210 Scary Facts About Pennsylvania

Interesting Facts About Pennsylvania

Philadelphia was once the United States' capital city.
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.
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.
When it was completed, Kinzua Bridge was the longest and tallest railroad bridge in the world.
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.
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.
When it opened in 1882, the Kinzua Bridge in McKean County, Pennsylvania, was the longest and tallest railroad bridge in the world.
In 1943, the Steelers and Eagles formed a combined team because neither could field a full team due to World War II. The team was called the Steagles and they finished with a winning record, something the Eagles had yet to achieve.
The state also has the oldest gas station in America. It is situated in Altoona and is operational since 1909.
Developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, on February 1954, children of Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received the first injections of the new polio vaccine.
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA, is home to the first complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever found.
Did you know that Pittsburg is famous for manufacturing steel and its NFL team is the Pittsburg Steelers?
The president’s house, home to Presidents George Washington and John Adams, in the city of Philadelphia, served as America’s first executive mansion.
The first transplant of human brain cells – called neurons – was done on 23 June, 1998 on a 62 years old stroke patient at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The patient suffered paralysis of her right arm and leg. She also lost most of her speech. The researchers hoped that the transplanted neurons will grow and replace the damaged neurons in the woman’s brain.
The world’s largest unboxing happened in Pennsylvania when a 3 year old kid was invited by Volvo Trucks to unbox their new model Volvo VNL.
The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the first federal building erected under the Constitution. Philadelphia was selected for the site because, when construction began in 1792, it was the nation’s capital.
The Philadelphia Mint is the oldest coin producer in the U.S. The life expectancy of a circulating coin is 30 years, while paper money usually only lasts for 18 months. In 2018, production facilities in Philadelphia and Denver shipped over 13.1 billion coins to Federal Reserve Banks.
Pennsylvania has the highest concentration of Amish (known for simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology) in the U.S.
Did you know that Pennsylvania produces more mushroom than any other state in the U.S.? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS), nearly two-thirds of the white button mushrooms consumed in the United States comes from Pennsylvania.
President Lincoln delivered his famous speech, “The Gettysburg Address”, in Gettysburg, PA.
Caused by a series of system malfunctions and human errors, the worst nuclear accident in United States history occurred on March 28, 1979, on Three Mile Island near Harrisburg. Fortunately, the health effects of the Three Mile Island accident are widely, but not universally, agreed to be very low level.
Founded in 1751 by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Hospital is one of the nation’s oldest public hospitals. The hospital is also home to America’s first surgical amphitheater and its first medical library.
If you are looking for some fun and magic, visit the Ringing Rock Park in Bucks County. Here you can make the rocks ring by striking them with a hammer.
Before Harrisburg became the capital of Pennsylvania, Lancaster was the state’s capital for over a decade (1799 – 1812). The choice of Harrisburg as the state’s capital became obvious because of the fact that the city was more centrally located, had access to a river; and the four acres of land donated by John Harris Jr. was another point of attraction for the powers to make the move. Being centrally located it provided easy access from all areas of the state when no transportation measures such as cars and airplanes were available.
In 2010, Forbes rated Harrisburg as the second best city in the U.S. to raise a family.
Despite having a small population, the city because of its high concentration of state and federal government agencies, enjoys financial stability.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Potter County, Pennsylvania, is home to the only Triple Continental Divide east of the Mississippi. At this spot, water flows into the Gulf of Mexico (through the Allegheny River), the Chesapeake Bay (through Pine Creek), and the Gulf of St. Lawrence (through the Genesee River).
The polio vaccine was created in Pittsburgh in 1955. Children in the city were the first to be given the new vaccine.
Erie, Pennsylvania, was the snowiest city in the United States (with a population over 100,000) during the 2013-2014 winter. They city received 138.4 inches of snow.
The highest point in PA (Mount Davis at 3,213 feet) is at a lower elevation than the lowest point in the entire state of Colorado (3,315 feet).
The Big Mac was invented by Jim Delligatti, who owned several McDonald’s restaurants near Pittsburgh. It was first served in Uniontown in 1967, and there is even a Big Mac Museum that you can visit.
Frontiersman Daniel Boone was born in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania. His home is open for tours.
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, now owned by Nasdaq Inc. is the oldest stock exchange in the United States. The exchange was originally named as the Board of Brokers of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, the state’s largest city is known as “the city of Brotherly Love” because of the religious tolerance of William Penn, the state’s founder.
Pennsylvania was nicknamed “The Keystone State” because of its geographical location among the thirteen original colonies. A keystone is a stone on which the associated stones depend for support. Because of the state’s central location along the arch of the original thirteen colonies, the state is nicknamed the keystone state.
Philadelphia is the sixth most populous city in the U.S.
Philadelphia is home to five Fortune 1000 companies.
Established in 1937, Philadelphia Housing Authority is the largest landlord in Philadelphia. It is also the nation’s fourth-largest housing authority.
The Comcast Technology Center is the tallest building in Philadelphia and the tenth-tallest in the United States. It was opened to the public in October 2018.
Philadelphia City Hall was once the tallest building in the world.
The smiley face emoticon was invented in Pittsburgh by Carnegie Mellon University Professor Scott Fahlman on September 19, 1982.
The only time George Washington surrendered his army was when he was a 22-year-old colonel in the British Army. His battle and surrender marked the first battle of the French and Indian War.
Stan Musial was born in this home on 6th Avenue in Donora, Pennsylvania.
Baseball Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Ken Griffey, Jr. were both born in Donora, Pennsylvania, on September 21 (though separated by 49 years). Stan Musial played on a high school basketball team with Griffey’s grandfather.
The Jeep was invented by the Bantam Car Company in Butler, PA. However, the U.S. military didn’t think they could produce enough models and gave the plans to Ford.
The world’s first purposefully-dug oil well was dug by Colonel Edwin Drake in 1859 near Titusville, Pennsylvania.
There are 19 Baseball Hall of Famers buried in Pennsylvania. Only California (20) has more. This number includes two of the first five men inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Pittsburgh area was the childhood home of six Hall of Fame quarterbacks: Joe Montana, Joe Namath, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, Johnny Unitas, and George Blanda.
Writer Charles Dickens traveled from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh along the Main Line Canal in 1842. He wrote about his journey in his book, “American Notes.”
Crayola Crayons makes all of their products in Pennsylvania. They produce nearly three billion crayons each year, enough to encircle the globe six times.
Things you didn't know about Pennsylvania: Wanamaker Organ
The Wanamaker Organ is the largest still-functioning pipe organ in the world.
If you are a bicycle enthusiast, you would be glad to know that Philadelphia has 426 miles of bicycle lanes, the most per square mile of any U.S. city. Using bicycles for day to day commute or other purposes keeps you and the environment healthy. Scores of studies have pointed out the benefits of using bicycles including for cardiovascular health, bone strength, stress management and improved joint mobility etc.
If you are in Philadelphia, you are within two-hour flight time from 60% of the population of the United States.
Did you know that the first organized protest against slavery in the Americas was written in 1688 by four Pennsylvania Quakers from Germantown Meeting? The document argued against such inhuman treatment and stressed upon the importance of treating all men alike irrespective of the color of their skin or religion.
Philadelphia was one of the first cities to guarantee religious freedom to all its immigrants.
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.

Historical Facts About Pennsylvania

Little League Baseball’s first World Series was held in 1946 in Williamsport.
Pennsylvania has more than 200 covered bridges, the most that any state has in the country. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of waterfront along Lake Erie and the Delaware River.
Mount Davis (3,213 ft or 979 m) is the highest point in Pennsylvania.
In Pennsylvania, Beef is the third most produced food by value.
According to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, PA Office, between 2011 and 2012, there were 63,200 farms in Pennsylvania covering an area of 7,750,000 acres.
Pittsburg, the second most populous city in PA, has more bridges than Venice. It is also known as “the City of Bridges.” The city has more than 440 bridges.
Pittsburgh is named after William Pitt.
Located in Pittsburg, PA, Bicycle Heaven is the largest transportation museum in the world dedicated to bicycles. The founder of the museum Craig Morrow, is however, not an avid rider but an avid collector. It is an interesting fact that some bikes in his collection are worth more than $50,000. The museum is open to the public seven days a week, at no charge.
Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, co-founded his first steel company near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He sold his company for $480 million and later gave away more than $350 million in philanthropy.
The Byler Amish in the Big Valley of Mifflin County use yellow-topped buggies. This is in stark contrast to the black and grey buggies that are more commonly used, as well as the plain image that the Amish maintain.
The Fair Play Men were illegal squatters along the West Bank of the Susquehanna near Jersey Shore, PA, from 1773-1785. Without knowledge of the events in Philadelphia, they declared their own independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776.
