Timeline of Pennsylvania
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330Mil BC The body impressions of
salamander-like creatures, estimated to be 330 million years old, were
later found in sandstone rocks collected in eastern Pennsylvania and
stored in the museum in Reading, Pa.
(AP, 10/30/07)
1612 The French explorer Etienne
Brule is believed to be the first European to see the Great Lakes.
Brule, believed to have been born in 1592, journeyed to North America
with Samuel de Champlain in 1608 and helped found Quebec. Brule
explored Lake Huron in 1612 and is believed to have also explored Lakes
Ontario, Erie and Superior after 1615. Brule is the first European to
live among the Indians and was probably the first European to set foot
in what is now Pennsylvania. Brule was eventually killed by the Hurons,
for reasons never known, in 1632.
(HNQ, 6/29/98)
1644 Oct 14, William Penn, founder
of Pennsylvania, or Penn's Woods, was born.
(HN, 10/14/98)
1681 Mar 4, England's King Charles
II granted a charter to William Penn (37) for 48,000 square miles that
later became Pennsylvania. Penn’s father had bequeathed him a claim of
£15,000 against the king. Penn later laid out the city of
Philadelphia as a gridiron about 2 miles long, east to west, and a mile
wide.
(PCh, 1992, p.259)(AP, 3/4/98)(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T1)
1682 Oct 26, William Penn accepted
the area around the Delaware River from Duke of York.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1682 Oct 29, The founder of
Pennsylvania, William Penn, landed at what is now Chester, Pa. William
Penn founded Philadelphia. Penn founded Pennsylvania as a "Holy
Experiment" based on Quaker principles.
(AP, 10/29/97)(SFEC, 6/21/98, Z1 p.8)(SSFC, 8/5/01,
p.C10)
1682 William Penn established
Bucks County as one of Pennsylvania’s 3 original counties.
(WSJ, 3/22/08, p.R7)
1683 Jun 23, William Penn signed a
friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania. It became
the only treaty "not sworn to, nor broken."
(HN, 6/23/98)(MC, 6/23/02)
1683 Oct 6, 13 Mennonite families
from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in present-day Philadelphia to begin
Germantown, one of America's oldest settlements. They were encouraged
by William Penn's offer of 5,000 acres of land in the colony of
Pennsylvania and the freedom to practice their religion.
(AP,
10/6/97)(www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/germantown.html)
1686 The Lenape Indians allegedly
sold land along the Lehigh River to William Penn.
(ON, 1/03, p.6)
1688 Feb 18, At a Quaker meeting
in Germantown, Pa, German Mennonites penned a memorandum stating a
profound opposition to Negro slavery. Quakers in Germantown, Pa.,
adopted the fist formal antislavery resolution in America.
(HN,
2/18/99)(www.germanheritage.com/Publications/cronau/cronau4.html)
1692 Mar 18, William Penn was
deprived of his governing powers.
(HN, 3/18/98)
1699 Jonathan Dickinson, after
resuming his mercantile business in Philadelphia, authored "God’s
Protecting Providence," a journal of his Florida ordeal.
(ON, 9/00, p.5)
1700 May 7, William Penn began
monthly meetings for Blacks advocating emancipation.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1701 Oct 28, William Penn
presented a Charter of Privileges for the Province of Pennsylvania
during his 2nd and last visit to the colony. Among its provisions was
one establishing total religious freedom and tolerance to those who
wanted to live in peace in the colony. It remained as Pennsylvania's
constitution until the outbreak of the American Revolution (1775-1783).
(www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/pa07.htm)
1712 Jun 7, The Pennsylvania
Assembly banned the importation of slaves.
(HN, 6/7/98)
1718 Jul 30, William Penn, English
Quaker, colonizer (No cross, no crown), died.
(MC, 7/30/02)
1720s The Ephrata Cloister
communal society in Amish country near Philadelphia was founded by a
former elder of the German Dunkers (German Baptists who later became
the Church of the Brethren).
(Hem, 6/96,
p.107)(http://www.cob-net.org/cloister.htm)
1722 Quaker Jonathan Dickinson
died. He had become one of the wealthiest men in the city and served as
twice as mayor.
(ON, 9/00, p.5)
1726 Jul 23, Benjamin Franklin
sailed back to Philadelphia.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1726 Oct 11, Benjamin Franklin
returned to Philadelphia from England.
(MC, 10/11/01)
1730 Benjamin Franklin became the
official printer for Pennsylvania. He ultimately became the official
printer for several colonial governments.
(AH, 2/06, p.48)
1730s German gun makers located in
Pennsylvania began producing the Kentucky rifle, so named because it
was intended for use on the Kentucky frontier. Its gunpowder was
ignited with sparks struck when the hammer, containing a piece of
flint, was released. The flintlock Kentucky rifle, with its extra long
barrel and small caliber, was the most accurate rifle of its day and
was used widely in the French and Indian Wars and American Revolution.
(HNQ, 12/21/99)
1731 Jul 1, The “Instrument of
Association” for the Library Company of Philadelphia was signed
under the leadership of Benjamin Franklin. It was America’s first
circulating library.
(www.librarycompany.org/Lemay1.pdf)(AH, 2/06, p.56)
1732 Feb 26, The 1st mass
celebrated in American Catholic church was at St Joseph's Church,
Philadelphia.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1732 Nov 14, 1st US professional
librarian, Louis Timothee, was hired in Phila.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1732 Dec 28, The first Poor
Richard's Almanac was published along with the 1st known ad in the
Pennsylvania Gazette. The Almanack was published by Richard Saunders
(really Ben Franklin). [see Dec 19]
(HFA, '96, p.20)(MC, 12/28/01)
1733 The Pennsylvania city of
Reading became one of America's first producers of iron and was for
nearly a century the foremost in the country. Settled in 1733 by the
sons of William Penn, the city is situated on the Schuylkill River in
the southeastern part of the state. The Reading foundries furnished
cannon for the American forces in the Revolutionary War and the Union
during the Civil War.
(HNQ, 5/6/98)
1740 Sep 11, The first mention of
an African American doctor or dentist in the colonies was made in the
Pennsylvania Gazette.
(HN, 9/11/98)
1741 Feb 13, Andrew Bradford of
Pennsylvania published the first American magazine. Titled "The
American Magazine, or A Monthly View of the Political State of the
British Colonies." Bradford introduced his American Magazine just days
before Benjamin Franklin founded his periodical called General Magazine
in Philadelphia. Bradford’s survived 3 months while Franklin’s survived
for 6 months.
(HFA, '96, p.24)(HNQ, 9/3/98)(AP, 2/13/01)
1741 Feb 16, Benjamin Franklin's
General Magazine (2nd US Mag) began publishing.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1743 Benjamin Franklin and John
Bartram founded the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia as
an American counterpart to the British Royal Society.
(WSJ, 4/25/09,
p.W3)(www.amphilsoc.org/library/exhibits/nature/stork.htm)
1745 Dec 24, Benjamin Rush,
American medical pioneer and signer of the Declaration of Independence,
was born in Byberry, Pa.
(HN, 12/24/98)(MC, 12/24/01)
1746 Linden Hall, a girls’
boarding school, opened in Lititz, Pa.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)
1750 Benjamin Franklin sent up a
kite during a thunderstorm and established that lightning is a form of
electricity.
(V.D.-H.K.p.269)
1750 Teedyuscung, a Lenape Indian,
joined the Christian mission of Gnadenhutten, founded by Swiss Moravian
settlers in the Lehigh Valley town of Bethlehem.
(ON, 1/03, p.6)
1751 May 11, The 1st US hospital
was founded in Pennsylvania. [see Feb 11, 1752]
(MC, 5/11/02)
1752 Feb 11, Pennsylvania
Hospital, the 1st hospital in the US, opened.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1752 May 10, Benjamin Franklin 1st
tested his lightning rod. [see Jun 15]
(MC, 5/10/02)
1752 May 11, The 1st US fire
insurance policy issued in Philadelphia.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1752 Jun 10, Benjamin Franklin's
kite was struck by lightning as he flew it during a thunderstorm [see
May 10, Jun 15].
(SFC, 6/10/09, p.D8)
1752 Jun 15, Benjamin Franklin and
his son tested the relationship between electricity and lightning by
flying a kite in a thunder storm. [see May 10]
(HN, 6/15/01)
1752 Sep 1, The Liberty Bell
arrived in Philadelphia.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1752 In the summer of this year
Benjamin Franklin installed the world’s 1st lightning rods at the
Pennsylvania State House.
(WSJ, 8/15/05, p.D8)
1753 Dec 12, George Washington,
the adjutant of Virginia, delivered an ultimatum to the French forces
at Fort Le Boeuf, south of Lake Erie, reiterating Britain’s claim to
the entire Ohio river valley.
(HN, 12/12/98)
1753 Dec 14, French Captain
Jacques Le Gardeur rejected the pretensions of the English to ownership
of the Ohio Valley, but promised to forward Virginia Gov. Dinwiddie’s
letter of trespass to his superiors in Canada.
(ON, 9/05, p.2)
1753 Benjamin Franklin use the
pages of his Poor Richard’s Almanac to make a case for using lightning
rods atop tall structures making storms less dangerous.
(WSJ, 8/15/05, p.D8)
1754 Jan 6, Major George
Washington, while returning to Virginia, encountered a party of English
settlers and militiamen at Will’s Creek sent by Gov. Dinwiddie to
establish a fort and trading post at the Forks of the Ohio.
(ON, 9/05, p.2)
1754 Apr 2, A small expeditionary
force of 159 men under Lt. Col. George Washington arrived at Will’s
Creek and learned that the French had taken over the new Fort Prince
George at the Forks of the Ohio from British soldiers and frontiersmen
and renamed it Fort Duquesne.
(ON, 9/05, p.2)
1754 Apr, Teedyuscung, a Lenape
Indian, joined the Iraquois Indians in the Wyoming Valley along the
banks of the Susquehanna River.
(ON, 1/03, p.6)
1754 May 9, The first American
newspaper cartoon was published. The illustration in Benjamin
Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette showed a snake cut into sections, each
part representing an American colony; the caption read, "Join or die."
(AP, 5/9/97)(HN, 5/9/98)
1754 May 28, Col. George
Washington led a 40-man detachment that defeated French and Indian
forces in a skirmish near Great Meadows, Pa.
(ON, 9/05, p.3)
1754 Jun 19, The Albany Congress
opened. New York colonial Gov. George Clinton called for the meeting to
discuss better relations with Indian tribes and common defensive
measures against the French. The attendees included Indians and
representatives from Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Benjamin Franklin
attended and presented his Plan of Union, which was adopted by the
conference. The meeting ended on July 11.
(AH, 2/06,
p.45)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Congress)
1754 Jul 3, George Washington
surrendered the small, circular Fort Necessity (later Pittsburgh) in
southwestern Pennsylvania to the French, leaving them in control of the
Ohio Valley. This marked the beginning of the French and Indian War
also called the 7 Years' War. In 2005 Fred Anderson authored “The War
That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War.”
(HN, 7/13/98)(Arch, 1/05, p.46)(WSJ, 12/14/05, p.D15)
1754 Nov 29, The Gnadenhutten
mission, Pa., was attacked by renegade Lenape Indians and 11 white
people were killed.
(ON, 1/03, p.7)
1755 Jul 9, General Edward
Braddock was mortally wounded when French and Indian troops ambushed
his force of British regulars and colonial militia, which was on its
way to attack France's Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). Gen. Braddock's
troops were decimated at Fort Duquesne, where he refused to accept
Washington's advice on frontier style fighting. British Gen'l. Braddock
gave his bloody sash to George Washington at Fort Necessity just before
he died on Jul 13.
(A & IP, ESM, p.11)(HN, 7/9/98)(WSJ, 1/5/98,
p.A20)
1755 Jul 13, Edward Braddock (60),
British general, died following the July 9, 1755 battle at Fort
Duquesne (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Out of the 1,400 British soldiers
who were in involved in the battle, 900 of them died. Future President
George Washington carried Braddock from the field and officiated at his
burial ceremony. The general was buried in a road his men had built.
The army then marched over the grave to obliterate any traces of it and
continued to eastern Pennsylvania. After the French and Indian War
(1754-1763), the Braddock Road remained a main road. In 1804, some
workmen discovered human remains in the road near where Braddock was
supposed to have been buried. The remains were re-interred on a small
knoll adjacent to the road. In 1913 the marker was placed there.
Braddock was born in Perthshire, Scotland, about 1695, the son of
Major-General Edward Braddock (died 1725).
(www.nps.gov/fone/braddock.htm)
1755 Dec 31, Teedyuscung, a Lenape
Indian, led 30 Lenape Indians on a raid against English plantations
along the Delaware River. Over the next few days his band killed 7 men
and took 5 prisoners.
(ON, 1/03, p.6)
1755 Benjamin Franklin, a patriot
of the American Revolution, served as a colonel of the Pennsylvania
militia in the French and Indian War. Benjamin Franklin, at forty-nine,
had already lived through two wars between the French and the English
and their colonists. His face was puffy and smooth from gout, his
once-powerful swimmer’s body overweight and rounded into a barrel shape.
(HNQ, 8/6/01)
1756 Jun 4, Quakers left the
assembly of Pennsylvania.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1756 Nov 12, Teedyuscung, a Lenape
Indian, spoke with Gov. Denny at Easton, Pa., to discuss grievances.
(ON, 1/03, p.6)
1756 German-speaking Moravians
founded the town of Lititz, 35 miles southeast of Harrisburg, Pa.
Non-Moravians were not allowed to live there until 1855.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)
1757 Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
helped set up America’s first street cleaning service in Philadelphia.
(Econ, 2/28/09, SR p.5)
1757 Benjamin Franklin sailed for
England. He spent almost two decades there as colonial agent, a
combination lobbyist, ambassador, and banker, for Pennsylvania and,
eventually Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. He lived in London at
36 Craven St.
(WSJ, 8/8/95, p. A12)(USAT, 9/22/03, p.16A)
1758 Nov 25, In the French and
Indian War British forces under General John Forbes captured Fort
Duquesne (the site of present day Pittsburgh, est. 1754). George
Washington participated in the campaign. Forbes renamed the site Fort
Pitt after William Pitt the Elder, who directed British military policy
in the Seven Years' War of 1756-'63. Before his arrival, the French had
burned the fort and retreated.
(AP, 11/25/97)(ON, 9/05, p.5)(HNQ, 7/17/98)
1758 Feb 15, The 1st mustard
manufactured in America was advertised in Philadelphia.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)(HCB, 2003, p. 94)
1760 Feb 14, Richard Allen
(d.1831), 1st black ordained by a Methodist-Episcopal church, was born
in Philadelphia.
(HN, 2/14/98)
1760s-1770s John Cadwalader, Revolutionary War
General, commissioned dozens of furniture pieces from the finest
craftsmen in Pennsylvania. He had married Elizabeth Lloyd, the
wealthiest woman in colonial America.
(WSJ, 9/24/99, p.W9)
1761 French and Indians forces in
the Ohio Valley were defeated.
(ON, 1/03, p.7)
1763 Apr 19, Teedyuscung, a Lenape
Indian leader, burned to death while sleeping in his cabin in the
Wyoming Valley, Pa. The fire destroyed the whole Indian village. A few
days later settlers from Connecticut arrived to resume their
construction of a town.
(ON, 1/03, p.6)
1763 May 7, Indian chief Pontiac
began his attack on a British fort in present-day Detroit, Michigan.
Ottawa Chief Pontiac led an uprising in the wild, distant lands that
later became Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
(HN, 7/24/98)(HN, 5/7/99)
1763 Aug 5, Colonel Henry Bouquet
decisively defeated the Indians at the Battle of Bushy Run in
Pennsylvania during Pontiac's rebellion.
(HN, 8/5/98)
1763 Nov 15, Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon began surveying Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania
and Maryland. They surveyed 233 miles by 1767 when Indians of the Six
nations told them they could not proceed any further west.
(MC, 11/15/01)(ON, 2/04, p.10)
1767 Oct 9, The survey party of
Mason and Dixon came to a halt after 233 miles when Indians of the Six
Nations said they had reached the end of their commission. [see Oct 18]
(ON, 2/04, p.10)
1767 Oct 18, The boundary between
Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Mason-Dixon line, was agreed upon. It
was first surveyed in 1763 to 1767 by two British astronomers, Charles
Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, in order to settle a dispute between the
Calvert and Penn families, the owners at that time of the two states in
question. The survey, begun in 1763 and completed four years later,
done by English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to resolve a
land-grant boundary dispute between the families of Lord Baltimore and
William Penn, resulted in the Mason-Dixon Line. The line, extended in
1784, came to be known as the dividing line between free-soil states
and slave states.
http://freespace.virgin.net/john.cletheroe/usa_can/usa/mas_dix.htm
(AP, 10/18/97)(HNQ, 9/8/99)
1771 Jun 12, Patrick Gass, Sgt. of
Lewis & Clark Expedition, was born in Falling Springs, PA.
(MC, 6/12/02)
1773 Feb 26, Construction was
authorized for Walnut St. jail in Philadelphia, (1st solitary).
(SC, 2/26/02)
1773 Dec 26, Expulsion of tea
ships from Philadelphia.
(MC, 12/26/01)
1774 Jul 12, Citizens of Carlisle,
Penn., passed a declaration of independence.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1774 Sep 5, The first Continental
Congress assembled in Philadelphia in a secret session in Carpenter's
Hall with representatives from every colony except Georgia. Tensions
had been tearing at relations between the colonists and the government
of King George III. The British taking singular exception to the 1773
shipboard tea party held in Boston harbor. The dispute convinced
Britain to pass the "Intolerable Acts"- 4 of which were to punish Mass.
for the Boston Tea Party. Peyton Randolph of Williamsburg, Va., chaired
the 1st Continental Congress.
(AP, 9/5/97)(HNQ, 6/25/00)(AH, 10/04, p.14)
1774 Sep 26, John Chapman
(d.1845), later known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in
Massachusetts. A pioneer agriculturalist of early America,
Chapman began his trek in 1797, collecting apple seedlings from western
Pennsylvania and establishing apple nurseries around the early American
frontier. Chapman was a Swedenborgian missionary, a land speculator, a
heavy drinker and an eccentric dresser (he hated shoes and seldom wore
them. He planted orchards across western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and
Indiana from seed.
(www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=94)(T&L, 10/1980,
p.42)(HNQ, 9/4/01)(ON, 4/09, p.10)
1774 Oct 26, The first Continental
Congress, which protested British measures and called for civil
disobedience, concluded in Philadelphia. The Congress had met at the
Philadelphia Carpenter's Hall.
(AP, 10/26/97)(HN, 10/26/98)(SFEC, 2/20/00, Z1 p.2)
1775 Apr 13, Lord North extended
the New England Restraining Act to South Carolina, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The act forbade trade with any
country other than Britain and Ireland.
(HN, 4/13/99)
1775 Apr 14, The first American
society for the abolition of slavery was organized by Benjamin Franklin
and Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia.
(AP, 4/14/97) (HN, 4/14/98)
1775 May 5, Benjamin Franklin
arrived in Philadelphia following almost a decade in Europe.
