Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive
Old Philadelphia Portal selected picture archive
Selected article archive
Selected article archive
These pictures are about Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/1
City skyline from the Spring Garden Street Bridge, 2009
The Schuylkill River flows through Philadelphia from the northwest. The total length of the river is approximately 130 miles (209 km) with a watershed of around 2000 square miles (5,000 km²) lying entirely within Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch starts in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in Schuylkill County. The west branch starts near Minersville and joins the eastern branch at the town of Schuylkill Haven. The Tulpehocken Creek joins it at the western edge of Reading. Wissahickon Creek joins it in Northwest Philadelphia. The river ends its course at the confluence with the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/2
Runaway advertisement in The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 23, 1796
Oney Judge was a slave at George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, in Virginia. A servant in Washington's presidential households beginning in 1789, she escaped to freedom from the Philadelphia President's House on Saturday, May 21, 1796, and defied his attempts to recapture her. More is known about her than any other Mount Vernon slave because she was twice interviewed by abolitionist newspapers in the 1840s. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/3
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. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/4
Night skyline from the Spring Garden Street Bridge, 2017 (annotated version in Wikimedia)
Philadelphia's skyline continues to change with the recent addition of the Comcast Technology Center (CTC) which topped out in 2017 and is expected to be completed in 2018. The new building is visible towards the left, standing just right of the Comcast Center which was completed in 2008. A construction crane is visible on the rooftop of the CTC. Other recent skyline additions include the two towers of the Cira Centre South complex near the right edge, completed in 2014 (Cira Chestnut Tower, aka Evo) and 2016 (FMC Tower). Though the Cira Centre appears to be the largest building to the right, the FMC Tower (the building farthest to the right) is much taller but is located further downstream along the Schuylkill River. 
Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/5
South facade of Independence Hall, 2015
Independence Hall is the building where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and adopted. It is now the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park. The building was completed in 1753 as the colonial legislature (later Pennsylvania State House) for the Province of Pennsylvania and was used in that capacity until the state capital moved to Lancaster in 1799. It became the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783 and was the site of the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787. A convention held in Independence Hall in 1915, presided over by William Howard Taft, marked the formal announcement of the formation of the League to Enforce Peace, which led to the League of Nations and eventually the United Nations. The building was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1979. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/6
Elfreth's Alley, 2008
Elfreth's Alley is a colonial-era street located in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia which is referred to as "Our nation's oldest residential street." The street dates to 1702 while the 32 extant brick rowhouses lining it were built between 1728 and 1836. A historical museum is located at #124 and 126. The narrow one lane street is one-way westbound between Front and 2nd Street, in the block between Arch and Race Street. Elfreth's Alley has been a designated National Historic Landmark since 1960. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/7
.JPG)
Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/8
Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/9
Aqua String Band, Mummers Parade, 2007
The Mummers Parade is held each New Year's Day in Philadelphia. Local clubs, usually called "New Years Associations", compete in one of four categories: Comics, Fancies, String Bands, and Fancy Brigades. They prepare elaborate costumes and moveable scenery, which take months to complete. Preparations are done in clubhouses, many of which are located on or near 2nd Street (called "Two Street" by some local residents) in the Pennsport neighborhood of South Philadelphia. The parade is related to the mummers play tradition from Britain and Ireland. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/10
Geno's Steaks, 9th St. and Passyunk Ave. in South Philly, 2007
Geno's Steaks is a South Philadelphia restaurant specializing in cheesesteaks. Founded in 1966 by Joe Vento, Geno's is located directly across the street from rival Pat's King of Steaks, which is generally credited with having invented the steak sandwich in 1933. Geno's does not chop the meat, while Pat's does. The cheesesteak has become a signature dish for the city. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/11
Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/12
The Quadrangle Dormitory at the University of Pennsylvania, 2003
University of Pennsylvania (commonly known as Penn or UPenn) is a private Ivy League research university located in the University City section of Philadelphia. Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities and one of nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Benjamin Franklin, Penn's founder, advocated an educational program that focused as much on practical education for commerce and public service as on the classics and theology. Penn is the home of many educational innovations: the first school of medicine in North America (Perelman School of Medicine, 1765), the first collegiate business school (Wharton School, 1881) and the first student union building and organization (Houston Hall, 1896). Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/13