Eastern State Penitentiary had indoor plumbing before the White House.
Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia had indoor plumbing before the White House did.
The Wanamaker Organ is the largest, still-operational pipe organ in the world. It is located inside a Macy’s Department Store in Center City Philadelphia. Free concerts are offered six days a week.
The first drive-in gas station was a Gulf Station that opened in Pittsburgh in 1913.
C.F. Martin Guitars Company in Nazareth is the world’s oldest guitar manufacturer. They have been making their guitars in this Lehigh Valley community since 1833.
The world’s first computer, ENIAC, was built and used at the University of Pennsylvania. It was dedicated on February 15, 1946 and weighed 28 tons.
The Losh Run Box Huckleberry in Perry County is estimated to be 13,000 years old, making it one of the oldest living organisms in the world. It was cut in half and nearly killed by the widening of Route 322 in the 1970s.
If not for World War II, Ricketts Glen would likely be Pennsylvania’s only National Park.
Pennsylvania is the second state, after Delaware, to ratify the Constitution of the United States of America. At the time it was the most ethnically and religiously diverse of the thirteen States.
The Liberty Bell, an iconic symbol of American Independence, is located in Pennsylvania. The bell can be seen in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park. The bell was commissioned from London in 1751 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. The bell was rung at the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
During the American Revolution, the Liberty Bell was moved from Philadelphia to Allentown. It was returned after the British evacuated Philadelphia. On the bell Pennsylvania is spelled with only one “n”. When the bell was created this was an acceptable form of spelling Pennsylvania.
On September 19, 1982, the first internet emoticon, the humble smiley, was invented at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh by Professor Dr. Scott Fahlman. Today, according to some estimate, more than 6 billion emoticons are sent every day.
William Penn was given the land that would become Pennsylvania by King Charles II in 1681 to satisfy a debt the king had with Penn’s father.
Pennsylvania is not named after William Penn…at least not the one you think it was. It is named after his father (who was also named William Penn).
From 1894-1908, Philadelphia City Hall was the tallest habitable building in the world (at 548 feet in height). It is taller and has more rooms than the U.S. Capitol.
Here’s another surprising fact about Pennsylvania’s oil industry. In 1881, Pennsylvania produced more than 75% of the world’s oil.
There is only one town in Pennsylvania: Bloomsburg. Everywhere else is either a city, borough, or township.
This authentic piece of Apollo history once sat outside of a PA Dairy Queen.
One of four surviving Apollo command module boilerplates still in existence once sat in front of a Dairy Queen in Franklin, Pennsylvania. Sadly, it was moved in late 2018.
Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Washington County, Pennsylvania, is the oldest-known site of human habitation in North America dating back 16,000 years.
Until the early 1800s, the largest shipping port in North America was in Philadelphia.
The only piece of Abraham Lincoln’s tomb that was ever removed sits at the base of the Civil War Memorial in Lewistown, PA. It was given to the community in honor of Logan Guard, which were the first soldiers to volunteer to fight in the Civil War.
The first complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever found is on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
The first complete T-rex fossil can be seen in Pittsburgh.
The Tunkhannock Viaduct in Nicholson, PA, was the largest concrete structure in the world when it was completed in 1915.
Half of America’s mushrooms are grown in and around Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
Hugh J. Ward invented Bingo in Pittsburgh in the early 1920s. He originally called the game Beano and used beans as markers.
Leap the Dips at Altoona’s Lakemont Park is the oldest, still-operating roller coaster in the world. It first ran in 1902.
The Warner Brothers got their start leasing the Cascade Theater in New Castle from 1906-1907. They borrowed chairs from the nearby funeral home, but had to return them (and thus were not able to show films) when someone died.
The Foxburg Country Club is the oldest, continually-operating golf course in the U.S.
The Foxburg Country Club in Clarion County is the oldest, continually-used golf course in the United States. It first opened in 1887.
Things created by Benjamin Franklin and first tried in Philadelphia: the postal service, libraries, zoos, and lightning rods.
The first European settlers in Pennsylvania were from Sweden. Their settlement, Fort Nya Gothenburg, started in 1643 on Tinicum Island near Philadelphia International Airport.
Ricketts Glen State Park was on track to become a National Park in the 1930s until World War II diverted funds. It was instead made a state park in 1944.
The world’s first wire cable suspension bridge was built in 1816 over the Falls of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.