(AH, 2/06, p.52)
1775 May 10, The Second
Continental Congress convened in Pennsylvania. It named George
Washington as supreme commander. Benjamin Franklin represented
Pennsylvania soon presented his reworked Plan of Union under the title
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Continental_Congress)(AH, 2/06,
p.47)
1775 Jul 26, The Continental
Congress established a postal system for the colonies with Benjamin
Franklin as the first postmaster general in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/26/97)(HN, 7/26/98)
1776 Jul 4, The Continental
Congress approved adoption of the amended Declaration of Independence,
prepared by Thomas Jefferson and signed by John Hancock--President of
the Continental Congress--and Charles Thomson, Congress secretary,
without dissent. However, the New York delegation abstained as directed
by the New York Provisional Congress. On July 9, the New York Congress
voted to endorse the declaration. On July 19, Congress then resolved to
have the "Unanimous Declaration" inscribed on parchment for the
signature of the delegates. Among the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, two went on to become presidents of the United States,
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence was
signed by president of Congress John Hancock and secretary Charles
Thomson. John Hancock said, "There, I guess King George will be able to
read that." referring to his signature on the Declaration of
Independence. Other signers later included Benjamin Rush and Robert
Morris. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, eight
were born outside North America. In 2007 David Armitage authored “The
Declaration of Independence: A Global History.”
(HN, 7/4/98)(SFC,12/19/97,p.B6)(SFC,2/9/98,
p.A19)(HNQ, 9/10/00)(WSJ, 1/4/07, p.B11)
1776 Jul 5, The Declaration of
Independence was first printed by John Dunlop in Philadelphia. 200
copies were prepared July 5-6 and distributed to the states.
(HN, 7/5/98)(HNQ, 7/4/99)(SFC, 7/4/01, p.A3)
1776 Jul 6, The US Declaration of
Independence was announced on the front page of "PA Evening Gazette."
(MC, 7/6/02)
1776 Jul 8, Col. John Nixon gave
the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence to a crowd
gathered at Independence Square in Philadelphia. The reading was
announced by the "Liberty Bell." The bell had the inscription:
"proclaim liberty throughout all the land onto all the inhabitants
thereof."
(AP, 7/8/97)(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T5)
1776 Aug 2, In Philadelphia
most members of the Continental Congress began attaching their
signatures to the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Benjamin Harrison was one of the signers. His son and grandson later
became the 9th and 23rd presidents of the US. Most of the 55 signatures
were affixed on August 2, but Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire, who
was not a member of Congress when the declaration was adopted, added
his name in November.
(Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.61)(SFC, 5/7/96,
p.A-6)(AP, 8/2/97)(HNQ, 7/4/99)
1775 Dec 18-1775 Dec 27, In
Philadelphia Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Francis Daymon, members of
the Committee of Secret Correspondence, met 3 times at Carpenter’s Hall
with French agent Chevalier Julien-Alexandre Achard de Bonvouloir
regarding French support for American Independence.
(AH, 2/06, p.58)
1775 Nov 10, The US Marines were
organized under authority of the Continental Congress. Congress
commissioned Samuel Nicholas to raise two Battalions of Marines. That
very day, Nicholas set up shop in Philadelphia’s Tun Tavern. He
appointed Robert Mullan, then the proprietor of the tavern, to the job
of chief Marine Recruiter serving, of course, from his place of
business at Tun Tavern.
(AP,
11/10/97)(www.usmcpress.com/heritage/usmc_heritage.htm)
1776 Mar 2, The American Secret
Committee of Correspondence appointed Connecticut lawyer Silas Deane as
a special envoy to negotiate with the French government for aid.
(AH, 2/06, p.59)
1776 Dec 2, George Washington's
army began retreating across the Delaware River from New Jersey to
Pennsylvania. In 2004 David Hackett Fischer authored "Washington's
Crossing."
(WSJ, 2/6/04, p.W8)
1776 Dec 8, George Washington's
retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River
from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
(AP, 12/8/97)
1776 Dec 25, Gen. George
Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise
attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, N.J.
(AP, 12/25/97)
1776 The Quakers of Pennsylvania
abolished slavery within the Society of Friends and then took their
crusade to society at large by petitioning the state legislature to
outlaw the practice.
(AH, 10/02, p.50)
1777 Jun 14, The Continental
Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national
flag. America's Flag Day, commemorates the date when John Adams spoke
the following words before the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
"Resolved, that the Flag of the thirteen United States shall be
thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen
stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation." Over
the years, there have been 27 versions of the American flag. The
present version was adopted on July 4, 1960, when Hawaii became the
50th state.
(AP, 6/14/97)(HNQ, 6/14/98)
1777 Jul 4, No member of Congress
thought about commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of
Independence until July 3 - one day too late. So the first organized
elaborate celebration of independence occurred the following day: July
4, 1777, in Philadelphia.
(http://tinyurl.com/mpsa8y)
1777 Sep 11, General George
Washington and his troops were defeated by the British under General
Sir William Howe at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. Posing as
a gunsmith, British Sergeant John Howe served as General Gage's eyes in
a restive Massachusetts colony.
(HN, 9/11/98)
1777 Sep 20, British Dragoons
massacred sleeping Continental troops at Paoli, Pa.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1777 Sep 25, English general
William Howe conquered Philadelphia. [see Sep 26]
(MC, 9/25/01)
1777 Sep 26, The British army
launched a major offensive during the American Revolution, capturing
Philadelphia. [see Sep 25]
(HN, 9/26/99)(AP, 9/26/97)
1777 Sep 27, At the Battle of
Germantown the British defeated Washington's army. English General
William Howe occupied Philadelphia. [see Sep 25,26]
(MC, 9/27/01)
1777 Sep 30, The Congress of the
United States, forced to flee in the face of advancing British forces,
moved to York, Pennsylvania.
(AP, 9/30/00)
1777 Oct 4, George Washington's
troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Penn.,
resulting in heavy American casualties. British General Sir William
Howe repelled Washington's last attempt to retake Philadelphia,
compelling Washington to spend the winter at Valley Forge.
(AP, 10/4/97)(HN, 10/4/98)
1777 Nov 15, The Continental
Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation in York, Pa. These
instituted the perpetual union of the United States of America and
served as a precursor to the U.S. Constitution. The structure of the
Constitution was inspired by the Iroquois Confederacy of six major
northeastern tribes. The matrilineal society of the Iroquois later
inspired the suffragist movement.
(PCh, 1992, p.325)(AP, 11/15/97)(SFEC, 4/19/98, BR
p.2)(HN, 11/15/98)
1777 Dec 2, British officers under
Gen. Howe met in the Philadelphia home of Lydia Darragh to discuss
plans to the attack American forces on December 5, just prior to Gen.
Washington’s planned move to Valley Forge. Mrs. Darragh listened in on
the plans and sent word to Whitemarsh of the impending attack.
(ON, 8/07, p.8)
1777 Dec 5, A British advance
column met unexpected resistance at Germantown, Penn. Gen. Howe
refrained from a direct attack on Whitemarsh, where Gen. Wasinington
was based, and the battle dissolved in a series of inconclusive
skirmishes that lasted 3 days. The Americans lost 90 men killed or
wounded and the British lost 60.
(ON, 8/07, p.8)
1777 Dec 8, Britain’s Gen. Howe
withdrew to Philadelphia following a failed attempt on American forces
encamped at Whitemarsh.
(ON, 8/07, p.8)
1777 Dec 19, Gen. George
Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to
camp for the winter. [see Dec 17]
(AP, 12/19/97)
1777 George Washington led a
campaign against the British and their Iroquois allies in Pennsylvania,
New York, and the Ohio country. These included the Six Nations Indians:
Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, and Tuscarora. In 2005 Glenn
F. Williams published “The Year of the Hangman: George Washington’s
Campaign Against the Iroquois.
(WSJ, 7/26/05, p.D8)
1777-1778 Some 2,000 American soldiers died at
Washington’s Valley Forge encampment over a harsh weather period of 7
months.
(WSJ, 1/3/02, p.A7)
1778 Jun 18, American forces
entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary
War.
(AP, 6/18/97)(HN, 6/18/98)
1778 Jun 19, General George
Washington’s troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of
training. Washington left to intercept the British force on its way to
New York City.
(HN, 6/19/98)(MC, 6/20/02)
1778 Jun 27, The Liberty Bell came
home to Philadelphia after the British left.
(MC, 6/27/02)
1778 Jun, George Washington
appointed Benedict Arnold as military governor of Philadelphia.
(ON, 11/01, p.1)
1778 Jul 3, The Wyoming Massacre
occurred during the American Revolution in the Wyoming Valley of
Pennsylvania. As part of a British campaign against settlers in the
frontier during the war, 360 American settlers, including women and
children, were killed at an outpost called Wintermoot's Fort after they
were drawn out of the protection of the fort and ambushed.
(HNQ, 11/5/98)(MC, 7/3/02)
1778 Sep 17, The 1st treaty
between the US and Indian tribes was signed at Fort Pitt.
(MC, 9/17/01)
1779 May 23, Benedict Arnold,
military governor of Philadelphia, wrote a query to the British asking
what they would pay for his services. He had already begun trading with
the British for personal profit and faced charges.
(ON, 11/01, p.1)
1779 Dec 25, A court-martial was
convened against Benedict Arnold. He defended himself successfully on 6
of 8 charges but was convicted of illegally issuing a government pass
and using government wagons to transport personal goods.
(ON, 11/01, p.2)
1780 Mar 1, Pennsylvania became
the first U.S. state to abolish slavery (for new-borns only). It was
followed by Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784, New York in 1785, and
New Jersey in 1786. Massachusetts abolished slavery through a judicial
decision in 1783. [see Jul 2, 1777]
(HN, 3/1/98)(SC, 3/1/02)(HNQ, 5/29/02)
1780 Apr, George Washington
censured Benedict Arnold for his misdeeds as governor of Philadelphia.
(ON, 11/01, p.2)
1782 Jan 7, The 1st US commercial
bank, Bank of North America, opened in Philadelphia.
(MC, 1/7/02)
1782 Jun 20, Congress approved the
Great Seal of the United States and the eagle as its symbol.
(AP, 6/20/97)(MC, 6/20/02)
1783 May 30, The first American
daily newspaper, The Pennsylvania Evening Post, began publishing in
Philadelphia.
(HN, 5/30/01)
1785 Jan 6, Haym Salomon (44) died
in Philadelphia. He helped finance the US revolution.
(MC, 1/6/02)
1785 Mar 1, Philadelphia Society
for the Promotion of Agriculture was organized.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1785 May 9, James Pollard Espy,
meteorologist (Philosophy of Storms), was born in Pennsylvania.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1785 Oct 18, Benjamin Franklin was
elected president of Pennsylvania. Special balloting unanimously
elected Franklin the sixth President of the Supreme Executive Council
of Pennsylvania, replacing John Dickinson.
(AH, 2/06,
p.47)(http://help.com/post/275760-why-is-benjamin-franklin-important)
1787 Apr 12, Philadelphia's Free
African Society formed.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1787 May 25, The Constitutional
Convention convened in Philadelphia after enough delegates showed up
for a quorum. The Founding Fathers turned to the Rushworth's
Collections of England for revolutionary precedents. George Washington
presided. [see May 25, 1777] Rhode Island refused to send delegates.
(AP, 5/25/97)(WSJ, 3/10/99, p.A22)(HN,
5/25/99)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.44)
1787 Aug 6, The Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia began to debate the articles contained in a
draft of the United States Constitution.
(AP, 8/6/97)
1787 Sep 17, The Constitution of
the United States was completed and signed by a majority of delegates
(12) attending the constitutional convention in Philadelphia. The US
Constitution went into effect on Mar 4, 1789. Clause 3 of Article I,
Section 8 empowered Congress to "regulate Commerce with foreign
nations, among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes." Two of
the signers went on to become presidents of the United States. George
Washington, the president of the Constitutional Convention, and James
Madison both signed the Constitution. The US Constitution is the
world's oldest working Constitution. James Mason of Virginia refused to
sign the document because he thought it made the federal government too
powerful believed that it should contain a Bill of Rights.
(HFA, '96, p.38)(AP, 9/17/97)(HN, 9/17/98)(WUD,
1994, p.314)(WSJ, 4/9/99, p.W17)(HNQ, 5/19/99)(WSJ, 3/31/06, p.A1)
1787 Sep 17, The US Constitution
included the Connecticut, or "Great," Compromise in which every state
was conceded an equal vote in the Senate irrespective of its size, but
representation in the House was to be on the basis of the "federal
ratio," an enumeration of the free population plus three fifths of the
slaves.
(SSFC, 11/2/03, p.M6)
1787 Sep 17, The "College of
Electors" (electoral college) was established at the Constitutional
Convention with representatives to be chosen by the states. Pierce
Butler of South Carolina first proposed the electoral college system.
[see Sep 13, 1788]
(SFC, 11/9/00, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A26)
1787 Sep 17, The Electoral
College, proposed by James Wilson, was the compromise that the
Constitutional Convention reached. In 2004 George C. Edwards III
authored “Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America.”
(www.usconstitution.net/consttop_elec.html)(SSFC,
10/17/04, p.M3)
1787 Dec 10, Thomas H. Gallaudet,
a pioneer of educating the deaf, was born in Philadelphia.
(AP, 12/10/07)
1787 Dec 12, Pennsylvania became
the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
(AP, 12/12/97)
1787 Peter Markoe (1752?-1792)
authored “An Algerine Spy in Pennsylvania.” His satirical provocation
helped to push the US Congress authorized a Navy and to dispatch
Marines to subdue the pirates of Tripoli.
(WSJ, 6/2/07, p.P8)
1787 Rev. Richard Allen and
Absalom Jones decided to form the Free African Society, a
non-denominational religious mutual aid society for the black
community. Eventually this society grew into the African Church of
Philadelphia.
(www.pbs.org)
1788 Jan 1, Quakers in
Pennsylvania emancipated their slaves.
(MC, 1/1/02)
1789 Mar 2, Pennsylvania ended the
prohibition of theatrical performances.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1789 Dec 28, Lydia Darrragh
(b.1729), American spy, died in Philadelphia. Her exploits in 1777 did
not become public until the publication of an anonymous article in 1827.
(ON, 8/07, p.8)(www.lexidigital.com/bcdarwomen4.htm)
1790 Mar 1, President Washington
signed a measure authorizing the first US Census. The Connecticut
Compromise was a proposal for two houses in the legislature-one based
on equal representation for each state, the other for population-based
representation-that resolved the dispute between large and small states
at the Constitutional Convention. Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman's
proposal led to the first nationwide census in 1790. The population was
determined to be 3,929,625, which included 697,624 slaves and 59,557
free blacks. The most populous state was Virginia, with 747,610 people
and the most populous city was Philadelphia with 42,444 inhabitants.
(HNQ, 9/17/98)(HNQ, 7/13/01)(AP, 3/1/08)
1790 Apr 17, Benjamin Franklin
(born 1706), American statesman, died in Philadelphia at age 84. He
mechanized the process of making sounds from tuned glass with his glass
armonica. In 2000 H.W. Brands authored his Franklin biography: "The
First American." In 2003 Walter Isaacson authored "Benjamin Franklin:
An American Life."
(AP, 4/17/97)(SFEC,12/28/97, DB p.17)(WSJ, 9/20/00,
p.A24)(WSJ, 7/3/03, p.D8)
1790 Jun 9, The "Philadelphia
Spelling Book" was the first US work to be copyrighted.
(WSJ, 6/14/00, p.A1)(MC, 6/9/02)
1790 Dec 6, Congress moved from
New York City to Philadelphia, where Washington served out his two
terms. He is the only president who never resided in the White House.
(AP, 12/6/97)(HNPD, 12/22/98)
1791 Mar 11, Samuel Mulliken of
Philadelphia was the 1st to obtain more than 1 US patent.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1791 Apr 23, James Buchanan, was
born in Franklin County, Pa. He was the fifteenth U.S. president
(1857-1861) and the only president not to marry.
(AP, 4/23/97)(HN, 4/23/99)
1791 Jul 25, Free African Society
(FAS) leaders drew up a plan to organize a church for
African-Americans.
(www.pbs.org)
1791 William Sprague opened the
1st US carpet mill in Philadelphia.
(SFCM, 10/10/04, p.8)
1793 Jan 9, The first US manned
balloon flight occurred as Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a
hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J. He stayed
airborne for 46 minutes, traveled close to 15 miles and set down at the
"old Clement farm" in Deptford, New Jersey. [see Jun 23, 1784, Mar 9,
1793]
(WSJ, 3/31/98, p.A1)(AP, 1/9/99)(ON, 6/09, p.2)
1793 Jun 20, Eli Whitney
petitioned for a cotton gin patent in Philadelphia.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h1517t.html)
1793 There was a yellow fever
epidemic in Philadelphia. Stephen Girard risked his life and fortune in
stopping the epidemic.
(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.6)
1794 Feb 14, 1st US textile
machinery patent was granted, to James Davenport in Phila.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1794 May, Richard Allen purchased
a blacksmith shop in Philadelphia and had it moved near St. Thomas.
There he founded an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church he called
Bethel, "House of God." The Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal
Church in Philadelphia was founded by Richard Allen after he was pulled
from his knees one Sunday by a white usher while praying at St. George
Methodist Episcopal Church. It later stood as the oldest parcel of land
continuously owned by African Americans. The Richard Allen Museum
contains 19th century artifacts from the church. In 1997 it was the
world’s oldest AME church. The church elected its first female bishop
in 2000.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A19)(SFC, 7/12/00,
p.A3)(www.pbs.org)
1794 Jul 17, In Philadelphia the
African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, one of the first black churches
in the country, opened its doors.
(www.pbs.org)
1794 Aug 7, George Washington
issued a proclamation telling a group of Western Pennsylvania farmers
to stop their Whiskey Rebellion. In the US in western Pennsylvania,
angry farmers protested a new federal tax on whiskey makers. The
protest flared into the open warfare known as the Whiskey Rebellion
between US marshals and whiskey farmers.
(http://www.ttb.gov/public_info/whisky_rebellion.shtml)(A&IP, ESM,
p.16)(HNQ, 10/14/99)
1794 French Azilum near Towanda
was planned as an asylum for Marie-Antoinette, her children and other
loyalists of the monarchy seeking refuge from the French Revolution.
Loyalists who kept their heads did come and settle.
(HT, 5/97, p.18)
1797 Jul 10, 1st US frigate, the
"United States," was launched in Philadelphia.
(MC, 7/10/02)
1798 Jan 30, A brawl broke out in
the House of Representatives in Philadelphia. Matthew Lyon of Vermont
spat in the face of Roger Griswold of Connecticut, who responded by
attacking him with a hickory walking stick. Lyon was re-elected
congressman while serving a jail sentence for violating the Sedition
Acts of 1798.
(AP, 1/30/98)(SFC, 4/27/00, p.A5)(WSJ, 10/29/04,
p.W10)
1798 The first big US bank robbery
was at the Philadelphia Carpenter's Hall, which was leased to the Bank
of Philadelphia.
(SFEC, 2/20/00, Z1 p.2)
1799 Feb 15, The 1st US printed
ballots were authorized in Pennsylvania.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1803 Feb 14, An apple parer was
patented by Moses Coats in Downington, Penn.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1803 Sep 13, Commodore John Barry,
considered by many the father of the American Navy, died in
Philadelphia.
(AP, 9/13/97)
1804 Feb 6, Joseph Priestley
(b.1733), English-born US writer, philosopher and chemist, died in
Pennsylvania. He became best known for having discovered oxygen.
