
Pennsylvania Facts, State Trivia & Information
- Pennsylvania is the first state of the fifty United States to list
their web site URL on a license plate.
- In 1909 the first baseball stadium was built in Pittsburgh.
- Hershey is considered the Chocolate Capital of the United States.
- In 1913 the first automobile service station opened in Pittsburgh.
- In 1946 Philadelphia became home to the first computer.
- Bob Hoffman of York is hailed the world round as the Father of
Weightlifting. Hoffman started York Barbell Corp. in 1932 and preached
the gospel of physical fitness throughout his life as an U.S. Olympic
coach, businessman and philanthropist.
- The first daily newspaper was published in Philadelphia on Sept. 21,
1784.
- Philadelphia saw the first Zoological garden in July 1874.
- Drake Well Museum in Titusville is on the site where Edwin L. Drake
drilled the world's first oil well in 1859 and launched the modern
petroleum industry.
- In Hazleton, there is a law on the books that prohibits a person
from sipping a carbonated drink while lecturing students in a school
auditorium.
- In Philadelphia in 1775 Johann Behrent built the first piano in
America calling it under the name "Piano Forte."
- Philadelphia is the site of the first presidential mansion.
- Betsy Ross made the first American flag in Philadelphia.
- "Doctor, if you don't give me something to help me breathe, I'm
going to stop!" came the urgent cry of 16-year old Frederick Gable of
Loganville. Vowing not to lose another patient to pneumonia, Dr. George
Holtzapple successfully created the first application of oxygen, thus
saving his patient's life and winning international fame through his
discovery. The year was 1885.
- Stewartstown hired its first police officer in 1876. He was also the
town lamp lighter.
- Philadelphia is home to the cheesesteak sandwich, water ice, soft
pretzels, and TastyKakes.
- The Rockville Bridge in Harrisburg is the longest stone arch bridge
in the world.
- Kennett Square is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World.
- The town of Franklin became a center for worldwide oil production
following Colonel Edwin Drake's discovery of oil in nearby Titusville.
- The Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia in 1776.
- KDKA radio in Pittsburgh produced the first commercial radio
broadcast.
- Philadelphia is home to the Liberty Bell.
- Each year on Christmas day the "Crossing of the Delaware" is
reenacted at Washington Crossing.
- The Liberty Tunnel in Pittsburgh opened in 1924. At that time the
5,700 foot facility was the longest artificially ventilated automobile
tunnel in the world.
- Pennsylvania is the only original colony not bordered by the
Atlantic Ocean.
- Benjamin Franklin founded the Philadelphia Zoo, the first public zoo
in the United States.
- Indiana County is the Christmas Tree capital of the world.
- Actor Jimmy Stewart was born and raised in the town of Indiana. Each
year at Christmas the downtown area is decorated in the theme of the
film "It's a Wonderful Life".
- Pittsburgh is famous for manufacturing steel. Its professional
football team is named the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- Fairmount Park in Philadelphia is the largest city park with over
8,000 acres.
- Pittsburgh has over 300 sets of city maintained steps. If they were
stacked on top of each other, they would reach over 26,000 feet high.
They would measure higher than a lot of the Himalayan Mountains.
- Little League Baseball's first World Series was held in 1946 in
Williamsport.
- Nazareth is the home of Martin guitars. Finger picking good since
1833.
- The State College Area High School was the first school in the
country to teach drivers education in 1958.
- Philadelphia was once the United States capital city.
- Originally Bellefonte, a town now with a population of 5,000, was
once considered to be Pennsylvania's capital. But Harrisburg was chosen
because of the easy navigation on the Susquehanna River.
- The first coal festival was held 201 years after the establishment
of "Peter’s Camp" on Memorial weekend 1993 in Blossburg.
- The oldest stone railroad bridge in use in Pennsylvania is the
Starrucca Viaduct that crosses PA Route 171 north of Lanesboro in
Susquehanna County.
- In June 1778, a 700 wagon caravan escorted the Liberty Bell on its
return to Philadelphia from Allentown along Towamencin's Allentown Road.
Nine months earlier, when British troops threatened to capture the city,
the bell had been whisked into hiding via the same route.
- The Shenango River Dam near Sharpsville is a concrete gravity dam
with an uncontrolled center spillway. The roadway crossing the top of
the dam, over the spillway is nearly 68 feet above the streambed. The
dam has a top length of 720 feet with a base width of 66 feet.
- At the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works in Doylestown handmade
tiles are still produced in a manner similar to that developed by the
potter's founder and builder, Henry Chapman Mercer.
- The Borough of Kane is known as the Black Cherry Capital of the
World.
- George G. Blaisdell founded Zippo Manufacturing of Bradford in late
1932. He started with a simple idea: create a product that answers a
real need, design it to work, and guarantee it to last.
- When completed in 1882, the Kinzua Railroad Bridge near Mount Jewett
was acclaimed "the highest and longest railroad viaduct in the entire
world." Rising 301 feet from the valley floor at its center, with a
total length of 2100 feet
- Antrim Township is located in South-Central Pennsylvania with its
southern border being a part of the Mason-Dixon line.
- Ringing Hill in Lower Pottsgrove Township is named after the
"ringing rocks" which were known for the unique ringing sound they made
when struck by a hammer.
- During the depression canned goods served as admission to The Star
Theater in Mercersburg to help supply the local soup kitchen.
- Located in the Grape Coast region of Pennsylvania the city of North
East has four thriving wineries and is home to the largest Welch's grape
processing plant in the country.
- Penn Township, officially referred to as the Township of Penn, was
named after the founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn.
- Punxsutawney citizens are proud to be over shadowed by their town's
most famous resident the world-renowned weather forecasting groundhog
Punxsutawney Phil. Punxsutawney is billed as the weather capital of the
world.
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