Before he became an assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth invested a significant sum of money into an oil venture in Venango County, Pennsylvania. He lost all of his investment.
The exterior of the Harry Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe was the inspiration for the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney World. The mansion is open for events and also functions as a bed and breakfast.
Between 1834 and 1854, the time to travel from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was cut from 20+ days to just 15 hours thanks to advances such as the Allegheny Portage Railroad and the Horseshoe Curve near Altoona.
Beaver Stadium at Penn State University is the third largest stadium in the world. When it is full, there are more people inside the stadium than in all but three Pennsylvania cities.
The world’s first commercial radio station, KDKA, began broadcasting in Pittsburgh on November 2, 1920. The first programming was announcing the presidential election results.
The Patriot & Union Newspaper in Harrisburg (the precursor to The Patriot-News) wrote in November 1863 that Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was “silly” and deserving “a veil of oblivion.” The paper issued a retraction in November 2013. The review was also mocked by Saturday Night Live.
George Washington’s first military mission was to deliver a message from the British to the French at Fort LeBeouf (at present-day Waterford in Erie County). The 21-year-old delivered his message, but it was ignored. Today, Waterford has the only statue of Washington in a British military uniform.
Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn. The name of the state comes from the name of the founder’s father (Admiral William Penn) and not his own. The founder William Penn wanted the state to be named “Sylvania”. (Sylvania is a Latin word meaning “woodlands.”)
It is one of the thirteen original (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island) founding states of the United States.
Did you know that of the original thirteen colonies, Pennsylvania is the only that does not border the Atlantic Ocean? Along with New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Maryland, Pennsylvania is classified as a Middle Atlantic state.
In October 1682, the younger William brought 360 settlers who believed in religious freedom and a fair government to form this 12th of the 13 English colonies.
Philadelphia, the state’s largest city, is home to Independence Hall where the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States’ Constitution were drafted. Philadelphia is also the first planned city in North America.
Benjamin Franklin and Bill Cosby are the famous Pennsylvanians.
The Pennsylvania Packet and daily Advertiser was the nation’s first daily newspaper. It was published first on September 21, 1784.
Pennsylvania is almost rectangular in shape.
The first piano in America was built by Johann Behrent in Philadelphia in 1775.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has the highest densities of haunted houses and hence it is also considered one of the most haunted cities in the U.S.
Before the establishment of Washington D.C. as the permanent capital of the United States of America; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the nation’s capital between 1790 and 1800s.
Did you know that on September 27, 1777, Lancaster served as the country’s capital for just one day?
The first computer in the world–The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer–was invented at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946.
The first Zoo in the United States of America was opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1874.
And the first public library was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731 in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is also the place where the first American Flag was sewn in 1777 by Betsy Ross.
In 1883, the City Hotel in Pennsylvania was the first building to be lit with Thomas Edison’s three-wire system.
Pennsylvania is also home to one of the largest manufacturer of chocolates in the world – “Hershey”. The company is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The company’s products are sold in over 60 countries.
The license plates on automobiles registered in Pennsylvania also have the state’s official website’s URL (www.pa.gov) on it. It is the first state of the 50 states to do so.
The first terraced row houses in the United States were developed in Philadelphia. The oldest row in America, named after its designer Thomas Carstair, can still be found on Sansom Street. Row houses became a popular choice among home buyers at the time. In the early days, after this concept caught up with the general public, regardless of where the row houses were built, they were called “Philadelphia Row Houses.” If you are someone who lives in a row house, now you know the origin of the concept!
Philadelphia is named America’s First World Heritage City.
First held in 1920, the Philadelphia Thanksgiving day Parade is the oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade in America.
Harrisburg is the ninth most populous city in the state. Philadelphia was removed as the state capital in 1799 because it served as the seat of both the state and federal government and it seemed crowded and confusing for the authorities and the public as well.
The Rockville Bridge in Harrisburg, PA, is the longest stone masonry arch railroad bridge in the world. In 1900, at a cost of almost a million dollars, the bridge took two years to build. The mighty bridge has forty-eight 70-foot spans and the bridge runs a distance of 1,160 m.
Harrisburg, PA is also home to the National Civil War Museum. The museum has a collection of manuscripts, documents, photographs, artifacts, and other printed matter that exceeds more than 24,000 items. A visit to the museum would give you the best understanding of the Civil War, its effect on the people and the nation.
Pennsylvania is the first state of the fifty United States to list their web site URL on a license plate.

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