There are very few cities in the USA which are steeped in American history yet have evolved into modern urban centers with a cosmopolitan outlook. And Philadelphia is one among them. Several turning points in the long history of USA have taken place at Philadelphia. Most of that is well documented, and everyone thinks they know all there is to know about the city. The city has so many layers, though, that there could still be things you didn’t know about. Let us bring you some lesser known facts, and you can see which ones you didn’t know.
- The first orchestra to feature in a film was from Philadelphia.The Philadelphia Orchestra went on to also become the first orchestra to feature on television, and also the first to travel outside the USA.
- Philadelphia hosted the country’s first stock exchange. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange, now referred to as NASDAQ OMX PHLX, was started in 1790.
- The first piano ever built in the USA was manufactured in Philadelphia, by a skilled artisan called Behrent.
- The oldest natural sciences center in all of the Western hemisphere was built in Philadelphia.The Academy of Natural Sciences opened as far back as in 1812, although it finally opened to the public only sixteen years later.
- Philadelphia saw the country’s first completely air-conditioned building. Also, the first skyscraper of USA was built not in New York but Harrahs Philadelphia.
- One of the iconic foods of Philadelphia is the cheesesteak,but when it was first made in 1930, it didn’t have any cheese at all! Cheese began to be used only after a decade.
- Philadelphia was the venue for the first organized protest against slavery in 1688, where a petition was drafted. Along the same lines of race diversity, Philadelphia was the place where the first African American church was constructed in 1794. Also, The Philadelphia Tribune is the oldest continuously published African American newspaper, has been in circulation since 1884.
- The first musical auditorium in the country was built in Philadelphia in 1857, but it is not relegated to history as a ruined building, rather the Academy of Music is still in use.
- The nation’s first zoo also was built at Philadelphia and has grown to now spread over 40 acres of land. The zoo is open on all but five days of the year and houses more than 1300 animals.
- The Mutter Museum is an unusual scientific museum in Philadelphia where some of the strange exhibits include a tumor that was removed from President Cleveland, a piece of John Wilkes Booth’s thorax, and pieces of the brain of Albert Einstein.
- The University of Pennsylvania started the first business school in 1881.The Wharton School of Business. Of course, it goes without saying that the University of Pennsylvania was the first university of the country.
- Pennsylvania saw the construction of the country’s first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospitalin 1751. Benjamin Franklin was one of the founders.
We bet that you didn’t know some of the above facts, and must be thinking, like us, how Philly never ceases to amaze.
Author Bio: Silvia Watson is a freelance content writer. She has written many good and informative articles on different categories. She is a featured author at various authoritative blogs and currently associated as a blogger with https://www.tvg.com/