Priestley also figured out how to manufacture carbonated water and is
sometimes called “the father of the soft-drink industry.” In 2008
Steven Johnson authored “The Invention of Air: A Story of Science,
faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America.”
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9061366)(ON, 10/05,
p.1)(SFC, 1/9/09, p.E3)
1805 The Philadelphia harbor was
dredged with a high-pressure steam engine invented by Oliver Evans. He
was unable to get a proper patent for it.
(WSJ, 6/4/08, p.A19)
1806 Shoemakers in Philadelphia
formed a union.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R27)
1807 May 22, Townsend Speakman 1st
sold fruit-flavored carbonated drinks in Phila.
(MC, 5/22/02)
1808 Feb 11, Anthracite coal was
1st burned as fuel, experimentally, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1810 Feb 28, The 1st US fire
insurance joint-stock company was organized in Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1810 Apr 17, Lewis Norton of Troy,
PA., introduced his pineapple cheese.
(440 Int'l, 4/17/03)
1811 Oct 29, The 1st Ohio River
steamboat left Pittsburgh for New Orleans.
(MC, 10/29/01)
1811 A group of amateur
naturalists formed the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
(AH, 10/04, p.20)
1812 Dec 4, Peter Gaillard of
Lancaster, Pa., patented a horse-drawn mower.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1812 The steamboat New Orleans was
built in Pittsburgh and steamed to New Orleans but lacked sufficient
power to return upstream.
(ON, 7/02, p.9)
1813 Aug 23, Alexander Wilson
(b.1766), Scottish-born poet and naturalist, died in Philadelphia. He
had completed 7 volumes of “American Ornithology” and was working on a
8th volume when he died.
(AH, 10/04,
p.23)(www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/PA_Env-Her/alexandar_wilson.htm)
1814 Dec 1, The shallow-draft
steamboat Enterprise, completed in Pittsburgh under the direction of
keelboat captain Henry Miller Shreve, left for New Orleans to deliver
guns and ammunition to Gen. Jackson.
(ON, 7/02, p.9)
1814 Dec 14, The steamboat
Enterprise, designed by keelboat captain Henry Miller Shreve, arrived
in New Orleans with guns and ammunition for Gen. Jackson. It was
immediately commandeered for military service.
(ON, 7/02, p.9)
1815 Sep 8, Alexander Ramsey
(d.1903), territorial governor of Minnesota (1849-1853), was born near
Harrisburg, Pa.
(www.bioguide.congress.gov)
1816 Dec 2, The first savings bank
in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for
business.
(AP, 12/2/99)
1816 Pittsburgh was incorporated
on the site of old Fort Pitt.
(SFC, 1/29/00, p.E3)
1817 Mar 2, The 1st US Evangelical
church building was dedicated in New Berlin, PA.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1819 In Philadelphia Dr. Thomas W.
Dyott, (druggist, patent-medicine vendor, and physician) purchased the
Kensington Glass Works. He expanded the business and changed the name
to the Dyottville Glass Works. He was forced out of the firm in 1838,
but the glassworks continued operating until about 1923.
(SFC, 1/14/98, Z1 p.2)
1821 Feb 23, College of
Apothecaries, the 1st US pharmacy college, was organized in
Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1821 Nov 9, The 1st US pharmacy
college held 1st classes in Philadelphia.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1824 The Second Bank of the United
States, established by federal charter in 1791, was completed in
Philadelphia by William Strickland. It was modeled after the Parthenon.
From 1841-1934 it served as a Custom House. It was acquired by the
National Park Service in 1939 and in 1974 became the home of the Peale
portraits. The renovated museum reopened Dec 1, 2004.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.D10)
1825 Philadelphia druggist Elie
Magliore Durand first touted the effervescent soda water as a health
drink. Shortly afterward, New York inventor John Matthews originated
the fountain apparatus that conveniently rested on a pharmacist's
counter to dispense carbonated drinks.
(HNQ, 6/12/98)
1829 Jul 4, Cornerstone laid for
1st US mint (Chestnut & Juniper St, Phila).
(Maggio, 98)
1829 Oct 23, The Eastern State
Penitentiary in Philadelphia received its 1st prisoner, burglar Charles
Williams (18). It was based on the Quaker idea of reform through
solitude and reflection. It opened to tourists in 1971 after being
closed to prisoners. The prison was designed by John Haviland.
(WSJ, 9/19/97, p.B1)(AHHT, 10/02, p.18)
1829 The Yeungling Brewery began
producing beer in Pottsville, Pa.
(WSJ, 3/23/04, p.B5)
1830 Sep 20, The National Negro
Convention convened in Philadelphia with the purpose of abolishing
slavery.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1830 George Brinton began
constructing a home later called Rondelay in Chadds Ford. After
extensive renovations the 6 bedroom home on 38.9 acres was listed for
sale in 1998 for $2.9 mil.
(WSJ, 4/3/98, p.W8)
1830-1850 The Pennsylvania German community made
traditional hand-stitched show towels and most show towels date from
this period. They were hung on a door in the main room of a house.
(SFC,12/10/97, Z1 p.9)
1831 Feb 19, The 1st practical US
coal-burning locomotive made its 1st trial run in Penn.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1832 Aug, In Pennsylvania 57 Irish
immigrants died of cholera after traveling there to build a railroad.
In 2009 their bones were found at a woodsy site known as Duffy's Cut,
named after Philip Duffy, who hired the immigrants from Donegal, Tyrone
and Derry to help build the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad.
(AP, 3/25/09)
1832 Nov 29, Louisa May Alcott
(d.1888), American author who wrote "Little Women," was born in
Germantown, Pa. Under the pen name A.M. Barnard she wrote stories of
violence and revenge that included "Pauline’s Passion and Punishment."
"It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and
genius, especially ambitious young men and women."
(WUD, 1994, p.35)(SFC, 6/17/97, p.E3)(AP,
7/12/98)(HN, 11/29/98)
1832 The Girard Bank of
Pennsylvania was founded.
(Panic, p.16)
1832 The Pittsburgh riverfront
home of coal baron Abraham Hays flooded. Hays built a new
mansion, which later became a stop on the Underground Railroad,
harboring slaves who traveled a tunnel from the Monongahela River to
the vast brick-lined basement.
(www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_640258.html)
1833 Aug 7, Powell Clayton, Brig.
General (Union volunteers), (Gov-R-Ark), was born in Pa.
(MC, 8/7/02)(Internet)
1833 Dec 4, American Anti-Slavery
Society was formed by Arthur Tappan in Phila.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1833 John Mohler Studebaker was
born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In 1858 joined his two older brothers
in a South Bend firm producing wagons. The company went on to become
the world’s largest producer of farm wagons and carriages.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A12)(HNQ, 1/21/02)
1833 Richard Allen (73) published
his autobiography: "The Life, Experience, and Gospel Labors of the Rt.
Rev. Richard Allen."
(www.pbs.org)
1833 American Navy pensioners
moved into what was then called the Naval Asylum, a 180-room stone
building on the bank of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The name
was later changed to the Naval Home. It closed in 1977.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Naval_Asylum)
1834 William Russell Birch
(b.1755), English-born artist, died. He had settled in Philadelphia
with his son in 1794 and in 1800 published 28 drawn and engraved
hand-colored images of Philadelphia.
(SFC, 5/18/02, p.E6)
1835 Jul 6, John Marshall, the
third chief justice of the Supreme Court, died at the age of 79. Two
days later, while tolling in his honor in Philadelphia, the Liberty
Bell cracked.
(HN, 7/6/98)
1835 Jul 8, The US Liberty Bell in
Philadelphia cracked while being tolled for Chief Justice John
Marshall. It was never rung again.
(HFA, ‘96, p.34)(HN, 7/6/98)(WSJ, 12/10/96, p.A20)
1835 John Wise built and took off
from Philadelphia in his first homemade balloon. In 1859 he attempted
an express mail service by balloon from St. Louis to NYC.
(ON, 11/00, p.6)
1836 The LaPorte house was built
by John LaPorte, son of one of the founders of French Azilum
(HT, 5/97, p.18)
1837 Feb 25, Cheyney University
was established in Pennsylvania through the bequest of Richard
Humphreys, and became the oldest institution of higher learning for
African Americans. It was initially named the African Institute.
However, the name was changed several weeks later to the Institute for
Colored Youth (ICY). In subsequent years, the university was renamed
Cheyney Training School for Teachers (July 1914), Cheyney State
Teacher’s College (1951), Cheyney State College (1959), and eventually
Cheyney Univ. of Pennsylvania (1983).
(www.cheyney.edu/pages/index.asp?p=428)
1838 Jul 11, John Wanamaker
(d.1922), US merchant who founded a chain of stores in Philadelphia,
was born.
(HN, 7/11/98)(ON, 12/05, p.6)
1839 Feb 24, A steam shovel was
patented by William Otis, Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/24/02)
1839 Dec 4, The Whig Party opened
a national convention in Harrisburg, Pa., where delegates nominated
William Henry Harrison for president.
(AP, 12/4/99)
1840s The Chain Gang, the earliest
Mummers club, was formed in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.A10)
1841 In Philadelphia Volney B.
Palmer began the first advertising agency. He sold newspaper space to
out-of-town advertisers.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.E3)
1844 May 22, Mary Cassatt,
impressionist painter, was born in Alleghany City (later Pittsburgh).
[see May 22, 1845]
(HFA, ‘96, p.30)(AHD, p.209)(HN, 5/22/98)(WSJ,
11/5/98, p.A20)
1845 Apr 10, Over 1,000 buildings
were damaged by fire in Pittsburgh, Pa.
(MC, 4/10/02)
1845 May 22, Mary Cassatt
(d.1926), American impressionist painter and printmaker, was born in
Alleghany, Pa. Much of Cassatt’s early life was spent in Europe with
her wealthy family. She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts from 1861 to 1865 and worked briefly with Charles Joshua Chaplin
in Paris, but preferred working her own way and copying old masters.
She was a close friend of and greatly influenced by Edgar Degas. He
admired her entry in the Salon of 1874, and at his invitation she
joined the Impressionists and afterward showed her works at their
exhibits. Degas’ influence is apparent in Cassatt’s mastery of drawing
and in her unposed, asymmetrical compositions. Initially, Cassatt was a
figure painter whose subjects were groups of women drinking tea or on
outings with friends. After the great exhibition of Japanese prints
held in Paris in 1890, she brought out her series of 10 colored prints,
such as "Woman Bathing," and "The Coiffure," in which the influence of
the Japanese masters Utamaro and Toyokuni is apparent. Cassatt urged
her wealthy American friends and relatives to buy Impressionist
paintings, and in this way, more than through her own works, she
exerted a lasting influence on American taste. She was largely
responsible for selecting the works that make up the H.O. Havemeyer
Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
(HFA, ‘96, p.30)(AHD, p.209)(FAMSF, Mar, 98)
1846 Feb 23, The Liberty Bell
tolled for the last time, to mark George Washington's birthday. A
hairline fracture had developed since 1817 and a failed attempt to
repair it resulted in the crack.
(HN, 2/23/98)(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T5)
1847 May 7, The American Medical
Association was founded in Philadelphia.
(AP, 5/7/97) (HN, 5/7/98)
1847 Sep 11, Stephen Foster’s "Oh!
Susanna" was first performed in a saloon in Pittsburgh.
(HN, 9/11/00)
1848 Oct 16, The 1st US
homeopathic medical college opened in Pennsylvania.
(MC, 10/16/01)
1849 Dec 19, Henry Clay Frick
(d.1919), coal and steel magnate, was born in West Overton, Penn.
(www.netstate.com/states/peop/people/pa_hcf.htm)
1850 Mar 11, Woman's Medical
College of Pennsylvania opened as the 1st female medical school. [see
Oct 12]
(MC, 3/12/02)
1850 Oct 12, The 1st women's
medical school, the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, opened.
[see Mar 11]
(MC, 10/12/01)
1850-1859 The Lehigh Valley town of Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, became an iron-making center in the 1850s thanks to
discoveries of coal and iron ore nearby.
(WSJ, 10/8/08, p.A15)
1851 Sep 11, Edward Gorsuch, a
wealthy slave owner from Maryland, confronted William Parker and
accused him of harboring 4 runaway slaves near the abolitionist town,
Christiana, Pennsylvania. This was one year after the second fugitive
slave law (first law was on February 12, 1793) was passed by Congress,
requiring the return of all escaped slaves to their owners in the
South. Gorsuch was killed during the skirmish and Parker was forced to
flee to Canada.
(AH, 10/02, p.49)
1851 Dec 11, In Philadelphia 37
men, on trial in federal court for defying the Fugitive Slave Law, were
deemed not guilty by a jury with 15 minutes of deliberation.
(AH, 10/02, p.54)
1851 In Pennsylvania Bernard
Lauth, founded the American Iron Company. The firm of Jones and Lauth
was founded in 1852 by B. F. Jones a few miles (~4 km) south of
Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in
1854 by James H. Laughlin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_and_Laughlin_Steel_Company)
1852 Feb 16, Charles Taze Russell
(d.1916) was born in Pittsburgh. In 1872 Russell abandoned the
Adventist movement and formed the International Bible Students
Association, which was later named Jehovah’s Witnesses (1931).
(www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/302393/Jehovahs-Witness)(AH, 4/07,
p.30)
1852 John Neumann, Catholic
missionary, became the bishop of Philadelphia. he was later made a
saint.
(SFEC, 9/14/97, p.A18)
1855 Jul 18, In Philadelphia
William Still, a leader in the Underground Railroad, liberated Jane
Johnson and her 2 sons from Col. John H. Wheeler, the recently
appointed US Minister to Nicaragua. Still was tried and acquitted. "The
Underground Railroad" by William Still was published in 1871.
(ON, 10/01, p.5)
1855 Organic chemist Benjamin
Stillman laid the foundations for the Pennsylvania oil rush by his
discovery that petroleum could be distilled into lubricants and
kerosene for cooking and illumination. Suddenly there was a use for the
crude oil that seeped to the surface, annoying farmers by ruining the
land and polluting the water supply.
(HNPD, 10/4/98)
1856 Jun 17, In Philadelphia, the
Republican Party opened its first national convention.
(AP, 6/17/97)(HN, 6/17/98)
1856-1930 Henry Chapman Mercer, archeologist and
collector. He designed and constructed the Mercer Museum in Doylestown.
(AH, 4/01, p.18)
1857 Jan 6, Patent for reducing
zinc ore was granted to Samuel Wetherill in Penn.
(MC, 1/6/02)
1857 Sep 13, Milton S. Hershey,
chocolate manufacturer and philanthropist, was born in Dauphin County,
Pa.
(www.hersheys.com/about/milton.shtml)(AP, 9/13/07)
1857 Nov 5, Ida M. Tarbell
(d.1944), muckraking journalist, was born in Erie County, Pa.
(AP,
11/5/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Tarbell)
1858 Mar 23, Eleazer A. Gardner of
Philadelphia patented the cable street car, which ran on overhead
cables.
(HN, 3/23/98)
1858 Mar 30, Hyman L. Lipman of
Philadelphia patented the pencil.
(HN, 3/30/98)
1858 The Market Square
Presbyterian Church was built in Harrisburg.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)
1859 Mar 21, Zoological Society of
Philadelphia, the 1st in US, was incorporated.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1859 Aug 27-28, The US oil
business was born in Titusville, Pa. Former army officer Colonel Edwin
L. Drake drilled the first oil well in Titusville, Pa., striking oil at
70 feet and setting off a wild scramble for wealth similar to the
California gold rush of 1849. The land belonged to the Pennsylvania
Rock Oil Company. Until that time, the company had simply collected oil
that seeped out of the ground. Drake's plan was to produce it in large
quantities for use in heating and illumination. Overnight oil fields
sprang up in Pennsylvania but competition, disorganization and
oversupply kept oil prices low. It was not until John D. Rockefeller
and the Standard Oil Company came onto the scene in 1870 that the
petroleum industry developed into a vastly profitable, although much
hated, monopoly.
(HFA, '96, p.36)(AP, 8/27/97)(HNPD, 10/4/98)(WSJ,
10/4/96, p.A9)(HNQ, 2//99)
1860 Jul 14, Owen Wister (d.1938),
novelist, was born in Germantown, Pa. His 1902 novel "The
Virginian" inspired 5 films.
(HN, 7/14/01)(SFC, 1/9/02, p.D8)(AH, 10/02, p.18)
1860 William McGillin began opened
McGillin’s Olde Ale House in Philadelphia. In 2009 it celebrated its
sesquicentennial.
(SFC, 8/5/09, p.A4)
1860 John and Frank Wyeth
established a drugstore in Philadelphia. It grew to become Wyeth-Ayerst
Laboratories in 1926 and was later acquired by American Home Products.
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.B2)
1860 John Neumann, the 4th Bishop
of Philadelphia, died. He was later made the patron saint of the
Mummers.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.A10)
1861 Feb 5, The kinematoscope was
patented by Coleman Sellers in Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1861 William Wrigley, Jr., was
born in Philadelphia. He began his business career by selling soap
manufactured by his father. In 1891, Wrigley moved to Chicago where he
founded and became president of Wm. Wrigley, Jr. Company,
manufacturers of chewing gum, earning him the money to acquire the
Chicago Cubs and to build Wrigley‘s Stadium. Wrigley is especially
noted for his effective advertising techniques.
(AP, 4/9/00)
1861 James Buchanan, 15th
President of the United States, retired to Wheatland, his Pennsylvania
home, on the eve of the American Civil War. Attracted to the privacy,
quiet and beauty of its rural location, Buchanan bought the 22-acre
property in 1848 while he was finishing out his term as secretary of
state under President James Polk. The Federal-style house was built in
1828 for William Jenkins, a wealthy lawyer and banker who named his
estate "The Wheatlands" because of its setting among wheat fields.
(HNQ, 4/15/01)
1861 The Bassett family became
making ice cream in Philadelphia. The ice cream was later called
Bassetts and considered by some to be the best in the world.
(WSJ, 8/1/00, p.A24)
1861 In Philadelphia John
Wanamaker (1838-1922) and Nathan Brown (d.1868) purchased a 6-story
men’s clothing store called McNeill’s Folly and renamed it the Oak Hall
Clothing Bazaar.
(ON, 12/05, p.4)
1861 John Wallace Cowden founded
the Cowden pottery in Harrisburg, Pa. It became Cowden & Son from
1888-1904.
(SFC, 3/29/06, p.G6)
1862 Feb 26, Cornelius Felton
(b.1807), president of Harvard Univ., died in Chester, Pen., after 2
years in office.
(WSJ, 2/21/06,
p.A3)(www.nndb.com/people/711/000107390/)
1862 May 18, William High
Keim (b.1813), US Union Brigadier-General, died in camp of fever in
Harrisburg, Pa.
(SC, 5/18/02)(http://home.ptd.net/~nikki/usagen3.htm)
1862 A dam across the South Fork
Creek, a tributary of the Little Conemaugh River, collapsed and damaged
some property in Johnstown.
(ON, 12/99, p.9)
1863 Jun 26, Jubal Early and his
Confederate forces moved into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1863 Jun 28, General Meade
replaced General Hooker three days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
(HN, 6/28/98)
1863 Jun 28, Officers of the
Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s Second Corps were looking at
Harrisburg through field glasses from across the Susquehanna River just
a day or two before a developing battle at Gettysburg called them away.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Keystone State’s capital was a major hub
for rail traffic from every direction. Consequently, it was also the
point through which the hard, slow-burning coal used by ships,
locomotives, and furnaces traveled on its way from the mines of north
central Pennsylvania to military and industrial customers.
