Portal:Philadelphia/Selected article archive/2007

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Philadelphia Portal selected article archive 2006 - 2007 - 2008

[edit] 2007

December

Interstate 476 is a 132.10 mi (212.59 km)-long auxiliary Interstate Highway, designated between Interstate 95 near Chester, Pennsylvania and Interstate 81 near Scranton, Pennsylvania, serves as the primary north-south Interstate corridor through eastern Pennsylvania. It consists of both the 21.5-mile Mid-County Expressway, locally referred to as the "Blue Route", through the suburban-Philadelphia counties of Delaware and Montgomery, and the 110.6-mile Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike connecting the Philadelphia metropolitan area with the Lehigh Valley, the Poconos, and the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. While proposed as early as 1929, the construction of the Mid-County Expressway through Delaware County, Pennsylvania was not completed until 1991 due to massive community and environmental opposition during the freeway revolts of the 1960s and 1970s. Following the completion of the Mid-County Expressway, in 1996 the Interstate 476 designation was extended to include the entire length of the existing Northeast Extension. Since the extension, I-476 has been the longest auxiliary Interstate highway in the United States.
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November

The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, was founded in England in the 17th century as a Christian religious denomination by people who were dissatisfied with existing denominations and sects of Christianity. Historians generally credit George Fox as the principal co-founder or most important early leader. The Society of Friends is counted among the historic peace churches. Since its origins in England, Quakerism has spread to other countries, chiefly Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Kenya, Peru, and the United States. The total number of Quakers is relatively few (about 350,000 worldwide), although there are places, such as Pennsylvania (particularly Philadelphia), in which Quaker influence is concentrated. Unlike many other groups that emerged within Christianity, the Religious Society of Friends has eschewed formal creeds, and in modern times has avoided hierarchical structure. The several branches have widely divergent beliefs and practices, but the central concept to many Friends is the "Inner Light". Accordingly, individual Quakers may develop personal religious beliefs arising from their own conscience and revelation coming from "God within"; further, Quakers feel obliged to live by such individual religious beliefs and inner revelations. Although Quakers have largely considered themselves part of a Christian movement, some Friends (principally in some Meetings in the United States and the United Kingdom) now consider themselves universalist, agnostic, atheist, nonrealist, humanist, postchristian, or nontheist, or do not accept any religious label.
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October

The list of tallest buildings in Philadelphia include the city's tallest building, the 57-story Comcast Center, which rises 975 feet (297 meters). Comcast Center is currently the 13th tallest building in the United States. Philadelphia's history of tall buildings is generally thought to begin with the 1744 completion of Christ Church, which served as one of America's first high-rise structures. In the early 20th century, a 'gentlemen's agreement' existed that prevented buildings from rising higher than the 548 foot (167 m) Philadelphia City Hall. Despite this agreement, Philadelphia amassed a large collection of highrise buildings. The completion of One Liberty Place in 1987 broke the gentleman's agreement, and since then Philadelphia has seen the construction of seven skyscrapers that eclipse the City Hall in height. Philadelphia has twice held the tallest habitable building in the United States, first with the Christ Church and then with the City Hall. The Philadelphia City Hall served as the world's tallest building from 1901 to 1908, Like other large American cities, Philadelphia went through a massive building boom in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in the completion of over 20 highrise buildings. The city boasts 10 skyscrapers that stand at least 500 feet (152 m) tall.
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September

The history of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania goes back to 1682, when the city was founded by William Penn. Before then, the area was inhabited by the Lenape (Delaware) Indians and European settlers who first arrived in the area in the early 1600s. Philadelphia quickly grew into an important colonial city and during the American Revolution was the site of the First and Second Continental Congresses. After the Revolution the city was chosen to be the temporary capital of the United States. At the beginning of the 19th Century the federal and state governments left Philadelphia, but the city was still the cultural and financial center of the country. Philadelphia became one of the first industrial centers in the United States, and the city contained a variety of industries, the largest being textiles. After the American Civil War Philadelphia's government was controlled by a corrupt Republican political machine and by the beginning of the 20th Century Philadelphia was described as "corrupt and contented." Various reform efforts slowly changed city government with the most significant in 1950 where a new city charter strengthened the position of mayor and weakened the Philadelphia City Council. At the same time Philadelphia moved its support from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party which has since created a strong Democratic organization. The city began a population decline in the 1950s as mostly white and middle class families left for the suburbs. Many of Philadelphia's houses were in poor condition and lacked proper facilities, and gang and mafia warfare plagued the city. Revitalization and gentrification of certain neighborhoods started bringing people back to the city. Promotions and incentives in the 1990s and the early 21st century have improved the city's image and created a condominium boom in Center City and the surrounding areas that has slowed the population decline.
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August

Interstate 95 in the state of Pennsylvania, officially known as the Delaware Expressway and locally known as "95," runs for 51 miles from the Delaware state line near Marcus Hook to the New Jersey state line crossing the Delaware River near Yardley. It parallels its namesake Delaware River for its entire route through the city of Philadelphia and its suburbs. It is a major route through the city and the metropolitan Delaware Valley, providing access to locally important landmarks such as Philadelphia International Airport, the Philadelphia Sports Complex, Penn's Landing, and Franklin Mills. The road is among the busiest in the commonwealth, second only to the Schuylkill Expressway. An estimated 169,000 motorists utilize the road daily.
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July

