bad Blood ", and "
Look What You Made Me Do ". (
Full article... )
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West Creek on the outskirts of Benton, looking upstream
West Creek is a tributary of
Fishing Creek , in
Columbia County and
Sullivan County , in
Pennsylvania , in the United States. It is 9.1 miles (14.6 km) long and flows through Davidson Township in Sullivan County and Jackson Township, Sugarloaf Township, Benton Township, and Benton in Columbia County. The water temperature of the creek ranges from 0 °C (32 °F) to 25 °C (77 °F). The
discharge ranges from nearly zero to ten cubic meters per second (0 to 353 cu ft/s). Rock formations in the watershed include the
Trimmers Rock Formation , the
Catskill Formation , and the
Huntley Mountain Formation . The creek's watershed has an area of 16.6 square miles (43 km
2 ), most of which is agricultural, forested, or urban land. A small number of dams, mills, and schoolhouses were built on West Creek in the 19th and early 20th century. West Creek has the highest level of
biodiversity of any stream in the upper Fishing Creek watershed. (
Full article... )
List of geography articles
Johnstown, Pennsylvania Scranton, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Philadelphia Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Allentown, Pennsylvania Lancaster, Pennsylvania State College, Pennsylvania Warren, Pennsylvania DuBois, Pennsylvania Erie, Pennsylvania Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Juniata County, Pennsylvania Pithole, Pennsylvania Lock Haven, Pennsylvania Larrys Creek State Route 1002 (Lehigh County, Pennsylvania) Pennsylvania Route 563 Hull Creek (Lackawanna River tributary) Little Fishing Creek Ganoga Lake Mahoning Creek (Susquehanna River tributary) Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania Roaring Brook (Lackawanna River tributary) Pennsylvania Route 463 Kettle Creek (Pennsylvania) Spanish Hill West Branch Fishing Creek Plunketts Creek Bridge No. 3 White Deer Hole Creek Plunketts Creek (Loyalsock Creek tributary) Horseshoe Curve (Pennsylvania) Kinzua Bridge Quehanna Wild Area Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Levittown, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Turnpike Pocono Mountains Altoona, Pennsylvania
Credit: Kev72 Downtown Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building as seen from Cumberland County, across the
Susquehanna River .
Wikiprojects
This is a Good article , an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards. The third-floor carousel entrance of the Willow Grove Park Mall, 2016
Willow Grove Park Mall is a three-story
shopping mall located in the community of
Willow Grove in
Abington Township, Pennsylvania at the intersection of Easton Road and Moreland Road (
Pennsylvania Route 63 ) in the
Philadelphia suburbs. The Willow Grove Park Mall contains over 120 stores - with
Bloomingdale's ,
Primark ,
Macy's ,
Nordstrom Rack , and
Tilted 10 as
anchor stores - along with several restaurants including
The Cheesecake Factory ,
TGI Fridays , and
Yard House . It is owned by
Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) and is the third most profitable mall in the
Philadelphia area . The mall features a
carousel , scenic
elevator , and formerly featured a
fountain (since removed). In October, the fountain was illuminated pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (
Full article... )
John Birks Dizzy " Gillespie ( gil-ESP -ee jazz trumpeter , bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser , building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop . His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing , bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality have made him an enduring icon.
In the 1940s, Gillespie, with
Charlie Parker , became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters
Miles Davis ,
Jon Faddis ,
Fats Navarro ,
Clifford Brown ,
Arturo Sandoval ,
Lee Morgan ,
Chuck Mangione , and balladeer
Johnny Hartman . (
Full article... )
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State facts
State Facts
Pennsylvania's largest city Philadelphia Nickname: The Keystone State Capital: Harrisburg Largest city: Philadelphia Total area: 119,283 square kilometers (46,055 square miles)Population (2000 census): 12,281,054Date admitted to the Union: December 12, 1787 (2nd )
State symbols
Mountain laurel, Pennsylvania's state flower
Pennsylvania topics
General images
The following are images from various Pennsylvania-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 2020 U.S. presidential election results by county in Pennsylvania
Democratic
Republican
(from
Pennsylvania )
Image 2 On November 19, 1863,
President Abraham Lincoln (center, facing camera) arrived in
Gettysburg and delivered the
Gettysburg Address , considered one of the best-known speeches in American history. (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 3 Citizens Bank Park in
South Philadelphia , home of the
Philadelphia Phillies , the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in American professional sports (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 7 Ethnic origins of Pennsylvanians (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 9 Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom 's
Steel Force and
Thunderhawk roller coasters in
Allentown ; Steel Force is the eighth-longest
steel roller coaster in the world with a first drop of 205 feet (62 m) and a top speed of 75 miles per hour (121 km/h). (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 13 The
Philadelphia Eagles are presented with the
Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning
Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018 (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 14 Simon Cameron of
Maytown was
Secretary of War and head of Pennsylvania's
Republican Party , whose party machine controlled Pennsylvania into the 20th century. (from
History of Pennsylvania )
Image 16 The
colonial possessions of
Britain (in pink),
France (in blue), and
Spain (in orange) as of 1750. The French later lost their possessions in
North America to Britain following its defeat in the
French and Indian War , fought from 1754 to 1763 (from
History of Pennsylvania )
Image 19 The
Gettysburg campaign , which culminated in the
Battle of Gettysburg , was a major turning point in the
American Civil War and the war's bloodiest battle with an estimated 46,000 to 51,000 casualties (from
History of Pennsylvania )
Image 20 The locomotive
Tioga in
Philadelphia in 1848; Pennsylvania was an important railroad center throughout the 19th century. (from
History of Pennsylvania )
Image 21 Pat's King of Steaks in
South Philadelphia is widely credited with inventing the
cheesesteak in 1933 (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 22 Bethlehem 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 24 The
Stonycreek Township crash site of
Flight 93 , one of four planes hijacked in the
September 11 attacks ; the site is now a
national memorial . Flight 93 passengers wrestled with
al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers for control of the plane, preventing it from being flown into the
White House or
U.S. Capitol . (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 25 The
statue of
Benjamin Franklin on the campus of the
University of Pennsylvania , an
Ivy League institution in
Philadelphia ranked one of world's top universities (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 26 Pittsburgh Steelers ' fans waving the
Terrible Towel , a tradition that dates back to
1975 (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 27 Pennsylvania's unemployment rate between 1976 and 2021
The U.S. unemployment rate during these years
(from
Pennsylvania )
Image 29 An
Amish family riding in a traditional
Amish buggy in
Lancaster County ; Pennsylvania has the largest
Amish population of any state. (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 30 The Birth of Pennsylvania , a portrait of
William Penn (standing with document in hand), who founded the
Province of Pennsylvania in 1681 as a refuge for
Quakers after receiving a royal deed to it from
King Charles II (from
History of Pennsylvania )
Image 31 Stephen Decatur , a 19th-century
naval commander who served in the
War of 1812 and other engagements (from
History of Pennsylvania )
Image 32 One 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 34 The
Battle of Gettysburg , fought July 1–3, 1863 in
Gettysburg , was the Civil War's
deadliest battle but also is widely considered the
war's turning point in the
Union's ultimate victory. The battle is depicted in this 1887
Thure de Thulstrup painting,
Battle of Gettysburg . (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 35 Shelter House in
Emmaus , constructed in 1734 by
Pennsylvania German settlers, is the oldest continuously occupied building structure in the
Lehigh Valley and one of the oldest in Pennsylvania (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 36 Philadelphia International Airport , the busiest airport in the state and the
21st-busiest airport in the nation with nearly 10 million passengers annually as of 2021 (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 38 Köppen climate types in Pennsylvania (from
Pennsylvania )
Image 39 A map of
New Netherland (in magenta) and
New Sweden (in blue) in the 17th century; New Sweden was later absorbed by New Netherland and then the
British in the
Second Anglo-Dutch War . (from
History of Pennsylvania )
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