Philadelphia, an important ocean port east of Harrisburg and connected
to it by rail, would have been virtually defenseless against an attack
from its landward side. If Lee had taken Harrisburg, he would also have
been perfectly positioned to threaten Washington, D.C., from the north.
(HNQ, 3/5/02)
1863 Jun 29, Lee ordered his
forces to concentrate near Gettysburg, PN.
(MC, 6/29/02)
1863 Jun 30, Union and Confederate
cavalries clashed at Hanover, Pennsylvania.
(HN, 6/30/98)
1863 Jul 1, The opening
shot at the Battle of Gettysburg was at 7:30 a.m. In the first day's
fighting at Gettysburg, Federal forces retreated through the town and
dug in at Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill. Gen. Robert E. Lee's
ordered Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell, "Take the hill if practicable, but do
not bring on a general engagement..." Books on the campaign included
"The Gettysburg Campaign, A Study in Command," by Edwin B. Coddington
and "Gettysburg: Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill," by Harry W. Pfanz. The
novel "While Gods and Generals" by Jeff Shaara, son of Michael Shaara,
describes the years leading up to the battle.
(HFA, '96, p.32)(AP, 7/1/97)(SFEC, 6/21/98,
p.D5)(HN, 7/1/98)
1863 Jul 1, John Fulton Reynolds
(42), Union general, died in battle at Gettysburg.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1863 Jul 1-3, From the opening
shot at 7:30 a.m. on July 1, 1863, to 4 p.m. on July 3, when the last
rebel assault was repulsed, the Union and Confederate armies suffered
an estimated 50,000 casualties in the Battle of Gettysburg. It was the
bloodiest battle the country had yet seen. Upon whom the responsibility
for the South's failure at Gettysburg rests has been widely debated,
but five months after the epic battle, Confederate General Robert E.
Lee admitted, "I thought my men were invincible." The fighting in the
small Pennsylvania town marked a pivotal point in the Union's ascent to
victory and helped decide the outcome of the Civil War.
(HNPD, 7/6/98)
1863 Jul 2, The Union left flank
held at Little Round Top during 2nd day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Union Gen. Daniel Sickles was severely wounded and had his leg
amputated. In 2002 Thomas Keneally authored "American Scoundrel: The
Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles."
(WSJ, 3/29/02, p.W10)(SFC, 4/17/02, p.D1)(AH, 2/05,
p.49)
1863 Jul 3, The Civil War's Battle
of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended after three days in a major victory
for the North as Confederate troops retreated. The last Confederate
assault at Gettysburg was Pickett’s Charge against the center of the
Union line that left some 7,000 of 13,000 [15,000] Confederate troops
dead. Lt. Gen. James Longstreet gave Maj. Gen. George Pickett the
assent. General Lee took responsibility. In 1974 Michael Shaara
published "The Killer Angels," a novel about the 3-day battle.
(SFC, 7/7/96, T6)(SFC,2/17/97, p.A3)(AP,
7/3/97)(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.D5)(HN, 7/3/98)(WSJ, 9/11/98, p.W10)
1863 Jul 4, General Lee’s army
limped toward Virginia after defeat at Gettysburg. 28,063 of 75,000
confederate soldiers were lost. General Meade’s army suffered 23,049
soldiers killed, wounded and missing.
(SFC, 7/7/96, T6)
1863 Jul 4, Paul Joseph Revere, US
grandson of Paul Revere, Union brig-gen, died from wounds at Gettysburg.
(MC, 7/4/02)
1863 Jul 6, Vincent Strong
(b.1837), US Union brig-general, died from wounds at Gettysburg.
(MC, 6/17/02)(MC, 7/6/02)
1863 Nov 19, President Lincoln
delivered the Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at
the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania. Lincoln had been
asked to deliver a few "appropriate remarks" to the crowd at the
dedication of the National Cemetery at the site of the Battle of
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His address was almost ignored in the wake of
the lengthy oration by main speaker Edwin Everett, the former governor
of Massachusetts. In fact, Lincoln's speech was over before many in the
crowd were even aware that he was speaking. Lincoln concluded his
speech with this vow: "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not
have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth
of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth."
(http://condor.stcloudstate.edu/~brixr01/theTIMEMACHINE.html)(AP,
11/19/97)(ON, 8/07, p.1)
1863 The Mütter Museum was
founded as part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia was an
educational service for practicing physicians.
(NW, 11/18/02, p.14)
1863 A locomotive named the Gov.
Stanford was built by Richard Norris & Son in Philadelphia
and shipped around Cape Horn to California by schooner. It hauled the
Central Pacific’s 1st freight and passenger trains.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.D5)
1864 Jul 30, Confederate troops
attack Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The town was burned by Union forces
under McCausland.
(MC, 7/30/02)
1865 Daniel C. Ripley founded a
lamp manufacturing firm in Pittsburgh, Pa. the following year he joined
with 5 partners to form Ripley & Co. Ripley was granted a patent in
1868 for a glass oil lamp. The company merged with others in 1891 to
form the U.S. Glass Co. of Pittsburgh.
(SFC, 12/14/05, p.G4)(SFC, 4/4/07, p.G2)
1865-1877 In eastern Pennsylvania the Molly McGuires,
a secret society of Irish miners, waged a war with arson, murders and
beatings, on coal-mine owners.
(WSJ, 10/7/97, p.A20)
1868 Aug 11, Thaddeus Stevens
(1792-1868), Pennsylvania Republican and architect of Radical
Reconstruction, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_Stevens)
1869 Jun 9, Charles Elmer Hires
sold his 1st root beer in Phila.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1869 Sep 6, 110 miners, a number
of them young boys, were killed in coal mine disaster which occurred
early in the morning in Avondale, Pennsylvania, when a fire broke out
in a mineshaft, cutting off the miners' escape route and their only
source of air.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1869 The first Lithuanian
community was established in Danville, Pennsylvania.
http://w3.arobas.net/~simunye/coalmine.html
1869 Henry J. Heinz partnered with
L.C. Noble to form Heinz & Noble in Sharpsburg, Pa., selling fruit
and vegetable preserves. They produced tomato and walnut ketchup for 24
cents per gallon and sold them from whiskey barrels.
(SFC, 8/27/03,
p.E4)(www.hfp.heinz.org/aboutus/heinzhistory.html)
1870 Feb 5, The 1st motion picture
was shown to a theater audience in Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1870 Mar 21, The grave of Ellen
Shannon in Girard, Pennsylvania reads: Ellen Shannon, Who was fatally
burned March 21, 1870 by the explosion of a lamp filled with "R.E.
Danforth’s Non-Explosive Burning Fluid."
(e-mail, Riddiough, 5/16/99)
1870 Harry "the Sundance Kid"
Longabaugh was born in Lancaster County.
(MesWP)
1870-1882 Alexander Conrad was a stoneware
manufacturer in southwestern Pennsylvania during this time.
(SFC, 4/15/98, Z1 p.6)
1871 The construction of City Hall
in Philadelphia began.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T1)
1871 The Knights of Labor
organization was started as a secret order at a meeting of tailors
called by Uriah Stephens in Philadelphia. The Knights of Labor was
organized on a national basis in 1878. It was an industrial union open
to all gainfully employed skilled or unskilled workers and headed by a
General Assembly. By 1886 there were 5,892 local assemblies and more
than 700,000 members. Among other reforms, the Knights supported an
8-hour day, graduated income tax, boycotts, arbitration, and consumer
and producer cooperatives. The organization began to decline after
1886. [other sources give 1869 as the founding year.]
(HNQ, 9/5/99)
1872 Aug 1, The first
long-distance gas pipeline in the U.S. was completed. Designed for
natural gas, the two-inch pipe ran five miles from Newton Wells to
Titusville, Pennsylvania.
(HN, 8/1/00)
1872 The International Bible
Students Association was founded in Pittsburgh by Charles Taze Russell.
During the 1870s, Charles Taze Russell established himself as an
independent and controversial Adventist teacher. Russell was succeeded
as president in 1917 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford (Judge Rutherford;
1869–1942), who changed the group’s name to Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931
to emphasize its members’ belief that Jehovah, or Yahweh, is the true
God and that the Witnesses were his specially chosen followers.
(AH, 4/07,
p.30)(www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/302393/Jehovahs-Witness)
1874 Jun 25, Rose Cecil O’Neill
(d.1944), illustrator, writer and creator of the Kewpie doll, was born
in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
(AH, 2/05,
p.24)(www.britannica.com/ebi/article?tocId=9331987)
1874 Jul 1, The 1st US zoo opened
in Philadelphia.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1876 May 10, Centennial Fair
opened in Philadelphia. Centennial Hall was built in Philadelphia, Pa.,
to commemorate the country’s 100th birthday. The US Centennial
Exhibition was a world’s fair celebrating the founding of the US and
drew over 9.9 million people. The US population at this time was 46
million.
(Hem, 6/96, p.108)(SFC,12/10/97, Z1 p.9)(MC, 5/10/02)
1876 Jun 5, Bananas became popular
in US following the Centennial Exposition in Phila.
(MC, 6/5/02)
1876 Jun 26, Alexander Graham Bell
demonstrated his telephone at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.D1)
1876 Dec 6, The 1st US crematorium
began operation in Washington, Penn.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1876 Edward Mitchell Bannister,
African-American artist, won a 1st place prize at the Centennial
Exposition, but was turned away from the exhibition hall when he went
to collect his medal.
(WSJ, 8/8/00, p.A20)
1877 Mar 12, In Philadelphia the
first department store, The Grand Depot, opened. John Wanamaker turned
an abandoned railway depot into one of the world’s 1st department
stores.
(HN, 3/12/98)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.11)(ON, 12/05, p.5)
1878 Mar 20, Thomas Fisher, an
alleged member of the Molly McGuires, was hung at the Carbon County
Prison of Mauch Chunk, Pa. He had been convicted of the murder of
Morgan Powell, a supervisor for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
Fisher insisted up to his death on his innocence.
(HT, 4/97, p.20)
1878 Jul 3, John Wise flew the
first dirigible in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
(HN, 7/3/98)
1878 Dec 26, The 1st US store to
install electric lights was in Philadelphia.
(MC, 12/26/01)
1878 The Thomas Eakins (1844-1916)
painting "The Gross Clinic" was bought for $200 by Thomas Jefferson
University, a medical and health sciences school in Philadelphia. In
2006 The National Gallery of Art agreed to buy the painting for a
record $68 million, however the deal was matched by local institutions
and the painting remained in Philadelphia.
(AP, 11/11/06)(WSJ, 12/26/06, p.D8)
1879 Apr 9, W.C. Fields (Claude
William Dukinfield [Dukenfield]), comedian, was born in Philadelphia.
He began his career as a vaudeville juggler, appeared on Broadway and
in motion pictures. [see Jan 29, 1880]
(HN, 4/9/98)(HNQ, 9/30/01)
1879 Jun 21, F.W. Woolworth opened
his 1st store. It failed almost immediately. Frank Woolworth added
10-cent items to the Great 5-Cent Store in Lancaster, Pa., and created
Woolworth’s five-and-ten. This was his 2nd attempt after a failure in
Utica. He took in $127 during his first day of business.
(WSJ, 9/26/96, p.B1)(SFC,10/20/97, p.B2)(MC, 6/21/02)
1879 In downtown Philadelphia the
Provident Life and Trust Building was completed. It was designed by
Frank Furness (1839-1912).
(WS, 6/26/01, p.A21)
1879 Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt
persuaded Washington to hand over the mothballed Carlisle military
barracks in Pennsylvania for use as a school for American Indians. In
the early 20th century the school became a football powerhouse, beating
Army in 1912. In 1918 the school was turned into a hospital to receive
soldiers wounded in WW I.
(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.P9)
1880 Jan 6, Tom Mix, silent screen
cowboy actor (Dick Turpin), was born in Mix Run, Pa.
(MC, 1/6/02)
1880 Jan 29, W.C. Fields, comedian
and actor, was born as Claude William Dukinfield [Dukenfield]. His
films included David Copperfield and My Little Chickadee. [see Apr 9
1879]
(HN, 1/29/99)
1880 Jun 18, John Sutter (b.1803),
Swiss-born California settler (gold discovered on his land), died in
Lititz, Pa.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)(MC, 6/18/02)
c1880-1920 In Philadelphia the Juvenile Aid Society
was begun by the 15,000 Jews of German extraction to deal with the wave
of some 200,000 East European Jews who arrived during this time.
(WSJ, 6/18/99, p.A20)
c1881 The Norristown State
Hospital was established. It served the chronically mentally ill and
the worst of the criminally insane.
(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A4)
1881 The South Fork Hunting and
Fishing Club purchased the old damn site across a tributary of the
Little Conemaugh River and rebuilt the old damn without the original
sluice pipes. They blocked the spillway to prevent fish from escaping.
(ON, 12/99, p.9)
1881 The Wharton School was
founded in Pennsylvania. In 2003 it was recognized as the oldest and
best business school in the US.
(WSJ, 9/17/03, p.A1)
1883 Feb 23, American
Anti-Vivisection Society was organized in Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1883 Haverford College was founded
in Haverford, Pa., by Quakers.
(WSJ, 7/24/03, p.A1)
1884 French artist Paul
Philippoteaux (1846-1923) and team of 20 created in Paris the massive
Cyclorama painting titled “The Battle of Gettysburg.” It was originally
377 feet in circumference. They then shipped it to the US, where it was
first displayed in Boston. The US National Park Service acquired it in
1942. In 2008 a 5-year, $15 million restoration project was completed
and it was reopened to the public at the Gettysburg National Military
Park in Gettysburg, Pa.
(SSFC, 9/28/08,
p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Philippoteaux)
1885 Mar, In Loganville, Pa., Dr.
George E. Holtzapple (22) saved Fred Gable (16), who was suffering from
pneumonia, by supplying the boy with pure oxygen. Oxygen therapy became
the only effective treatment for pneumonia until antibiotics became
available in the 1940s.
(ON, 4/07, p.10)
1885 Isaac Mayer Wise united
pockets of Jewish immigrants and assembled 15 rabbis in Pittsburgh to
articulate a platform for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations,
the Hebrew Union College, and the Central Conference of American
Rabbis. The organization of Reform Judaism discussed the Mitzvot,
the 613 commandments in the Torah, and accepted only the moral laws as
binding.
(WSJ, 6/4/99, p.W15)
1886 Feb 13, Painter Thomas Eakins
resigned from the Philadelphia Academy of Art over controversial use of
male nudes in a coed art class.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1887 Feb 2, People began gathering
at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., to witness the groundhog's
search for its shadow.
(WSJ, 2/2/99, p.B1)
1887 Ford City, Pa., was founded
by John B. Ford, head of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. on the shore of
the Allegheny River. Later some 47 acres of the factory grounds were
fenced off due to contamination from arsenic left behind by decades of
industrial glassmaking.
(WSJ, 8/12/97, p.B1)
1887 The Pennsylvania Railroad
train station at Harrisburg opened.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)
1887 Pennsylvania House was
founded in Lewisburg, Pa., to make high-quality case furniture. In 2000
La-Z-Boy bought the company and in 2004 moved production to China.
(SFC, 6/4/08, p.G3)
1889 Jan 9, A tornado struck
Brooklyn, NY, when Flatbush was farmland. A twister blew through what
are now the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Downtown,
Fort Greene and Williamsburg, blowing roofs off houses and uprooting
trees, but killing no one. 14 people were killed by the tornado in
Pittsburg, Pa.
(http://tinyurl.com/349275)(http://tinyurl.com/395f4q)
1889 May 31, Johnstown,
Pennsylvania was destroyed by a massive flood. The South Fork Dam
across a tributary of the Little Conemaugh River collapsed under
pressure from the rain-swollen Lake Conemaugh. Water slammed into
Johnstown, Pa., 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh and killed 2,209
people in a flood and related fire. Torrential rains had weakened the
poorly constructed dam, located 14 miles upstream from the city. By the
afternoon of May 31, after desperate efforts to shore up the earthen
dam had failed, it broke and unleashed a 40-foot-high wave of water and
debris into Johnstown with the force of Niagara Falls. Buildings and
trees, along with animals and people--both dead and alive--piled up
against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's Stone Bridge. The mountain
of debris then caught fire, trapping hundreds. More than 2,000 people
lost their lives in the devastating Johnstown Flood. The South Fork Dam
had been constructed to create Lake Conemaugh, a playground for the
wealthy members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. In 1959
Richard O'Connor published "Johnstown, the Day the Dam Broke." In 1968
David McCullough authored “The Johnstown Flood.”
(SFC, 3/24/97, p.C2)(AP, 5/31/97)(HN, 5/31/98)(WSJ,
1/27/06, p.P8)
1889 Nov 16, George S. Kaufman,
American playwright and screenwriter, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. His
plays included "Dinner at Eight," "You Can't Take it With You" and "The
Man Who Came to Dinner."
(HN, 11/16/99)(MC, 11/16/01)
1889 Clara Barton and her Red
Cross group spent 5 months helping victims of the Johnstown flood.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A6)
1890 Aug 27, Man Ray (d.1976) was
born as Emmanuel Radinski in Philadelphia, Pa. A painter and
photographer, he and Marcel Duchamp founded the Dadaism movement.
(Reuters, 8/28/01)
1890 The Westmoreland Glass Co.
began making glass containers in Grapeville, Pa. Operations continued
to 1984.
(SFC, 7/11/07, p.G4)
1891 Pennsylvania’s first free
library was chartered.
(Econ, 2/14/09, p.40)
1892 Mar 3, 1st cattle
tuberculosis test in US was made at Villa Nova, PA.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1892 Pennsylvania’s Mansfield
Univ. played college football’s first night game.
(WSJ, 9/26/08, p.A1)
1892 Henry Clay Frick, partner of
Andrew Carnegie, engineered a bloody clash with the labor union at the
Pittsburgh Homestead Mill. 9-10 workers and 3 Pinkerton guards were
killed and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers union
was crushed.
(SFEC,1/20/97, p.D1)(WSJ, 5/12/03, p.A6)
1893 Feb 28, Edward Acheson of
Pennsylvania, patented an abrasive he named "carborundum."
(MC, 2/28/02)
1893 Jun 14, Philadelphia observed
the first Flag Day.
(HN, 6/14/98)
1894 Apr 5, 11 strikers were
killed in riot at Connellsville, Penn.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1894 May 11, Martha Graham,
choreographer (Appalachian Spring), was born in Allegheny, Penn.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1894 Milton Hershey (1857-1945)
founded Hershey Foods in Pennsylvania. He built an industrial town near
where he was born and named it after himself.
(WSJ, 7/26/02, p.B1)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D1)(Econ,
3/24/07, p.18)
1895 Sep 3, The first professional
American football game was played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania between the
Latrobe Young Men’s Christian Association and the Jeannette Athletic
Club. Latrobe wins 12-0.
