History
12 Things You Might Not Know About Stephen Girard
Today is the 225th anniversary of the First Bank of the United States, which was founded by Congress in 1791 to stabilize the government and […]
11 Things You Might Not Know About Leap Year
Happy February 29th, also known as “leap day” — a lunar event created by humans to compensate for the fact that the earth doesn’t orbit […]
12 Things You Might Not Know About Philly and LSD
When news broke last weekend that a trio of kids at Villanova University went on bad LSD trips — two got arrested for dealing — […]
WATCH: That Time Ed Bacon Skateboarded Across LOVE Park
On Friday I wrote about how skateboarders turned LOVE Park into a great public place. The park is now being overhauled with a new design, […]
13 Things You Might Not Know About the Pine Barrens
Today is National New Jersey Day, which is a pretty peculiar thing for a day to be. We thought about celebrating by driving around a […]
11 Vintage 1890s Philadelphia Ads From the Archives of the Daily Pennsylvanian
Whether or not you enjoy my work, you have The Daily Pennsylvanian to thank/blame for it. I went into college not sure what I wanted […]
11 Philly Botanists (And One Bad Plant) You Might Not Know
Did you know that half the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention here in Philly were farmers? Washington had Mount Vernon, and Jefferson had Monticello; […]
The Latest Installment of Sam Katz’s Philly Documentary Airs Tonight
Sam Katz has been making his documentary series, Philadelphia: The Great Experiment, for years now. He even used Kickstarter to raise money to fund it. […]
140-Year-Old Leak in Memorial Hall Dome Finally Fixed
The City of Philadelphia has finally fixed a 140-year-old problem. After a nine-month repair job, the dome at Memorial Hall has been restored. A chronic […]
Scholastic Pulls Children’s Book Featuring Washington’s Slave in Philly
[Updated Tuesday, January 19th, at 4:38 p.m.] After both its author and its editor defended the title in the face of critical onslaught, Scholastic Books yesterday […]
WATCH: MLK Speaks at Philadelphia Middle School in 1967
On October 26th, 1967, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Philadelphia for a “Stars for Freedom” show at The Spectrum featuring Harry Belafonte, […]
Ardmore Collector Has Previously Unseen Letter From Amelia Earhart
A previously unseen letter written in 1933 by groundbreaking aviator Amelia Earhart has been acquired by Ardmore-based Raab Collection, which recently purchased the document from a private […]
13 Black Philadelphians Who Were Trailblazers
Sure, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step — but somebody has to take that step. In honor of civil rights icon […]
11 Things You Might Not Know About: Philly’s Public Squares
They’re some of the most revered spaces in the city — the five open public squares William Penn laid out in the 1680s to keep […]
11 Things You Might Not Know About: The Philadelphia Zoo
Twenty years ago, Philadelphians awoke on Christmas Eve to dreadful news: A fire overnight in the World of Primates building at the Philadelphia Zoo had […]