With Fairmount Park's 9,200 acres, the city has the nation's largest landscaped urban park, with winding creeks, rustic trails, and cruisy areas. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, is among the largest American art museums. The city continued to grow in the nineteenth century as a major textiles and industrial center.īesides the many national historical sites that relate to the founding of the United States, such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, there are history museums to see, such as the National Constitution Center, the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia History, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.Īrt museums include the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Rodin Museum, with the largest collection of work by Auguste Rodin outside France. Following independence it remained the most important American city, and capital of the new United States until 1800, while Washington DC was built.
Relatively good relations with local Native tribes and a central location helped Philadelphia to grow rapidly after its 1682 founding, to become by the 1750s the second largest British city after London. William Penn, a Quaker who'd experienced religious persecution, wanted his colony to be a place where anyone could worship freely. See the CDC website for details and updates.įor the latest Philadelphia information see the City of Philadelphia Health Dept and Pennsylvania DOH websites. There are restrictions on the entry of some travelers into the United States in an effort to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Emergency measures in the wake of Covid-19: