Pennsylvania facts

British King Charles II granted, on February 28, 1681, a land charter to William Penn to repay a debt of £16,000 the king owed to William Penn's father, Admiral William Penn. William Penn proposed the name 'New Wales' for the land grant, but was rejected by the king. Then the name 'Sylvania' ('sylvania' means 'land that is full of trees') was proposed by William Penn for his land. The King prefixed 'Penn' to that proposal in honor of Admiral William Penn and named it 'Pennsylvania'.

Of the original Thirteen Colonies, Pennsylvania is the only state that does not border the Atlantic Ocean.

Only one Pennsylvania-born person became the President of the United States - James Buchanan. He is also the only bachelor President of the United States

The famous Gettysburg, the site of the 'Battle of Gettysburg' and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, is in Pennsylvania

The National Aviary, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only independent indoor nonprofit aviary in the United States. It is also the country's largest aviary, and the only accorded honorary "National" status by the United States Congress

Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania is the only museum in the world devoted to the legendary magician, Houdini

Gulf Refining Co. opened America's first gas station (petrol bunk or petrol filling station) on Baum Blvd., Pittsburgh, Pennsilvania in 1913

The Moravian Book Shop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is the oldest continuously operating bookshop in the world. It was opened for business in 1745

Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence Hall), the bell today is located in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park. In 1777, the bell was stashed in the basement of Zion’s Reformed Church of Christ in Allentown, Pennsylvania to protect it from the British.

America's first zoo was founded in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin.

Founded on May 11, 1751, by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond, Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, was the first hospital in the United States. It is also home to America's first medical library.

The First stock exchange in the United States was founded in Philadelphia in 1790

The First United States Mint was founded in Philadelphia in 1792

The first medical school in the North America was founded in Philadelphia in 1765. Now called Perelman School of Medicine (at the University of Pennsylvania), it is the oldest medical school in the United States.

The Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania is the first business school in the United States.

Market Street Bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, across the Schuylkill River is the first covered bridge in the United States. Pennsylvania has more covered bridges than any other state in the Unites States.

First theater in United States, the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was opened in 1809

Modern oil industry began in Titusville, Pennsylvania when the first successful oil well was dug there on August 27, 1859

Mount Clare, Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American railroading, as the site of the first regular railroad passenger service in the United States, beginning on May 22, 1830

Mount Clare, Pennsylvania received the first telegraph message, "What hath God wrought?" sent on May 24, 1844, from Washington, D.C., using Samuel F. B. Morse's invention

A keystone is a crucial thing on which other interrelated things depend. Pennsylvania played a vital role in bringing the colonies together to form a union and holding together the states of the newly formed Union. That's why Pennsylvania called the keystone state.

World's first electronic general-purpose computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), was built in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1946. The 27-ton computer is built with 17,468 vacuum tubes, 7200 crystal diodes, 1500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and approximately 5,000,000 hand-soldered joints. Its huge power requirement (150000 watts) led to the rumor that whenever the computer was switched on, lights in the city of Philadelphia dimmed. Several tubes burned out almost every day, leaving it nonfunctional about half the time. ENIAC had six primary programmers who not only determined how to input ENIAC programs, but also debugged problems by crawling inside the massive computer to find bad joints and burned out components.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania served as the first Capital of the United States under the First Continental Congress from September 5, 1774 to October 24, 1774. It served as the Capital of the United States under the Second Continental Congress from May 10, 1775 to December 12, 1776. Lancaster, Pennsylvania has the distinction of being capital for merely a day. On September 27, 1777, the Continental Congress was forced to flee Philadelphia because the British had forced them out during the American Revolution. York, Pennsylvania served as the capital of the United States from September 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778 and it is in York the Articles of Confederation were drafted. Philadelphia served as the capital of the United States again from July 2, 1778 to March 1, 1781. Philadelphia was also the first capital under the Articles of Confederation from March 1, 1781 to June 21, 1783. Then for the last time, Philadelphia served as capital of the United States from December 6, 1790 to May 14, 1800 as the then proposed permanent capital city, Washington D.C., was under construction. On November 17, 1800, Washington D.C. took over as the permanent capital of the United States of America