(HN, 9/3/00)
1896 Feb 28, Philip Showalter
Hench, physician (cortisone-Nobel), was born in Pittsburgh.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1896 May 7, Dr. Henry Howard
Holmes (b.1860), serial killer, was hanged to death in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Born as Herman Webster Mudgett in Gilmantown, New
Hampshire, to a devout Methodist family, Holmes spent much of his
childhood torturing animals. He later graduated from the University of
Michigan with a medical degree. Holmes financed his education with a
series of insurance scams whereby he requested coverage for nonexistent
people and then presented corpses as the insured. In 1886, Holmes moved
to Chicago to work as a pharmacist. A few months later, he killed the
elderly owner of the store but told everyone that the man had left him
in charge. With a new series of cons, Holmes raised enough money to
build a giant, elaborate home across from the store. The home, which
Holmes called "The Castle," had secret passageways, fake walls, and
trapdoors. Young women in the area, along with tourists who had come to
see the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, and had rented out rooms in
Holmes' castle, suddenly began disappearing. Medical schools purchased
many human skeletons from Dr. Holmes during this period but never asked
how he obtained the anatomy specimens. Holmes was finally caught after
attempting to use another corpse, his assistant Benjamin Pitezel, in an
insurance scam. He confessed, saying, "I was born with the devil in me.
I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet
can help the inspiration to sing." Reportedly, authorities discovered
the remains of over 200 victims on his property.
(www.thecrimeweb.com/hhholmes.htm)
1897 Feb 2, Fire destroyed the
Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. A new statehouse was
dedicated on the same site nine years later.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1897 May 14, "Stars and Stripes
Forever" by John Phillip Sousa was performed for the first time in
Philadelphia.
(HN, 5/14/01)
1897 Sep 10, Police shot at
striking mine workers in Pennsylvania and 20 people were killed.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1897 Sep 11, A strike by some
75,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia ended
after 10 weeks. Concessions included an eight-hour work day,
semi-monthly pay, and the abolition of company stores (which were
famous for over charging workers). The day before, about 20 miners were
killed when sheriff's deputies opened fire on them in Pennsylvania.
(AP, 9/11/97)(MC, 9/11/01)
1899 The Univ. of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archeology and Anthropology opened.
(WSJ, 5/7/03, p.D10)
1900 The construction of the
rococo City Hall in Philadelphia was completed. The architect was John
McArthur Jr.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T1)
1901 Jan 1, The 1st annual Mummers
parade was held in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.A10)
1901 Feb 25, United States Steel
Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan Charles Schwab and Andrew
Carnegie. Morgan combined Federal Steel and Carnegie Steel to form US
Steel. It was the biggest corporate merger of the time. As president of
US Steel Schwab acquired the Bethlehem Steel. In 1904 Schwab resigned
his position at US Steel to run Bethlehem Steel.
(AP, 2/25/98)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(WSJ, 5/12/03,
p.A6)(WSJ, 10/8/08, p.A15)
1901 Jan 28, Byron Bancroft
Johnson announced that the American League would play the 1901 baseball
season as a major league and would not renew its membership in the
National Agreement. The new league would include Baltimore and
Washington, DC, recently abandoned by the National League. The league
would also invade 4 cities where National League teams existed: Boston,
Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. The 8 charter teams included: the
Baltimore Orioles, Boston Americans, Chicago White Stockings, Cleveland
Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Athletics, and
Washington Senators.
(ON, 6/09,
p.11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_League)
1901 Jul 15, Over 74,000
Pittsburgh steel workers went on strike.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1901 The first US escalator,
manufactured by the Otis Elevator Company, was installed in a
Philadelphia office building. It was patented in 1859 and first
displayed at the 1900 Paris Exposition.
(HN, 8/9/00)
1901 The Pittsburgh Lamp, Brass
& Glass Co. (Pilabrasgo) began operations and continued to 1926.
(SFC, 2/21/07, p.G3)
1902 May 10, David O. Selznick,
film producer (Gone with the Wind, Rebecca), was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.
(HN, 5/10/02)(MC, 5/10/02)
1902 May 12, Over 100,000 miners
in northeastern Pennsylvania called a strike and kept the mines closed
all summer. Owners refused arbitration and Pres. Roosevelt intervened.
[see Oct 3]
(LCTH, 10/3/99)(SFC, 10/4/02, p.A17)
1902 Jun 9, The 1st Automat
restaurant opened at 818 Chestnut Street, Phila.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1902 Oct 3,
President Theodore Roosevelt met with miners and coal field operators
in an attempt to settle the anthracite coal strike, then in its fifth
month. The country relied on coal to power commerce and industry and
anthracite or "hard coal" was essential for domestic heating.
Pennsylvania miners had left the anthracite fields demanding wage
increases, union recognition, and an eight-hour workday. As winter
approached, public anxiety about fuel shortages and the rising cost of
all coal pushed Roosevelt to take unprecedented action. A presidential
commission awarded the workers a 10% wage increase and a shorter work
week. [see May 12]
(LCTH, 10/3/99)(SFC, 10/4/02, p.A17)
1902 Oct 25, Henry Steele
Commanger, American historian, was born in Pittsburg, Pa. He wrote the
fifty-five volume "Rise of the American Nation."
(HN, 10/25/98)(MC, 10/25/01)
1903 Oct 1, The Pittsburgh Pirates
defeated the home team Boston Pilgrims (Red Sox), 7-3, in the first
World Series game. Boston, however, went on to win the series, five
games to three.
(AP, 10/1/03)
1903 Oct 13, Boston defeated
Pittsburgh in baseball’s first World Series. In 2003 Roger I. Abrams
authored "The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903;"
Louis P. Masur authored "Autumn Glory: Baseball's First World Series;"
and Bob Ryan authored "When Boston Won the World Series."
(WSJ, 7/8/96, p.A8)(HN, 10/13/98)(WSJ, 3/28/03,
p.W9)(SSFC, 6/8/03, p.M6)
1903 The 1st trolley with an
electric 3rd rail was installed in Scranton, Pa.
(SFEC, 9/26/99, p.B8)
1903 Andrew Carnegie donated $1.5
million for the construction of 2 dozen libraries in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
(Econ, 2/14/09, p.40)
1904 Jan 25, Two-hundred (179)
coal miners were entombed in an explosion in Cheswick, Pennsylvania.
(HN, 1/25/99)(MC, 1/25/02)
1904 Feb 29, Jimmy Dorsey
(d.1957), orchestra leader, was born in Shenandoah, Pa.
(HN, 2/29/00)(AP, 2/29/04)
1904 Dec 10, Charles M. Schwab
incorporated a revamped Bethlehem Steel. As president of US Steel he
had acquired the Pennsylvania steel maker in 1901. Schwab resigned his
position at US Steel to run Bethlehem Steel. In 2008 Kenneth Warren
authored “Bethlehem Steel: Builder and Arsenal of America.”
(WSJ, 10/8/08, p.A15)
1905 Jan 31, John O'Hara, novelist
(Appointment at Samarra), was born in Pottsville, Penn.
(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.M2)
1905 Jun 11, Pennsylvania Railroad
debuted the fastest train in world (NY-Chicago in 18 hrs).
(SC, 6/11/02)
1905 Jun, In Pittsburgh, Penn.,
the world's 1st theater geared exclusively for motion pictures opened.
(SFC, 9/28/99, p.A27)
1905 Nov 19, Tommy Dorsey, band
leader, was born in Shenandoah, Pa.
(AP, 11/19/05)
1905 Dec 7, Leonard H. Goldenson
(d.1999), later chief of ABC broadcasting, was born in Scottdale.
(SFC, 12/28/99, p.B3)
1906 Apr 16, In Pennsylvania 3 men
were shot dead in a riot among striking coal miners at Windber. An
appeal was made to Gov. Pennypacker for troops.
(SFC, 4/17/06, p.A9)
1906 Jul 17, American playwright
Clifford Odets was born in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/18/06)
1906 Oct 22, 3000 blacks
demonstrated and rioted in Philadelphia.
(MC, 10/22/01)
1906 Dec 27, Oscar Levant,
American composer and actor, was born in Pittsburgh.
(AP, 12/27/06)
1906 The Capital building in
Harrisburg, Pa., featured a dome modeled on St. Peter’s in Rome.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)
1907 May, The idea of a day set
apart every year to honor motherhood is credited to Anna Jarvis of
Philadelphia, who, in 1907, suggested the wearing of carnations on the
second Sunday in May to honor mothers. Her enthusiastic campaign for a
nationwide observance attracted enough public support that President
Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation designating the second Sunday in
May 1914 the first national Mother’s Day.
(HNPD, 5/9/00)
1907 Dec 19, A gas explosion
killed 239 workers in a coal mine in Jacobs Creek, Pa.
(AP, 12/19/97)(MC, 12/19/01)
1907 Dec 23, The 1st all-steel
passenger railroad coach was completed at Altoona, Pa.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1907 Dec 24, I.F. Stone (d.1989),
American investigative journalist, was born in Philadelphia. "Those who
nobly set out to be their brother's keeper sometimes end up by becoming
his jailer. Every emancipation has in it the seeds of a new slavery,
and every truth easily becomes a lie."
(AP, 10/17/99)(AP, 12/24/07)
1907 Milton Hershey, chocolate
tycoon, opened Hershey Park, an admission-free amusement park in
Hershey, Pa.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)
1907 Clayton S. Reaser purchased a
5-year old Pennsylvania furniture company named Gettysburg
Manufacturing Co. and renamed it Reaser Furniture Manufacturing Co.
(SFC, 1/10/07, p.G2)
1907 Charles B. Gillespie,
physician and artist, died in Pennsylvania. He had traveled to
California during the gold rush and made a number of sketches,
including depictions of Sutter’s Mill, some of which he turned into
paintings upon returning to Freeport in 1851. In 2008 119 pen-and-ink
sketches and 5 oil paintings were put up for auction.
(SSFC, 11/23/08, p.B9)
1908 May 10, The first Mother’s
Day observance took place during church services in Grafton, W.Va., and
Philadelphia. In 1997 Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia first proposed the
idea that all mothers wear a carnation on the 2nd Sunday of May.
(AP, 5/10/97)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.E5)
1908 May 20, Jimmy Stewart, actor,
was born in Indiana, Pa. He is best remembered for his roles in "It's a
Wonderful Life" and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
(WSJ, 5/20/97, p.A18)(HN, 5/20/99)(AP, 5/20/08)
1908 Nov 18, Imogene Coca d.2001),
later co-star with Sid Caesar of the 1950s "Your Show of Shows" TV
program, was born in Philadelphia.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A29)(AP, 11/18/08)
1908 Nov 28, 154 men died in a
coal mine explosion at Marianna, Pa.
(MC, 11/28/01)
1908 The Univ. of Pittsburgh
introduced the 1st football jerseys with numbers on the back.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.B6)
1909 Dec 14, The Labor Conference
in Pittsburgh ended with a "declaration of war" on U.S. Steel.
(HN, 12/14/98)
1909 Harry V. Warehime established
Hanover Pretzel Company in Pennsylvania with a single recipe, Hanover
Olde Tyme Pretzels.
(http://factorytoursusa.com/full.htm)
1909 In Hershey, Pennsylvania,
Milton Hershey and his wife Catherine established the Milton Hershey
School for the "maintenance, support and education of as many poor,
white orphan boys as it could afford." The racial restriction ended in
1970. By 2002 the 1200-student school had an endowment of some $5.4
billion.
(WSJ, 8/12/99, p.A1)(SFC, 7/26/02, p.B3)
1909 The Pittsburgh Pirates, led
by pitcher Honus Wagner, defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in the World
Series. This marked the last world series appearance by Ty Cobb.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A20)
1910 May 23, Franz Kline (d.1962),
American painter of abstract expressionist style, was born in
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
(www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_77.html)
1910 Aug 15, Hugo Winterhalter,
composer, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1910 Nov 27, In NYC the
Pennsylvania Railroad began service at Pennsylvania Station. It was
begun under the direction of PRR president Alexander J. Cassatt
(d.1906) and designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and
White. In 2007 Jill Jonnes authored “Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age
Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and its Tunnels.” Penn Station
was demolished in 1963.
(AP, 11/27/06)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.95)(SSFC, 7/8/07,
p.M2)
1910 Dec 19, Rayon was 1st
commercially produced by Marcus Hook in Penn.
(MC, 12/19/01)
1910 In Philadelphia John
Wanamaker’s The Grand Depot department store, was replaced by a
250-foot tall, 12-story edifice known as Wanamaker’s.
(ON, 12/05, p.6)
1911 Oct, The Philadelphia
Athletics, forerunners of the Oakland A’s, won the World Series,
beating the New York Giants of the National League, today’s SF Giants.
(SMTS, 10/1/86, p.4)
1912 May 18, Richard Brooks,
director (Blackboard Jungle, In Cold Blood), was born in Philadelphia,
PA.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1912 Aug 23, Gene Kelly, dancer
and actor who starred in "An American in Paris" and "Singing in the
Rain," was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as Eugene Curan. Kelly
debuted on Broadway in 1938 musical "Pal Joey" and in the film "For Me
and My Gal" four years later
(HN, 8/23/98)(MC, 8/23/02)
1912 Nov 9, The football team of
Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian School, with running back Jim Thorpe,
defeated the Army team, with Dwight D. Eisenhower as linebacker, 27-6.
In 2007 Sally Jenkins authored “The Real Americans: The Team That
Changed a Game, a People, a Nation.”
(WSJ, 1/7/07,
p.P9)(www.footballfoundation.com/news.php?id=242)
1912-1938 Leopold Stokowski was the music director of
the Philadelphia Orchestra.
(Hem, 6/96, p.107)(WSJ, 2/11/99, p.A24)
1913 May 18, Perry Como (Pierino
Roland Como, d. 2001), singer, was born in Canonsburg, Pa.
(SSFC, 5/13/01, p.A27)
1913 Dec 1, The first drive-in
automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Co., opened in
Pittsburgh. [see Cincinnati in 1912]
(AP, 12/1/06)
1913 Engraver George T. Morgan is
believed to have produced 5 Liberty Head V nickels at the Philadelphia
Mint. In 2004 one sold for $3 million.
(WSJ, 5/20/04, p.C1)
1913 In Pennsylvania a fire at the
Red Ash colliery ignited a coal mine. As of 2009 it was still burning
and was the oldest of 36 ongoing mine fires.
(Econ, 3/14/09, p.34)
1916 Jul 28, Laird Cregar, actor
(Charley's Aunt, Hangover Square), was born in Phila.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1916 The Mercer Museum in
Doylestown was completed by Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930),
archeologist and collector.
(AH, 4/01, p.18)
1916 Charles Taze Russell (b.1852)
died. He founded the International Bible Students Association. In the
1870’s Russell abandoned the Adventist movement and formed his own in
Pennsylvania, which was later named Jehovah’s Witnesses. His early
followers were called "Russellites."
(HN, 2/16/02)
1917 Apr 10, A munitions factory
explosion at Eddystone, PA., killed 133 workers.
(MC, 4/10/02)
1917 Jul 12, Andrew Wyeth, painter
who focused on the northeastern United States, was born in Chadds Ford,
Pa. In 1998 Beth Venn and Adam Weinberg published "Unknown Terrain," a
companion piece to a Whitney Museum exhibition of his art.
(HN, 7/12/98)(MC, 7/12/02)(www.wyethcenter.com)
1917 Oct 22, Leopold Stokowski led
Philadelphia Orchestra in its first recording.
(MC, 10/22/01)
1917 Theresa Bernstein, artist,
helped found the Philadelphia Ten, a female art group. It was created
in response to the Eight, a male-dominated group later called the
Ashcan School.
(SFC, 3/1/01, p.E2)
1917 John G. Johnson, Philadelphia
lawyer, died and left his home an collection of Renaissance art to the
city. Within 20 years the collection was taken over by the Pennsylvania
Museum of Art.
(WSJ, 7/18/03, p.W18)
1918 May 18, A TNT explosion in
chemical factory in Oakdale, PA, killed 200.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1918 Jul 25, A race riot in
Chester, Pennsylvania, left 3 blacks and 2 whites dead.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1918 Milton Hershey endowed the
Milton Hershey School with $60 million in stock.
(WSJ, 8/12/99, p.A1)
1918 The influenza epidemic killed
11,000 people in Philadelphia.
(LSA, Fall/06, p.58)
1919 Feb 18, Jack Palance
(d.2006), later film and TV star, was born as Volodymir Ivanovich
Palahniuk in Latimer Mines, Pa.
(SFC, 11/11/06, p.B6)
1919 Nov 17, Hershy Kay, composer
and arranger, was born Philadelphia, Penn.
(MC, 11/17/01)
1920 Jan 15, John J. "Cardinal"
O'Connor, Roman Catholic Archbishop of NY, was born in Philadelphia.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1920 Nov 2, The first radio
broadcast in the United States was made from Pittsburgh. Westinghouse
built a radio station on its factory roof. KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast
returns from the Harding-Cox presidential election.
(CFA, ‘96, p.58)(WSJ, 1/12/98, p.A19)(HN,
11/2/98)(AP, 11/2/99)
1920 Nov 25, The 1st Thanksgiving
Parade was held in Philadelphia.
(MC, 11/25/01)
1921 Jan 2, Religious services
were first broadcast on radio when KDKA aired the regular Sunday
service of Pittsburgh's Calvary Episcopal Church.
(AP, 1/2/00)
1921 Jan 31, Mario Lanza (d.1959),
actor, singer (Great Caruso, Toast of New Orleans), was born in
Philadelphia.
(MC, 1/31/02)
1921 Mar 6, Police in Sunbury,
Penn., issued an edict requiring Women to wear skirts at least 4 inches
below the knee.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1921 May 10, Nancy Walker, Bounty
ads, actress (Rhoda, McMillan & Wife), was born in Philadelphia.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1921 Aug 5, The first radio
broadcast of a baseball game took place in Pittsburgh.
(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.B8)
1921 Aug 20, Jacqueline Susann,
author (Valley of the Dolls), was born in Phila., Pa.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1921 Aug 21, Nancy Kulp, actress
(Jane-Beverly Hillbillies), was born in Harrisburg, Pa.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1921 Nov 3, Charles Bronson
(d.2003), [Buchinsky], actor (Death Wish, Dirty Dozen), was born in
Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 9/1/03, p.A2)
1921 Baldwin Locomotive Works in
Philadelphia built Engine 2472. In 1975 it was acquired for the San
Mateo Fairgrounds in California.
(SSCM, 12/2/01, p.15)
1922 Aug 26, The Philadelphia
Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 26-23.
(SFEC, 7/25/99, Z1 p.2)
1922 Dec 12, John Wanamaker
(b.1938), US merchant who founded a chain of stores in Philadelphia,
died. He introduced department stores and price tags to the US and
became the first modern advertiser when he bought ads in newspapers to
promote his stores.
(http://tinyurl.com/ck74o)(Econ, 7/8/06, p.61)(Econ,
7/15/06, p.15)
1922 Mennonites from Canada and
Pennsylvania fled persecution and settled near Chihuahua, Mexico.
(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.T3)(SFEC, 11/5/00, p.T4)
1923 Jul 10, Jean Kerr (d.2003),
playwright and author, was born in Scranton, Pa. Her later books
included "Please Don’t Eat the Daisies."
(SFC, 1/7/03, p.A22)
1924 In Philadelphia, Pa., the
18-story Philadelphia Inquirer building was completed as home for the
Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper.
(WSJ, 8/29/07, p.B1)
1925 Jun 25, Robert Venturi,
architect (Levittown NY, Las Vegas), was born in Phila.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1925 Dr. Albert C. Barnes
(1872-1951) built a mansion to house his collection of French
impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in Merion,
Pennsylvania. The collection grew to some 2,500 objects and their setup
and access was highly restricted by Dr. Barnes’ trust indenture. Barnes
had made his fortune with a pediatric antibiotic called Argyrol. By
2000 his foundation was broke. In 2003 John Anderson authored ""Art
Held Hostage," an account of the Barnes collection.