The Cradle of Liberty Council is a Boy Scouts of America council created in 1996 with the merger of the former Philadelphia Area Council, covering the city and county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the former Valley Forge Council, covering both Delaware County, Pennsylvania and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is the largest council in Pennsylvania and is the third largest in the entire Boy Scouts of America. Cradle of Liberty Council operates three camps in Pennsylvania: the Treasure Island Scout Reservation, the Musser Scout Reservation near Green Lane, and the Resica Falls Scout Reservation, north of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains.
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June

The Schuylkill Expressway is a freeway through southeastern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, and the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 in the state of Pennsylvania. It extends from the Valley Forge exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in King of Prussia, paralleling its namesake Schuylkill River for most of the route, to the Walt Whitman Bridge in South Philadelphia. It serves as the primary corridor into Philadelphia from points west. Constructed over a period of ten years from 1949 to 1959, a large portion of the expressway predates the 1956 introduction of Interstate Highway System; many of these portions were not built to contemporary standards. The rugged terrain and limited riverfront space covered by the route has largely stymied later attempts to upgrade or widen the highway, despite the road being highly over-capacity; it has become notorious for its chronic congestion. The Schuylkill Expressway is the busiest road in Philadelphia, as well as in the entire state of Pennsylvania.
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May

The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, the sport began a slow decline in the country. This decline was furthered by the rise in popularity of baseball. In Philadelphia, however, the sport remained very popular and from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I, the city produced a first class team that rivaled many others in the world. The team was comprised of players from the four chief cricket clubs in Philadelphia–Germantown, Merion, Belmont, and Philadelphia. Players from smaller clubs, such as Tioga and Moorestown, and local colleges, such as Haverford and Penn, also played for the Philadelphians. Over its 35 years, the team played in 88 first-class cricket matches. Of those, 29 were won, 45 were lost, 13 were drawn and one game was abandoned before completion.
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April

Interstate 295 in New Jersey and Delaware is a bypass route from a junction with Interstate 95 south of Wilmington, Delaware to another junction with I-95 north of Trenton, New Jersey. The route runs parallel with the New Jersey Turnpike for most of its course. Interstate 295 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway, designated as a beltway around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Interstate 95 serves the city directly, connecting it with Wilmington and Trenton, whereas I-295 bypasses the city running east of the Delaware River. Interstate 95 was originally supposed to continue northeast from the routes' junction near Trenton on the proposed Somerset Freeway, but this plan was cancelled, limiting I-295's capability as a true bypass between Baltimore and New York City. Today, traffic on Interstate 295 is directed to take Interstate 195 (or surface street connections further south) to the New Jersey Turnpike to reach New York City. The same route is prescribed for traffic on I-95 in Pennsylvania and near Trenton to bridge the gap with I-95 further north.
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March

ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was the first large-scale, electronic, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems, although earlier computers had been built with some of these properties. ENIAC was designed and built to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory. The first problems run on the ENIAC however, were related to the design of the hydrogen bomb. The contract was signed on June 5, 1943 and Project PX was constructed by the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering. It was unveiled on February 14, 1946 at Penn, having cost almost $500,000. ENIAC was shut down on November 9, 1946 for a refurbishment and a memory upgrade, and was transferred to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland in 1947. There, on July 29 of that year, it was turned on and would be in continuous operation until 11:45 p.m. on October 2, 1955. ENIAC was conceived and designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania. The patent for the ENIAC, granted in 1964, was voided by the 1973 decision of the landmark federal court case Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, putting the invention of the electronic digital computer in the public domain.
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February

Music of Philadelphia has seen innovations in classical music, opera, R&B, jazz and soul. Philadelphia's musical institutions have long played an important role in the music of Pennsylvania, as well as a nationwide impact, especially in the early development of hip hop music. Philadelphia's diverse population has also given it a reputation for styles ranging from dancehall to Irish traditional music, as well as a thriving classical and folk music scene. Philadelphia's musical heritage has been described by music author Richie Unterberger, as "not nearly as (influential) in American popular music as its size might indicate", which Unterberger attributes to a "[musical] shadow thrown by New York", which is not far north of Philadelphia. Nevertheless, Unterberger notes that Philadelphia has "played an important part in the history of rock and roll by being home to one of the most dependable audiences on the planet, rather than as an incubator of major performers". Unterberger also noted Philadelphia's role as a home to major radio personalities and DJs, as well as a major popular music field, Philadelphia soul. However, Philadelphia has also been described as a city that "lives and breathes music" with a "creative, artistic and fresh" vibe.
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January

The Philadelphia Inquirer is a daily morning newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States. Owned by the local group Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., The Inquirer has the eighth largest weekly U.S. newspaper circulation, and has won eighteen Pulitzer Prizes. Throughout The Inquirer's history, the paper has risen and fallen in prominence. The Inquirer first became a major newspaper during the American Civil War when The Inquirer's war coverage was popular on both sides. After the war the paper's circulation dramatically dropped, but was reinvigorated by the end of the 19th century. While founded with support towards the Democratic Party The Inquirer's political affiliation eventually shifted towards the Whig Party and then the Republican Party before officially becoming politically independent in the middle of the 20th century. By the end of the 1960s The Inquirer trailed behind its chief competitor and lacked modern facilities and experienced staff. However, new owners and editors in the 1970s turned The Inquirer into one of the most prominent newspapers in the country, winning seventeen Pulitzers in fifteen years. Since then, the prestige The Inquirer found in the 1980s has mostly disappeared because of cost cutting and a shift of focus to more local coverage.
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