Philadelphia

Philadelphia, largest city in Pennsylvania, on the Delaware, 100 m. from the sea and 90 m. by rail SW. of New York; is the third city in the Union in population, manufactures, and commerce, regularly built with plain substantial dwelling-houses; recently more splendid public buildings have been erected, the town-hall, of white marble, is the second highest structure in the world; a masonic temple and Government offices of granite and the Mint are also fine buildings; there is a university and colleges of science, medicine, art, and music, many churches, a Roman Catholic cathedral, and many hospitals and charitable institutions; the industries include locomotive building, saw-making, woollen and cotton goods, sugar and oil refining, and chemical works; it trades largely in coal. Founded by William Penn in 1682, it was the central point of the War of Independence; the first Congress met here, and the Declaration of Independence was signed (1776) in a building still standing; here too the Federal Union was signed (1778) and the constitution drawn up (1787), and from 1790 to 1800 it was the capital of the United States.

Population (circa 1900) given as 1,293,000.

Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)