(WSJ, 11/28/95, p.A-12)(WSJ, 7/18/03, p.W18)
1925 The Pottsville Maroons beat
the Chicago Cardinals for the NFL championship, but lost it on a
technicality after they played a college all-star team in Philadelphia.
(Econ, 11/1/03, p.30)
1926 Sep 23, Gene Tunney
(1897-1978), an ex-marine, defeated Jack Dempsey for the World
Heavyweight Boxing championship in Philadelphia. Tunney defeated
Dempsey again in a 1927 rematch and retired undefeated in 1928. In 2006
Jack Cavanaugh authored “Tunney: Boxing’s Brainiest Champ and His Upset
of the Great Jack Dempsey.”
(Smith., 5/95, p.12)(SFC, 10/19/99, p.A22)(WSJ,
11/17/06, p.W6)
1926 Oct 13, Ray Brown (d.2002),
jazz bass player, was born in Pittsburgh.
(HN, 10/13/00)(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A21)
1927 Feb 2, Stan Getz, jazz
saxophonist, was born in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 12/28/99, p.C4)
1927 Mar 11, The 1st armored
commercial car hold-up in US took place in Pittsburgh.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1927 Sep 17, George Blanda, NFL
kicker and quarterback (Bears, Oilers, Raiders), was born in
Pennsylvania.
(MC, 9/17/01)
1927 Elsie Driggs created her
painting "Pittsburgh."
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1928 Mar 20, Fred Rogers,
television performer (Mr. Roger's Neighborhood), was born in Latrobe,
Pa.
(HN, 3/20/01)
1928 May 19, "Firedamp" exploded
in Mather, Pa. coal mine killing 195 of 273 miners.
(DT internet 5/19/97)
1928 Nov 2, L. Stokovski conducted
the premiere of Dmitri Shostakovitch's 1st Symphony, in Phila.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1928 Andy Warhol (d.1987) was born
in Pittsburgh. He went to school there and graduated from the Carnegie
Institute of Technology.
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.T11)
1928 Walter E. Diemer (23), an
accountant for Fleer Chewing Gum in Philadelphia, began testing recipes
for a gum base. He invented the first batch of bubble gum, making it
pink because that was the only shade of food coloring on hand. It was
sold under the Dubble Bubble name for a penny.
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A19)(SFC, 8/2/99, p.A22)
1930 Mar 17, James Benson Irwin,
Col. USAF, astronaut (Apollo 15), was born in Pittsburgh, Penn.
(MC, 3/17/02)
1930 Jun 2, Charles Conrad
(d.1999), astronaut, was born in Philadelphia. He walked on the moon
during the Apollo XII mission in 1969.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.A6)
1930 In Philadelphia, Pa., Pat’s
King of Steak’s opened at Ninth and Passyunk Ave. They helped make
famous the Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich.
(SSFC, 9/17/06, p.G5)
1930s Hubley Manufacturing of
Lancaster, Pa., made cast-iron toys that later became valued as
collectibles. The Arcade Manuf. Co. of Freeport, Ill., also made
similar toys.
(SFC, 1/28/98, Z1 p.3)
1931 Apr 7, Donald Barthelme
(d.1989), US writer, was born in Philadelphia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme)(WSJ,
2/21/09, p.W8)
1932 Apr 4, Vitamin C was 1st
isolated by C.C. King at the Univ. of Pittsburgh.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1932 Jul 25, Paul J. Weitz,
astronaut (Skylab 2, STS 6), was born in Erie, Pennsylvania.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1933 Mar 7, George Darrow added
some copyrighted art work to the board game Monopoly and began selling
it commercially in Philadelphia. He sold it to Parker Brothers in 1934.
The game had originally been patented in 1904 as the Landlord’s Game by
Elizabeth J. Magie. In Oct 1929 Ruth Hoskins brought a version to
Atlantic City, refined the rules and street names. It was later
introduced to George Darrow.
(HN, 3/7/98)(WSJ, 2/3/05,
p.W12)(http://richard_wilding.tripod.com/history.htm)
1933 Mar 31, Shirley Jones,
actress (Partridge Family, Elmer Gantry), was born in Smithton, Pa.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1933 May 7, Johnny Unitas
(d.2002), the son of Lithuanian immigrants, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.
He became a NFL Quarterback for the Baltimore Colts and San Diego
Chargers. He was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Unitas)
1933 Nov 7, Pennsylvania voters
overturned blue law, by permitting Sunday sports.
(MC, 11/7/01)
1933 Dec 21, Dried human blood
serum was 1st prepared at the Univ. of Pennsylvania.
(MC, 12/21/01)
1933 In Pennsylvania the
Pymatuning Dam impounded the Pymatuning Reservoir. It was constructed
to regulate the flow of the Shenango and Beaver rivers. The reservoir
later became a major attraction for tourists, who came to feed the
local carp.
(www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/pymatuning.htm)(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.A1)
1933 Milton Hershey, chocolate
tycoon, opened Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pa.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)
1933 Art Rooney founded the
Pittsburgh Pirates football team for $2,500.
(WSJ, 7/8/08, p.A17)
1934 Feb 17, 1st high school auto
driving course was offered by State College, Penn.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1934 Jun 27, Anna Moffo, soprano
(Lucia, Traviata), was born in Wayne, Penn.
(MC, 6/27/02)
1934 Aug 24, In Philadelphia, Pa.,
Philo T. Farnsworth (28), a San Francisco scientist, produced a
televised picture of the moon, the first recorded use of television in
astronomy.
(SSFC, 8/16/09, p.46)
1934 Pennsylvania passed
legislation to limit alcohol consumption and protect the state's
brewers from outside competition.
(WSJ, 3/23/04, p.B5)
1935 Feb 10, Pennsylvania RR began
passenger service with new electric locomotive.
(MC, 2/10/02)
1935 Apr 21, Charles Grodin,
actor, Woman in Red, Lonely Guy, Heartbreak Kid), was born in
Pittsburgh.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1935 Dec 4, Some 1,200 at St
Joseph's College, Philadelphia, enrolled in an anticommunism class.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1935 The Pittsburgh Crawfords were
considered to have been the greatest Negro League baseball team of all
time.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.T4)
1936 Jun 11, Presbyterian Church
of America was founded at Philadelphia.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1936 Aug 21, Wilt Chamberlain
(d.1999 at age 63), later basketball star, was born in Philadelphia.
From 1952-1955 he led Overbrook High School to a 56-3 record.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.D4)
1936 Aug, Pres. Franklin Delano
Roosevelt accepted his re-nomination and gave his "rendezvous with
destiny" speech in Philadelphia.
(SFEC, 7/30/00, p.C17)
1936 Frank Lloyd Wright designed
the Fallingwater house near Mill Run in Western Pennsylvania. He was
warned by structural engineers that there was not enough support for
the cantilevered floors, but dismissed their warnings. Sag began
immediately after construction and in 1997 steel support beams were
added as a temporary measure. Edgar Kaufmann Jr. later published
"Fallingwater, A Frank Lloyd Wright House."
(WSJ, 10/24/97, p.B18)(SFEC, 2/20/00, p.T10)
1936 Moses Annenberg bought the
Philadelphia Enquirer, a reputed bible of Republican politics.
(SFC, 10/2/02, p.A2)
1936 A major flood hit Pittsburgh.
Pennsylvania soon passed a 10% tax on alcohol in an emergency measure
to help cover the flood damage. Repairs were completed in about 5
years, but the tax remained and was later increased twice to 15% and
then 18%.
(WSJ, 6/29/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/15/08, p.A11)
1938 Jun 24, A 500 ton meteorite
landed near Pittsburgh.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1938 Jul 4, 1st game at Shribe
Park, Phila; Braves beat Phillies 10-5.
(Maggio)
1938 Jul 14, Owen Wister (b.1860),
novelist, died. His 1902 novel "The Virginian" inspired 5 films.
He had earlier begun a novel set in his native Philadelphia but stopped
work on it when his wife died during childbirth on Aug 24, 1913.
(HN, 7/14/01)(SFC, 1/9/02, p.D8)
1938 Nov 8, Crystal Bird Fauset of
Pa., became the first African American woman to be elected to a state
legislature.
(HN, 11/6/98)
1938 Tennessee Williams wrote his
play "Not About Nightingales." It was based on an incident in
Pennsylvania's Philadelphia County prison, where 4 inmates died after
25 inmates, who threatened a hunger strike due to bad food, were locked
in an isolation chamber with giant radiators pumping 200-degree heat.
(WSJ, 3/3/99, p.A17)
1938 Byron White signed a $15,800
contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates becoming the NFL’s first big money
player. He later served for 31 years as a US Supreme Court Justice.
(WSJ, 7/8/08, p.A17)
1939 Aug 11, Moses Annenberg,
owner of the Philadelphia Enquirer, was indicted by a federal jury in
Chicago for evading some $3.2 million in income taxes.
(SFC, 10/2/02, p.A2)
1939 St. John Terell (d.1998 at
81), actor and impresario, founded the Bucks County Playhouse in New
Hope.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.C3)
1939 Jim Rex founded the Ranger
Joe Breakfast Food Co. in Philadelphia. It was sold in the 1940s to
Philadelphia businessman Moses Berger and sold again in 1954 to Nabisco
and renamed "Wheat and Rice Honeys."
(SFC,11/19/97, Z1 p.7)
1939 Latrobe Brewing of Latrobe,
Pa., began making Rolling Rock, a pale lager. It was later acquired by
InBev SA. In 2006 Rolling Rock was acquired by Anheuser-Busch, which
moved operations to Newark NJ. In 2008 Anheuser-Busch was acquired by
InBev SA.
(www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/nyregion/08brew.html?fta=y)(WSJ, 4/13/09,
p.B1)
1940 Apr 20, RCA publicly
demonstrated its new and powerful electron microscope in Philadelphia,
Pa.
(AP, 4/20/97)(HN, 4/20/98)(MC, 4/20/02)
1940 Jun 24, The Republican
Convention, opened in Philadelphia. In 2005 Charles Peters authored
“Five Days in Philadelphia.” An account of the convention and how it
freed FDR to move against Hitler.
(WSJ, 7/6/05, p.D10)(http://tinyurl.com/e3xrw)
1940 Jun 28, The Republican
Convention, held in Philadelphia, nominated Wendall Willkie (d.1944)
for US president on 6th ballot. Senator Charles L. McNary from Oregon
was his running mate. They were defeated by President Franklin
Roosevelt who won his third term. In 2005 Charles Peters authored “Five
Days in Philadelphia.” An account of the convention and how it freed
FDR to move against Hitler.
(WSJ, 7/6/05, p.D10)(SFEC, 7/30/00,
p.C17)(http://tinyurl.com/e3xrw)
1940 Oct 1, The first section of
the Pennsylvania Turnpike, 160 miles in length, was opened to the
public.
(AP, 10/1/00)
1940 Oct 24, F. Murray Abraham,
actor (Amadeus, Mad Man), was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1940 Nov 1, 1st US air raid
shelter was made in Fleetwood, Pa.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1940 Art Rooney renamed the
Pittsburgh Pirates football team to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
(WSJ, 7/8/08, p.A17)
1940-1953 John W. Nason (d.2001 at 96) served as
president of Swarthmore College. From 1942-1945 he served as chairman
of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council and helped
over 3,000 students out of detention camps and into institutions of
higher learning.
(SFC, 11/24/01, p.A21)
1941 May 26, American Flag House,
the Betsy Ross Home, was given to the city of Phila.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1941 Aug 28, Paul Peter Plishka,
bass (Met Opera), was born in Old Forge, Penn.
(MC, 8/28/01)
1941 Matt Cvetic (d.1962 at 53)
infiltrated the Communist party in Pittsburgh. The 1951 film "I Was a
Communist for the FBI" was based on his true story. In 2001 Daniel J.
Leab authored "I Was a Communist for the FBI."
(WSJ, 2/12/00, p.A25)
1942 Jan
10, Jim Croce, (d.1973) rock vocalist (Time in a Bottle, Workin' At The
Car Wash Blues), was born in Philadelphia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Croce)
1942 Mar 26, 20 tons of gelignite
killed 21 in a stone quarry in Easton, PA.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1942 Nov 20, Joseph Biden, later
US Senator for Delaware, was born in Scranton, Pa. In 2008 Barack Obama
named Biden as his vice presidential running mate.
(SSFC, 8/24/08, p.A15)
1942 Moses Annenberg, owner of the
Philadelphia Enquirer, died. His son Walter took over as editor and
publisher.
(SFC, 10/2/02, p.A2)
1943 May 31, Joe Namath, NFL QB
(NY Jets), $400,000 man (1969 Superbowl), was born in PA.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1943 Jun 17, Newt Gingrich, later
Republican Speaker of the House (1995-1998), was born in Hummelstown,
Pa.
(SFC, 11/7/98, p.A4)
1943 Richard James (d.1974)
observed a torsion spring balance bounce off a ship’s deck while
working at a Philadelphia shipyard and conceived the idea of a "slinky"
toy for children, named by his wife Betty James (d.2008). In 1945 they
founded James Industries. In 1998 the company was sold to POOF Products
of Michigan.
(IBCC, 10/97, #9)(SSFC, 11/23/08, p.B9)
1944 Jan 28, Leonard Bernstein's
"Jeremiah," premiered in Pittsburgh.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1945 Milton Hershey (b.1857),
Philadelphia chocolate tycoon, died.
(WSJ, 8/12/99, p.A1)
1946 Jul 6, Jamie Wyeth, artist
(An American Vision-Boston), was born in Pennsylvania.
(MC, 7/6/02)
1947 Feb 9, Bank robber Willie
Sutton escaped jail in Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1947 Sep 13, WPVI TV channel 6 in
Philadelphia, PA., (ABC) began broadcasting.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1948 Feb 14, Winthrop Rockefeller
(1912-1973), later governor of Arkansas (1967-1971), married Barbara
Sears (1916-2008), the Pennsylvania-born daughter of Lithuanian
immigrants. They had one child, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, but the
marriage dissolved in a high-profile divorce in 1954. Barbara Bobo
Rockefeller, born as Jievute Paulekiute in Noblestown, Pa., was
featured as Miss Lithuania at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. She later
was known as Eva Paul.
(www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=772208)
1948 Jun 2, Albert Innaurato,
playwright, director (Age in Soho), was born in Phila.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1948 Jun 17, A United Air Lines
DC-6 crashed near Mount Carmel, Penn., killing all 43 people on board.
(AP, 6/17/98)
1948 Jun 21, The Republican
national convention opened in Philadelphia. The delegates ended up
choosing Thomas E. Dewey to be their presidential nominee.
(AP, 6/21/07)
1948 Jun 24, The Republican
National Convention, meeting in Philadelphia, nominated New York
Governor Thomas E. Dewey for president.
(AP, 6/24/98)
1948 Jun 25, The Republican
national convention in Philadelphia chose California Gov. Earl Warren
to be Thomas E. Dewey's running mate.
(AP, 6/25/98)
1948 Jul 12, The Democratic
national convention opened in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/12/98)
1948 Jul 15, President Truman was
nominated for another term of office by the Democratic National
Convention in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1948 Jul 24, Henry A. Wallace
accepted the presidential nomination of the Progressive Party in
Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/24/08)
1948 Oct 31, By this date
some 20 people died and 6,000 were made ill by smog from steel and zinc
plants in Donora, Pennsylvania. Between October 26 and October 31,
1948, an air inversion trapped fluoride effluent from the Zinc Works.
In three days, 18 people died. After the inversion lifted, another 50
died. Hundreds more finished the rest of their lives with damaged lungs
and hearts. Both plants closed in 1966. In 2002, “When Smoke Ran Like
Water” was published by Devra Davis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donora,_Pennsylvania)(SSFC, 11/2/08, p.A6)
1949 Jun 16, A gas turbine,
electric locomotive was demonstrated in Erie, Pa.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1949 Aug 31, Richard Gere, actor
(Breathless, Cotton Club), was born in Phila., Pa.
(YN, 8/31/99)
1949 Pennsylvania enacted a state
law requiring the reading of 10 Bible verses each day in schools
followed by joint recitation of the Lord's Prayer and the Pledge of
Allegiance.
(SFC, 11/24/03, p.A18)
1951 Jun 14, UNIVAC, the first
computer built for commercial purposes, was demonstrated in
Philadelphia by Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Prosper Eckert, Jr.
(HN, 6/14/98)
1951 Jun 15, 1st commercial
electronic computer was dedicated in Philadelphia. [see Jun 14]
(MC, 6/15/02)
1951 Jul 24, Dr. Albert C. Barnes,
eccentric collector of impressionist art, died in an automobile crash.
[see 1925 Barnes] His will specified that his art collection be kept
forever in Lower Merion Township, Pa. In 2004 a judge allowed trustees
to move the collection to Philadelphia.
(WSJ, 11/28/95, p.A-12)(SFC, 12/15/04,
p.E5)(www.barnesfoundation.org/h_bio.html)
1951 Pennsylvania passed a law
requiring a loyalty oath from candidates for public office. In 2006 the
oath was deemed unconstitutional.
(SFC, 8/28/06, p.A3)
1951 Elizabeth Ralph, physicist at
the Univ. of Pennsylvania, created the Museum Applied Science Center
for Archeology (MASCA).
(AM, 11/04, p.30)
1952 Mar 18, The 1st plastic lens
for cataract patients was fitted in Phila.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1952 Oct 7, The 1st "Bandstand"
broadcast in Philadelphia on WFIL-TV. Dick Clark joined in 1955 as a
substitute-host. [see 1956]
(SFC, 11/10/99, p.E3)(SFC, 4/15/00, p.D3)(MC,
10/7/01)
1952 John J. Rigas founded
Adelphia Communications in Coudersport, Pa., with a dream and a $300
check for a local cable franchise.
(WSJ, 5/28/02, p.A1)(USAT, 7/9/04, p.3B)
1952 Crigler-Najjar syndrome was
named for two doctors who identified it this year. Patients began
living longer in the 1970s when doctors realized that the wavelength
and energy of blue light changes the nature of the bilirubin, allowing
it to be excreted from the body. In 2007 there were about 110 known
cases of Crigler's worldwide, including about 35 in the US. About 20
are among the Amish and Mennonite in Pennsylvania.
(AP, 5/19/07)
1953 Mar 26, Dr. Jonas Salk of the
University of Pittsburgh announced that a vaccine against polio had
been successfully tested in a small group of adults and children. By
April 1955, the vaccine had undergone further testing and gained
federal approval for public use, as shown in this photo of Salk
administering the vaccine at Colfax School in Pittsburgh. Salk’s polio
vaccine was so successful that by 1961 the incidence of polio had
decreased by 95 percent.
(HNPD, 3/26/99)
1954 Feb 23, The first mass
inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in
Pittsburgh. Jonas Salk created the Salk vaccine against polio. It used
a killed virus to induce immunization. Poliomyelitis is a viral attack
of the central nervous system and can cause paralysis and death by
asphyxiation. [see Apr 26] In 2005 David M. Oshinsky authored
“Polio: An American Story – The Crusade That Mobilized the Nation
Against the 20th Century’s Most Feared Disease.”
