Pennsylvania had the first covered bridge in the United States and the most such bridges in both the 19th and 21st centuries. They were a transition between stone and metal bridges, with the roof and sides protecting the wooden structure from weather. The Forksville bridge is a Burr arch truss type, with a load-bearingarch sandwiching multiple vertical king posts, for strength and rigidity. The building of the Forksville bridge was supervised by the 18-year-old Sadler Rogers, who used his hand-carved model of the structure. It served as the site of a stream gauge from 1908 to 1913 and is still an official Pennsylvania state highway bridge. The United States Department of TransportationFederal Highway Administration uses it as the model of a covered bridge "classic gable roof", and it serves as the logo of a Pennsylvania insurance company. (Full article...)
The contiguous network of five cities and more than 40 boroughs all built in a straight line in Northeastern Pennsylvania's urban core act culturally and logistically as one continuous city, so while Scranton is a mid-sized city, the larger Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area contains half a million residents in roughly 300 square miles (780 km2). Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is the cultural and economic center of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a region of the state with over 1.3 million residents. (Full article...)
Units of the Pennsylvania State Militia were brought in by train. Near nightfall, one unit was marched into the Seventh Street Cut, a man-made ravine three blocks long with 20-or-30-foot (6.1 or 9.1 m) walls, to free a train that had been stopped by rioters. The soldiers were bombarded from above with bricks, stones, and gunshots, and some of the soldiers fired rifle volleys into a crowd at the far end of the Cut. Between 10 and 16 civilian deaths resulted, along with dozens of injuries. Most rioting ended that night, and tense quiet prevailed the next day. Ultimately, the arrival of federal troops restored order to Reading. A coroner's inquest following the massacre did not blame the militia for the deaths, but pointed to the overall upheaval in the city at the time. Blame was laid upon the local sheriff for failing to keep the public order. (Full article...)
Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with the two sections together totalling 2,052 acres (830 ha). Management of Fairmount Park and the entire citywide park system is overseen by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, a city department created in 2010 from the merger of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation.
Image 5One 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 10The locomotive Tioga in Philadelphia in 1848; Pennsylvania was an important railroad center throughout the 19th century. (from History of Pennsylvania)
Image 22Bethlehem 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)
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Pennsylvania's unemployment rate between 1976 and 2021
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