Fort Mifflin, 2010
Fort Mifflin was commissioned in 1771 and is situated on Mud Island, along the Delaware River at the southern tip of Philadelphia, just east of the airport. During the American Revolutionary War, the British Army bombarded and captured the fort as part of their conquest of Philadelphia in autumn 1777. The United States Army began to rebuild the fort in 1794 and continued to garrison and build on the site through the 19th century. The fort housed Confederate prisoners during the American Civil War. The army decommissioned Fort Mifflin in 1962; however, a portion of the fort's grounds are still used by the United States Army Corps of Engineers making it the fort with the longest continuous military use in the country. Historic preservationists have restored the fort, and it has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/14
SS United States, 2017
The SS United States is a retired luxury passenger liner built in 1950–51 for United States Lines at a cost of $79.4 million ($932 million in 2023). The ship is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952. She was designed by American naval architect William Francis Gibbs and could be turned into a troopship if required by the Navy in times of war, though such service was never required. The ship's fittings were sold at auction and hazardous wastes, including asbestos panels throughout the ship, were removed leaving her almost completely stripped by 1994. Two years later, she was towed to Pier 82 on the Delaware River in South Philadelphia where she remains today. The ship was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. A preservation group called the SS United States Conservancy has been raising funds since 2009 to keep the ship afloat while exploring potential new uses, as a museum, hotel, restaurant, or office space. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/15
Christ Church, 2008
Christ Church is an Episcopal church in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1695 as a parish of the Church of England, it played an integral role in the founding of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. In 1785, its rector, William White, became the first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. From 1754 to 1810, the church's 196-foot (60 m.) tower and steeple was the tallest structure in North America. Christ Church's congregation included 15 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Revolutionary War leaders who attended Christ Church include George Washington, Robert Morris, and Benjamin Franklin. Christ Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/16
Shibe Park rooftop bleachers on 20th Street, 1913
Shibe Park, known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a baseball park located in North Philadelphia. The stadium was the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League (AL) and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (NL). When it opened on April 12, 1909, Shibe Park was baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium. Homeowners on both Somerset Street and 20th Street had a great view of the games due to the low outfield fences. A left field bleacher section was added in 1913 that blocked the view for the people on Somerset Street; however, the view was still clear from the roofs, bedroom bay windows, and porch roofs along 20th Street. Pathé News, Universal Newsreel and Movietone News even set up cameras at 2739 North 20th as part of their World Series coverage. The last game was held on October 1, 1970 and the stadium was eventually demolished in 1976. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/17
Live Aid at JFK Stadium, 1985
Live Aid was a dual-venue benefit concert held on 13 July 1985, and an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London (attended by 72,000 people) and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia (attended by about 100,000 people). On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative happened in other countries, such as the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Yugoslavia, Austria, Australia and West Germany. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time; an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations, watched the live broadcast. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/18
Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/19
Mount Pleasant, 2017
Mount Pleasant is a historic mansion in east Fairmount Park, situated atop a hill overlooking the Schuylkill River. The mansion was built around 1761–62 in what was then the countryside outside the city. The owner was John Macpherson, a Scottish privateer who named the house Clunie. The architect was Thomas Nevell (1721–1797), an apprentice of Edmund Woolley who had built Independence Hall. Later owners included Benedict Arnold and finally Jonathan Williams, who was Benjamin Franklin's grandnephew and the first superintendent of West Point. The house is administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966. Mount Pleasant was also designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/20
Benjamin Franklin statue, the University of Pennsylvania, 2003
Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Many statues of Benjamin Franklin can be found around town, including an elderly Franklin with a walking cane and paper in his hands seated on a bench along the Locust Walk in West Philadelphia, within the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, a university founded by Franklin.