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.A10)(HN, 2/23/98)(AP,
2/23/98)(Econ, 6/18/05, p.79)
1956 Jul 4, Independence National
Historical Park formed in Philadelphia.
(Maggio)
1956 Dick Clark (27) joined the TV
show "American Bandstand" in Philadelphia after one of the 2 original
hosts was arrested fro drunk driving. He was re[placed by David Hirsch
for the last season in 1989.
(SFC, 11/10/99, p.E3)(SFC, 5/2/02, p.D1)
1956 Whirling disease infecting
the salmon family of fish was first detected in the US in 1956 in
Pennsylvania. It was native to Eurasia and caused by a fungus carried
in spores hosted by the Tubifex tubifex worm. In 1995 it was detected
in Montana fish.
(WSJ, 3/26/99, p.W10)
1957 Jan 3, The Hamilton
Watch Company was the first to introduce an electric watch in
Lancaster, Pa.
(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)(MC, 1/3/02)
1957 Aug 5, "American Bandstand,"
a teenage dance show hosted by Dick Clark in Philadelphia, made its
network debut on ABC-TV.
(WSJ, 3/24/97, p.B1)(SFC, 11/10/99, p.E3)(AP, 8/5/07)
1957 Aug 21, Kim Sledge, vocalist
(Sister Sledge-We are Family), was born in Phila.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1957 Dec 2, The Shippingport
Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial
nuclear facility to generate electricity in the US, went critical. [see
July 12] It was taken out of service in 1982.
(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A18)(AP, 12/2/07)
1957 Dec 18, The Shippingport
Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to
generate electricity in the United States, went on line [see July 12].
(AP, 12/18/07)
1957 Bill and Daisy Myers became
the first Black couple to buy a house in Levittown (Willingboro), Pa.
State police were required to protect them. They lived there until
1961. In 1999 Daisy was given a reception and an apology from the
Bristol Township Mayor Sam Fenton. Levittown was created by William
Levitt, who kept costs down by bringing in ready made walls and buying
appliances directly from manufacturers. In 2009 David Kushner authored
“Levittown: Two Families, One Tycoon, and the Fight for Civil Rights in
America’s Legendary Suburb.”
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.A6)(Econ, 5/31/08, p.28)(WSJ,
2/5/08, p.A11)
1957 Dr. Hilary Koprowski of the
Wistar Institute in Philadelphia developed an oral polio vaccine and
tested it in Africa (Congo). The Wister polio vaccine was given to some
300,000 people in the Belgian Congo from 1957-1960. A later theory held
that reuse of needles during the immunization program caused AIDS via
“serial passage” that transformed the SIV virus into HIV. In 1999
Edward Hooper authored “The River,” a detailed hypothesis for the
origin of AIDS in Africa. Hooper suspected that the Wister polio
vaccine, produced from monkey kidney cells, contained SIV virus. In
2000 a computerized study indicated that the AIDS virus was introduced
to humans about 1930.
(SFC, 2/2/00, p.A19)(SFC, 1/15/01, p.A11)(SFC,
4/13/05, p.A5)(www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/pandemics.htm)
1958 The Hearst Corp. launched
WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A9)
1959 The Rev. Willie James
launched a lawsuit that led to the desegregation of Willingboro
(Levittown), Pa.
(Econ, 5/31/08, p.29)
1959 Bassetts produced 50 tubs of
borscht sorbet in honor of Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to
Philadelphia.
(WSJ, 8/1/00, p.A24)
1959 Mario Lanza (b.1921) died in
Italy at age 38. He was born as Freddy Cocozza in South Philly. A
museum dedicated to the Italian singer is tucked inside of the
Settlement Music School of Philadelphia.
(Smith., 4/1995, p.95)(SFEC, 3/21/99, DB p.9)
1960 Jul 4, The 50-star flag made
its debut in Philadelphia. A 50th star was added to the American flag
in honor of Hawaii's admission into the Union on August 21, 1959.
(HN, 7/4/98) (IB, Internet, 12/7/98)
1960 Aug 23, Broadway librettist
Oscar Hammerstein II (65) died in Doylestown, Pa.
(AP, 8/23/08)
1960 Oct 13, The Pittsburgh
Pirates won the World Series at Forbes Field with a 9th inning homerun
by Bill Mazeroski. A Univ. of Pittsburgh academic building was later
built on the site.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
1960 A mutated gene on the
"Philadelphia chromosome" was found to be responsible for chronic
myelogenous leukemia. It caused white blood cells to divide
uncontrollably.
(WSJ, 6/6/00, p.A1)
1962 Feb 26, Wilt Chamberlain of
NBA Philadelphia Warriors scored 67 points vs. New York.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1962 Mar 10, The Phillies baseball
club left the Jack Tar Harrison Hotel due to its refusal to admit black
players, and moved to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater,
Florida.
(http://tinyurl.com/mdtvxu)
1962 Jul 28, 19 died in a train
crash in Steelton, Pa.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1962 The Philadelphia Warriors
basketball franchise with star Wilt Chamberlain moved to the SF Bay
Area.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.D4)
1962 Walter Annenberg, owner of
the Philadelphia Enquirer, established the M.L. Annenberg School for
Communication at the Univ. of Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 10/2/02, p.A2)
1962 A fire broke out in a garbage
dump above an abandoned coal mine in Centralia, Pen. The property had
been deeded to the town in 1954 for $1. The fire spread and burned for
years. In 1983 US Congress approved $42 million to help the residents
move, and by 2005 only about a dozen residents remained. In 2007 Joan
Quigley authored “The Day the Earth Caved In: An American Mining
Tragedy.”
(WSJ, 4/17/07, p.D6)
1963 Jun 17, The US Supreme Court
ruled 8-1 to strike down rules requiring the recitation of the Lord's
Prayer or reading of Biblical verses in public schools. The case began
in 1956 when Edward L. Schempp (d.2003), on behalf of his son, objected
to a 1949 Pennsylvania law requiring 10 Bible verses each day followed
by the Lord's Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
(AP, 6/17/97)(HN, 6/17/98)(SFC, 11/24/03, p.A18)
1963-1976 Albert W. Johnson (d.1998 at 92) served in
the US Congress. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives in 1946.
(SFC, 9/7/98, p.A21)
1964 Aug 28, Race riots took place
in Philadelphia.
(MC, 8/28/01)
1964 Nov 3, Philadelphia voters
approved $25 million to build a new sports stadium.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1964 Stefan Lorant (1901-1997),
Hungarian-born filmmaker and writer, authored "Pittsburgh: the Story of
an American City." He wrote the book following a chance meeting with
Edgar Kaufman, the Pittsburgh department store mogul.
(SFC,11/19/97,
p.C5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Lorant)
1965 The ACT Theater was founded
by William Ball in 1965 in Pittsburgh. It moved west and settled in at
the Geary Theater in SF in 1967.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W29)
1967 Mar 7, Convicted Teamster
boss Jimmy Hoffa began an eight-year prison term at Lewisburg Federal
Prison in Pennsylvania for defrauding the union and jury tampering. The
sentence was commuted by President Nixon Dec 23, 1971.
(HN, 3/7/98)(www.moldea.com/One-9.html)
1967 May 6, 400 students seized
the administration building at Cheyney State College, Pa.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1968 Feb 1, The Pennsylvania
Railroad and NYC Central merged into Penn Central.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central)
1968 Sep, The Big Mac was created
by McDonald’s franchisee Jim Delligatti in Pittsburgh. It sold for 49
cents.
(SFC, 9/10/98, p.B2)
1968 Oct 1, The cult horror movie
"Night of the Living Dead" had its world premiere in Pittsburgh.
(AP, 10/1/98)
1968 The Delfonics soul singing
group of Philadelphia recorded their hit "La-la Means I Love You."
(SFEC, 1/25/98, DB
p.45)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Delfonics)
1969 Jul 21, Riots in York, Pa.,
left 2 people dead, Lillie Belle Allen (27) along with rookie officer
Henry Schaad (22). Schaad was mortally wounded 3 days before Allen was
killed. Over 60 people were arrested as one city block burned. In 2001
Arthur (47) and Robert Messersmith (52) were arrested for the slaying
of Allen. In 2001 Rick Lynn Knouse (48) and Gregory Henry Neff (53),
former members of the Girarders white street gang, were also charged in
the murders. In 2001 York Mayor Charles Robertson was arrested on
homicide charges for allegedly handing out ammunition to white gang
members and exhorting them to "Kill as many niggers as you can." In
2001 Thomas P. Smith was accused in the ambush shooting of Allen. In
2001 Stephen Freeland (49) and Leon Wright (53) were charged in the
murder of officer Schaad. Robertson was acquitted in 2002. Messersmith
and Neff were found guilty of 2nd degree murder. 6 white men were
sentenced up to 3 years in prison. Wright's brother Michael implicated
himself in 2003 and was charged for the murder of Schaad. In 2005 York
city officials announced a $2 million settlement with the children and
sisters of Lillie Belle Allen.
(SFC, 4/28/01, p.A5)(SFC, 5/10/01, p.A7)(SFC,
5/17/01, p.A2)(SFC, 5/22/01, p.A5)(YD, 5/24/01)(YD, 6/25/00)(SFC,
10/31/01, p.C2)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.A7)(SFC, 11/14/02, p.A8)(BS, 6/26/03,
5A)(SFC, 12/7/05, p.A3)
1969 Dec 31, In Clarksville Joseph
Yablonski was murdered with his wife and daughter.
(SFC, 11/8/99, p.C2)
1969 Leonard Tose (1915-2003) and
several others bought the Philadelphia Eagles pro football team for
$15.155 million. Tose bought out his partners in 1977. He sold the team
in 1985 to Norman Braman of south Florida for $65 million.
(SFC, 4/17/03, p.A23)
1970 Jan 5, Joseph A. Yablonski,
an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine
Workers, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their
Clarksville, Pa., home. Nine people were later charged in the killing
including UMW Pres. W.A. Boyle.
(AP, 1/5/98)(SFC, 11/8/99, p.C2)
1970 Jun 21, Penn Central was
forced into bankruptcy. The default caught the market by surprise,
largely because commercial paper ratings were in their infancy. Fed
chairman Arthur Burns reacted by making discount window loans to banks
that lent to CP issuers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation)(WSJ,
8/30/07, p.A3)
1970 Apr 22, The first Earth Day
and Earth Week was celebrated and millions protested pollution on Earth
and their concern for the environment. The event was organized by a
33-member committee in Philadelphia.
(TMC, 1994, p.1970)(WSJ, 4/22/96, p.A22)(AP,
4/22/97)(WSJ, 5/12/99, p.A23)
1970 The Shostakovich (1906-1975)
13th symphony "Babi Yar," smuggled on microfilm to the US, was
premiered in the US by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
(WSJ, 6/29/99, p.A12)(http://tinyurl.com/69xuxx)
1971 Jan 25, The Philadelphia mint
made its 1st trial strike of the Eisenhower dollar.
(www.usmint.gov/search/index.cfm?flash=yes&criteria=&hf=1&group=166)
1971 Jan, Fred Speaker
(1930-1996), attorney general of Pennsylvania, ordered the dismantling
of the electric chair at the Rockview Correctional Institution on his
last day in office.
(SFC, 9/17/96, p.A22)(http://tinyurl.com/6qxtu6)
1971 Veterans Stadium in
Philadelphia opened. Demolition felled it in 2004.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
1971 Rev. Leon Sullivan
(1922-2001), a noted Philadelphia minister, became GM’s 1st black board
member. In 1998 Sullivan authored “Moving Mountains.”
(SFC, 6/8/04,
B7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Sullivan)
1972 Apr 5, The Harrisburg 7 trial
ended in mistrial after 11 weeks. Philip Berrigan & Sister
Elizabeth McAllister were declared guilty, but only of smuggling
letters in & out of prison.
(www.well.com/~mareev/TIMELINE/1971-1972.html)
1972 Nov 8, The Green Channel of
Manhattan became Home Box Office (HBO). Time Life gained control of HBO
in March, 1973. HBO soon began transmitting programs to cable TV
subscribers in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The 1st cablecast was a National
League Hockey game.
(WSJ, 1/11/00, p.B1)(SFC, 4/3/01, p.C1)
1972 John J. Rigas incorporated
Adelphia Communications in Pennsylvania. The name came from the Greek
word for “brother.” He took the company public in 1986.
(USAT, 7/9/04,
p.3B)(www.answers.com/topic/adelphia-communications)
1972-1975 Soul music peaked in Philadelphia. In 2004
John A. Jackson authored “A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of
Philadelphia Soul.”
(SSFC, 11/7/04, p.M3)
1973 Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985)
ended his direction of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
(WSJ, 2/11/99,
p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Ormandy)
1974 Apr 11, United Mine Workers
president W. A. "Tony" Boyle was found guilty of first-degree murder,
for ordering the assassination of union reformer Joseph A. "Jock"
Yablonski in 1969. Yablonski, his wife and daughter were murdered on
December 30, 1969. Boyle had defeated Yablonski in the UMW election
earlier in the year-an election marred by intimidation and vote fraud.
In 1972 the election was set aside by a federal court after Boyle had
been convicted of illegal use of UMW funds in the federal elections of
1968. In a new election held in December, 1972, Boyle was defeated by
rank and file reformist Arnold Miller. Soon after the election Boyle
was put on trial for murdering the Yablonskis and was sentenced to
three consecutive life terms in prison.
(HNQ, 11/8/99)(SFC, 11/8/99, p.C2)
1974 Jul 29, The Episcopal Church
ordained female priests in Philadelphia.
(www.episcopalchurch.org/41685_42321_ENG_HTM.htm)
1974 The Pittsburgh Area Theater
Organ Society acquired a Mighty Wurlitzer from the Prospect Theater in
Brooklyn for $5,000.
(WSJ, 6/29/99, p.A1,4)
1974 The $2.5 million, 393-foot
Gettysburg National Tower was erected on private land on the edge of
the Gettysburg Civil War battlefield site. It was destroyed in 2000.
(SFC, 7/4/00, p.A3)
1974 The firefly was named as the
official state insect.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, Z1p.2)
1975 Jan 12, The Pittsburgh
Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings (16-6) in the Superbowl in New
Orleans. Bob McCurry of Chrysler Corp. introduced the auto rebate in a
1975 Superbowl commercial.
(www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/results.nsf/Teams/1974-pit)
1975 May 6, In hockey the
Philadelphia Flyers won the semifinal series over Boston 4 games to 1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975-76_Philadelphia_Flyers_season)
1975 May 16, The Montreal
Canadiens won the Stanley Cup hockey finals in 4 games over the
Philadelphia Flyers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975-76_Philadelphia_Flyers_season)
1975 In Pennsylvania a company
called McAdoo Associates began operating to extract and recycle metals
from chemical wastes. The company accepted hundred of thousands of
gallons of paint sludge, waste oils, used solvents, PCBs, cyanide,
pesticides and many other known or suspected carcinogens. In 1979, when
the EPA stepped in, McAdoo Associates had stockpiled enough chemicals
to nearly fill an Olympic-size swimming pool. The EPA placed it on the
Superfund list and began a cleanup. The US Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry began looking into polycythemia vera (PCV) in
August 2006 after 97 cases in Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne counties
were reported to the state cancer registry between 2001 and 2005.
(AP, 10/23/07)
1976 Jan 23, Paul Robeson
(b.1898), black athlete, lawyer, singer, died in Philadelphia. Lloyd L.
Brown later wrote the biography "The Young Paul Robeson: On My Journey
Now." His granddaughter Susan Robeson in 1981 wrote "The Whole World in
His Hands: A Pictorial Biography of Paul Robeson."
(SFC, 3/26/98, p.A26)(WSJ, 4/9/98,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson)
1976 Apr 27, Jimmy Carter clinched
the Democratic presidential nomination by beating Henry “Scoop” Jackson
and Morris Udall in the Pennsylvania primary.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/timeline/index.html)(Econ, 4/12/08, p.31)
1976 Jul 4, The nation held a
200th anniversary party across the land in celebration of America's 200
years of independence. President Ford made stops in Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and New York, where
more than 200 ships paraded up the Hudson River in Operation Sail.
(TMC, 1994, p.1976)(IB, 12/7/98)(AP, 7/4/01)
1976 Jul 4, The National Museum of
American Jewish History opened in Philadelphia. It was established to
tell the story of the American Jewish experience.
(SFC, 7/3/08,
p.E15)(www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_jewish.htm)
1976 Jul 21, "Legionnaire's
Disease" struck in Philadelphia, Pa. 29 people died from the disease.
The disease was first identified after an outbreak at the Bellevue
Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. It was identified as Legionella
pneumophila and found to infest water systems in general and the hotel
ventilation system in this case.
(OGA, 11/24/98)(SFC, 4/13/96, p.A-17)
1976 Jul 27, Air Force veteran Ray
Brennan became the first person to die of so-called "Legionnaire’s
Disease" following an American Legion convention in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/27/00)
1976 J. Howard Marshall II
(d.1995), Texas oil tycoon and alumnus of Haverford College, Pa.,
pledged $4 million to Haverford. In 1994 Marshall married Playboy
Playmate Anna Nicole Smith (26) and by his death had donated less than
$2 million to the college.
(WSJ, 7/24/03, p.A1)
1977 Jun 19, Pope Paul VI
proclaimed a 19th-century Philadelphia bishop, John Neumann, the first
male US saint.
(AP, 6/19/07)
1977 Jul 20, A flash flood hit
Johnstown, Pa., killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million
worth of damage.
(AP, 7/20/08)
1978 Aug 8, James Ramp (52),
Philadelphia police officer, was killed during a standoff with MOVE. 9
members of MOVE, a Black group that espoused equality with animals and
preached against technology, were convicted. Members of the group
adopted the surname Africa.
(SFC, 3/16/98,
p.A20)(www.odmp.org/officer/10987-police-officer-james-j.-ramp)
1977 Sep, In Philadelphia Helen
"Holly" Maddux, a Bryn Mawr College graduate from Tyler, Texas, was
murdered and stuffed into a steamer trunk for 18 months until her body
was discovered. Ira Einhorn, "hippie guru" was arrested for the murder
in 1979 but released on bail. He fled to hide in France. Fred Maddux,
Holly's father, committed suicide in 1988. Einhorn was convicted in
absentia in 1993. In June,1997, he was arrested in France. A French
court ruled against extradition and released Einhorn. Einhorn was
arrested in 1998 under a new extradition warrant. The events were
broadcast as a TV crime story in 1999 titled "The Hunt for the Unicorn
Killer." In 1999 The French Supreme Court ruled that Einhorn should be
returned to the US. In 1999 a civil suit ordered Einhorn to pay $907
million to the Maddux family. Einhorn was extradited to the US in 2001.
he was convicted of murder Oct 17, 2002.
(SFC, 6/17/97, p.A2)(SFC,12/5/97, p.A17)(SFC,
9/22/98, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/3/99, p.A20)(WSJ, 5/12/99, p.A23)(SFC, 5/28/99,
p.D3)(SFC, 7/29/99, p.A8)(SFC, 7/20/01, p.A14)(SFC, 10/18/02, p.A7)
1978 Dec 13, The Philadelphia Mint
began stamping the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which went into circulation
the following July. This was the 1st US coin to honor a woman.
(AP, 12/13/97)(MC, 12/13/01)
1979 Jan 21, The Pittsburgh
Steelers became the first team to win three Super Bowls as they
defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 in Super Bowl 13.
(AP, 1/22/04)
1979 Mar 28, America's worst
commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit Two reactor at the
Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa., almost to meltdown.
Thousands living near the plant left the area before the 12-day crisis
ended, during which time some radioactive water and gases were
released. A combination of mechanical and human factors allowed the
Unit 2 reactor to lose cooling water. It cost more than $1 billion and
more than a decade to remove the damaged nuclear fuel. A 1997 study
indicated increased cancer rates for people living downwind.
(TMC, 1994, p.1979)(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A2)(SFC, 2/24/96,
p.A3)(AP, 3/28/97) (HN, 3/28/98)(MC, 3/28/02)
1979 Nov 1, Mamie Doud Eisenhower
(b.1896), wife of former Pres. "Ike" Eisenhower, died at a family farm
in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
(AP,
11/1/99)(www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/me34.html)
1979 August Wilson, playwright,
wrote "Jitney." It was set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh and first
performed in 1982.
(WSJ, 8/4/99, p.A20)
1979 The song "We Are Family" by
Sister Sledge became a hit. It was made the theme song for the 1979
Pittsburgh Pirates.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_Family_%28song%29)
1980 Oct 2, Michael Myers (D-Pa)
became the 1st representative expelled in over 100 years (ABSCAM).
(MC, 10/2/01)
1980 Ron Perelman acquired
MacAndrews & Forbes, a Philadelphia candymaker, for $45 million.
Howard Gittis (1934-2007) advised Perelman on the acquisition and in
1985 joined Perelman and his MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings.
(WSJ, 9/22/07,
p.A8)(www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2005/1010/050.html)
1980 Norman, Bruce and David
Johnston were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 4 teenagers
to cover up a family burglary ring.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A3)
1981 Dec 9, In Philadelphia Mumia
Abu Jamal shot and killed Officer Daniel Faulkner shortly after the
officer stopped William Cook, Jamal’s brother (see July 3, 1981).
(SFC, 3/28/08, p.A4)
1981 Philadelphia school teachers
stage a strike.
(SFC, 10/28/00, p.A9)
1982 Jul 3, Mumia Abu-Jamal
(b.1954), radio reporter and former Black Panther, was convicted for
the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner in Pittsburgh. Jamal
supporters said he was framed. Prosecutors said Jamal shot Faulkner
after seeing the officer struggling with Jamal’s brother, William Cook,
who had been stopped for a traffic violation. In 1996 Jamal was still
on death row. In 1999 Gov. Tom Ridge signed a 2nd death warrant for
lethal injection on Dec 2. In December, 2001, a federal judge affirmed
his murder conviction but ordered that Abu-Jamal should either receive
a new sentencing hearing or have his sentence commuted to life in
prison because of an error by the trial judge in presenting rules of
sentencing to the jury (see March 27, 2008).
(SFC, 10/14/99,
p.A3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Mumia_Abu-Jamal)
1982 Sep 25, Pennsylvania prison
guard George Banks killed 13 people including 4 that were his own
children.
(www.internationaljusticeproject.org/illnessGBanks.cfm)
1983 Jan 23, Joseph Coogan (28),
an auditor from Pennsylvania, was swept into the sea at Pescadero
Point, Ca. His remains washed up at Point Reyes six months later but
remained unidentified until 2005.
(SFC, 4/14/05, p.A1)
1982 Rich Skrenta (b.1967), a
freshman in Pennsylvania, developed Elk Cloner as a practical joke. It
was the 1st virus to hit computers worldwide and later became known as
a "boot sector" virus. When it boots, or starts up, an infected disk
places a copy of the virus in the computer's memory. Whenever someone
inserts a clean disk into the machine and types the command "catalog"
for a list of files, a copy gets written onto that disk as well. The
newly infected disk is passed on to other people, other machines and
other locations.
(AP, 9/1/07)(SFC, 9/3/07, p.C3)
1983 Oct 23, Jessica Savitch (36),
news anchor (NBC-TV), died in an automobile accident with Martin
Fischbein in New Hope, Pa.
(www.accuracyproject.org/cbe-Savitch,Jessica.html)
1983 Nov 8, Wilson Goode was
elected as the first black mayor of the city of Philadelphia.
(AP, 11/8/08)
1984 May 26, A frisbee was kept
aloft for 1,672 seconds in Philadelphia.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1984 Aug 22, The VW plant at
Westmoreland, Pa., produced its last Volkswagen Rabbit.
(http://tinyurl.com/34j6lf)
1984 A 60-by-13-foot tile mural
was created by Romare Beardon for a Pittsburgh subway station. In 2008
the mural was valued at $15 million as the station faced demolition.
(WSJ, 4/25/08, p.A2)
1985 Mar 12, Conductor Eugene
Ormandy (85), director of the Philadelphia Philharmonic for more than
four decades, died.
(AP, 3/12/05)
1985 May 13, Police in
Philadelphia dropped a bomb on the headquarters of the radical group
MOVE. A fire resulted that killed 11 people, 5 of them children. Ramona
Africa and her 13 year old son were the only two people to escape the
inferno at 6221 Osage St. Africa was charged with rioting and
conspiracy, was convicted and served 7 years in state prison. No
charges have ever been filed against any city officials or employee.
The lawsuit was re-opened in 1996. On Jun 24, 1996, a jury in
Philadelphia awarded $1.5 mil to the survivors of the MOVE cult.
(SFC, 4/3/96, p.A-4)(USAT, 6/25/96, p.3A)(AP,
5/13/97)
1985 May 31, Some 41 tornadoes
swept through parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Ontario,
Canada, during an eight-hour period killing 88 people with over 1,000
injured.
(AP, 5/31/05)
1985 Berry Prevor and Steven Shore
of Long Island, NY, opened their first Steve and Barry’s store
Philadelphia, selling discount Univ. of Pennsylvania apparel. In 2008
the 276-store chain faced Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
(WSJ, 7/9/08, p.B1)(WSJ, 7/14/08, p.A1)
1986 Aug 5, It was revealed that
Andrew Wyeth secretly created 240 drawings and paintings of his
neighbor Helga Testorf, in Chadds Ford, Pa.
(MC, 8/5/02)
1986 A consent decree in
Philadelphia limited the number of prisoners who could be held in city
jails. Over the next 18 months police rearrested 9,732 defendants. In
2002 Ross Sandler and David Schoenbrod authored "Democracy by Decree,"
a critique of "institutional reform litigation."
(WSJ, 12/30/02, p.A1)
1986 The Pittsburgh Supercomputing
Center opened.
(SFC, 3/9/98, p.A7)
1986 Abhay Ashtekar, a physicist
at Pennsylvania State Univ., proposed an explanation called “loop
quantum gravity” to relate quantum mechanics with general relativity.
This rivaled a popular alternative model called string theory.
(Econ, 9/30/06, p.89)
1986-1994 Robert P. Casey (d.2000 at 68) served as
governor.
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.D4)
1987 Jan 22, R. Budd Dwyer, Penn.
State Treasurer, facing prison for conspiracy & perjury, shot
himself to death at a televised news conference.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Budd_Dwyer)
1987 Sep 17, The city of
Philadelphia, birthplace of the U.S. Constitution, threw a big party to
celebrate the 200th anniversary of the historic document.
(AP, 9/17/97)
1987 In the Philadelphia mayor’s
race Frank Rizzo lost to black accountant Wilson Goode. Rizzo took 97%
of the white vote while Goode won with 98% of the black vote.
(WSJ, 1/6/98, p.A20)
1987 Pennsylvania officials
declared the city of Aliquippa as economically distressed.
(WSJ, 5/27/04, p.A1)
1987 Hawks Aloft Worldwide was
conceived as a cooperative project by the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, in
Kempton, Pennsylvania.
(NH, 10/96, p.41)
1988 Jan 2, An Ashland Oil Company
tank collapsed at Floreffe near Elizabeth, Penn., sending more than
700,000 gallons of diesel oil into the Monongahela River.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1988 Jan 4, Drinking water began
to dry up in Pittsburgh suburbs because of a massive diesel oil spill
two days earlier that fouled the Monongahela and Ohio rivers.
(AP, 1/4/98)
1988 William Post III (1940-2006)
won a $16.2 million Pennsylvania lottery jackpot. His annual
installment payments of $498,000 after taxes led to problems with
siblings, his wife and girlfriend, who successfully sued for a third of
his earnings. In 1996 a bankruptcy judge auctioned off the remainder of
his prize payments to pay off his debts leaving him with $1 million.
(SFC, 1/23/06, p.B4)
1989 Apr 12, Abbie Hoffman (52),
radical activist, was found dead at his home in New Hope, Penn. He
suffered from bipolar mental illness that was only diagnosed in 1980.
In 1996 Jonah Raskin wrote: "For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of
Abbie Hoffman." In 1994 Jack Hoffman, Abbie’s brother, wrote a
biography, as did Marty Jezer in 1992. His wife, Anita, died in 1998.
She wrote "Trashing," a fictional memoir of her activity as a Yippie.
In 1999 Larry Sloman published "Steal This Dream: Abbie Hoffman and the
Countercultural Revolution in America."
(SFC, 12/29/96, BR p.5,6)(SFC, 12/31/98, p.D4)(SFEC,
2/14/99, BR p.7) (AP, 4/12/99)
1989 May 11, The Franklin Mills
mega-mall, the former Liberty Bell Racetrack, opened in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 5/27/97,
p.A15)(www.northeasttimes.com/2000/1108/franklinmills.html)
1989 Jul 29, Ji Yun Lee (20) died
in a fire at a church camp near East Stroudsburg, Pa. Her father Han
Tak Lee (54), a South Korean-born operator of a clothing store in NYC,
was arrested for arson. He was convicted of murder on Sep 17, 1990. In
2006 Lee’s attorneys appealed to the state Supreme Court citing new
advances in arson investigations.
(SSFC, 12/10/06, p.A39)
1989 Oct, Al Martino, pop singer,
was inducted into the Philadelphia Hall of Fame.
(SFEC, 10/5/97, DB p.74)
1989 Nov 18, Pennsylvania became
the 1st state to restrict abortions after Supreme Court gave states the
right to do so.
(http://tinyurl.com/fef7u)
1989 Philip Berman (d.1997 at 82),
art collector and philanthropist, became chairman of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art. He had prospered and retired from the trucking business
and led a capital campaign that raised $63.4 million for the museum
between 1989 and 1993.
(SFC, 12/2/97, p.A22)
1990 Apr 25, Dexter Gordon (67),
jazz saxophonist, died in Philadelphia.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1990 Aug 17, Pearl Bailey
(b.1918), Broadway actress, singer, died in Philadelphia from a heart
attack at age 72.
(www.blackpressusa.com/history/Archive.asp?week=33)
1990 Nov 11, Stormie Jones, the
world’s first heart-liver transplant recipient, died at a Pittsburgh
hospital at age 13.
(AP, 11/11/00)
1991 Apr 4, Pennsylvania Senator
John Heinz III, a leading 3-term Republican voice on health and trade
policy, and six other people, including two children, were killed when
a helicopter collided with Heinz’s plane over a schoolyard in Merion,
Pennsylvania. Mrs. Teresa Heinz took his place as head of the family
philanthropies. In 1995 she married Sen. John Kerry.
(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A21)(AP, 4/4/01)(WSJ, 4/16/04, p.A1)
1991 Jun 30, The federal
base-closing commission voted to shut down 17 military bases, including
the massive Philadelphia Navy Shipyard, in addition to seven facilities
ordered closed two days earlier.
(AP, 6/30/01)
1991 Jul 16, Frank Rizzo (70),
(Mayor-D-Phila, 1972-80), died of a heart attack.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Rizzo)
1991 Alex Wolszczan and Dale Frail
at Pennsylvania State Univ. reported evidence of 3 extra-solar planets
(exoplanets) orbiting around the spinning remains of Pulsar B1257+12.
They found the pulsar in 1990 using the Arecibo radio telescope.
(SSFC, 9/30/01, Par
p.5)(www.economicexpert.com/a/PSR:1257:plus:12.htm)
1992 Oct 27, In Oil City,
Pennsylvania, Shauna Howe (11) was kidnapped while walking home from a
pre-Halloween party. Her battered body was found 3 days later. For
every year afterward, the City Council voted to allow trick-or-treating
in the afternoon only. In 2004 a witness came forward and police turned
to DNA evidence. Two brothers were arrested and convicted of murder and
sexual assault. A third man pleaded guilty to murder. In 2008 the city
council voted to allow Halloween back to night hours.
(AP, 10/30/08)
1993 Jan 10, An unidentified
62-year-old man at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
underwent the world's second baboon liver transplant. The man died less
than a month later without regaining full consciousness.
(AP, 1/10/98)
1993 Jul 26, Ret. Gen. Matthew B.
Ridgway (98), US Army Chief of Staff (1953-55), died in Fox Chapel, Pa.
(AP, 7/26/98)
1993 Oct 16, The Toronto Blue Jays
defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-5, in game one of the World
Series.
(HN, 10/16/98)
1993 Oct 17, The Philadelphia
Phillies defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-4, evening the World Series
at one game each.
(AP, 10/17/98)
1993 Oct 19, The Toronto Blue Jays
took a 2-1 lead in the World Series by defeating the Philadelphia
Phillies 10-3.
(AP, 10/19/98)
1993 Oct 20, Toronto took a 3-1
lead in the World Series as the Blue Jays defeated the Philadelphia
Phillies, 15-14.
(AP, 10/20/98)
1993 Oct 21, The Philadelphia
Phillies beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 in game five of the World
Series; Toronto still led the Series 3-2.
(AP, 10/21/98)
1994 Jun 7, Vicki Van Meter 912)
of Meadville, Pa., completed a trans-Atlantic flight, landing in
Glasgow, Scotland. She was accompanied by her flight instructor.
(www.zinkle.com/p/articles/mi_m1590/is_n3_v51/ai_15823355)
1994 Sep 8, A US Air Boeing 737
from Chicago crashed near Pittsburgh Int’l. Airport and killed all 132
people onboard. USAir Flight 427 crashed 6 minutes before it was due to
land.
(SFC, 5/12/96, p.A-14)(AP, 9/8/97)(SFC, 11/13/01,
p.A12)
1994 Nov 1, In Cherry Hill, Pa.,
Len Jenoff and Paul Daniels clubbed to death Carol Neulander (52), the
wife of Rabbi Fred J. Neulander (53), under a contract from Rabbi
Neulander. Neulander stood trial in 2001 in New Jersey. He was
convicted of murder Nov 20, 2002 and sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A18)(SFC, 11/21/02, p.A6)(SFC,
11/23/02, p.A4)
1994 Nov 11, Eddie Polec (16), a
Fox Chase high school student, died after being clubbed to death by
students of Abington High School. On March 20, 1996, Carlo Johnson (20)
and Bou Khathavong (18) – believed by prosecutors to be the ring
leaders in the assault, although neither beat Polec – received maximum
five- to 10-year sentences for conspiracy. Prosecutors believe the two
organized the rumble and provided the baseball bats. Anthony Rienzi and
Nick Pinero, both 18, were sentenced to the maximum 15- to 30-year
terms for third-degree murder and conspiracy. Thomas Crook (19) sobbed
and apologized to his family before receiving 14.5 years to 30 years on
the same charges. Dawan Alexander (18) who was convicted of
manslaughter for kicking Polec, received an eight- to 20-year term.
Seventh defendant Kevin Convey (19) had pleaded guilty earlier to
third-degree murder in exchange for testifying against the others. In
February he had been sentenced to five to 20 years. In 2000 Bryn
Freedman and William Knoedelseder authored "In Eddie’s Name: One
Family’s Triumph Over Tragedy."
(SFEC, 5/14/00, BR
p.12)(www.cnn.com/US/9603/teen_sentencing/)
1994 The Andy Warhol Museum opened
in Pittsburgh.
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.T11)
1994 Steven Spielberg helped
establish the Righteous Persons Foundation. In 2008 $1 million from the
foundation was given toward establishing a new Museum of American
Jewish History in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 7/4/08, p.E15)
1994 Judith Rodin (b.1944) began
serving as president of the Univ. of Pennsylvania. She served until
2004 and in 2005 became president of the Rockefeller Foundation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Rodin)(Econ,
12/16/06, p.68)
1995 Aug 7, Ten days before he was
to be put to death for the murder of a police officer, black activist
and radio reporter Mumia Abu-Jamal won a reprieve from the original
trial judge in Philadelphia. As of 2008, his legal appeals are still
unsettled and he is a prisoner at State Correctional Institution Greene
near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.
(AP,
8/7/00)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumia_Abu-Jamal)
1995 Oct, Jonny Gammage died from
asphyxiation when police officers subdued him following a traffic stop
in Overbrook. In 1999 the Justice Dept. closed its case against the
officers due to lack of evidence that they used unreasonable force.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A5)
1995 Dec 24, Fire broke out at the
Philadelphia Zoo, killing 23 rare gorillas, orangutans, gibbons and
lemurs.
(AP, 12/24/05)
1995 Erie’s congressman Tom Ridge
became governor.
(WSJ, 7/13/00, p.A28)
1995 Abu-Jamal, in jail for a 1981
murder conviction, published "Live from Death Row."
(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A2)
1996 Jan 14, The Pittsburgh
Steelers defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 20-to-16, to win the AFC
championship. The Dallas Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers, 38-to-27,
to win the NFC championship.
(AP, 1/14/01)
1996 Jan 26, Olympic wrestler Dave
Schultz was fatally shot at the suburban Philadelphia estate of John E.
du Pont; du Pont surrendered 48 hours later. Du Pont was later
convicted of third-degree murder but mentally ill; he's serving a 13-
to 30-year sentence.
(AP, 1/26/06)
1996 Jun 27, Anne Marie Fahey
(30), the secretary of Delaware Gov. Thomas Carper, disappeared from
Wilmington after dining at a Philadelphia restaurant with Thomas
Capano. Capano, a prominent lawyer who had dated Fahey, was later
accused of her murder based on testimony from his two brothers. In 1998
Capano admitted that he disposed Fahey’s body but insisted that her
death was an accident. In 1998 Capano testified that Fahey was shot
accidentally by former mistress Deborah MacIntyre, who denied the
charge. Capano was convicted by a jury on Jan 17, 1999. On Mar 16,
1999, Capano was sentenced to death.
{Pennsylvania, Murder, Delaware}
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.A4)(SFEC, 10/5/98, p.A5)(SFC,
10/27/98, p.A2)(SFC, 12/22/98, p.A2)(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A2)(SFC, 3/17/99,
p.A2)
1996 Nov 13, An all-white jury in
Pittsburgh acquitted a suburban police officer, John Vojtas, in the
death of black motorist Jonny Gammage in a verdict that angered black
activists.
(AP, 11/13/97)
1996 Binney & Smith Inc.
established the Crayola Factory Museum in Easton, Pa.
(WSJ, 4/30/98, p.A1)
1996 Peter Wright (1917-2007),
founder of started Wright’s Keystone Helicopter Corp. (1953), served as
the founding chairman of the American Helicopter Museum in West
Chester, Pa.
(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.A6)
1996 David Nam broke into the
Philadelphia house of Anthony Schroeder (75) to rob him and killed the
retired police officer when he resisted with his own gun. Nam was
arrested in 1997 but fled to South Korea in 1998 while under house
arrest. In 2008 Nam was arrested by police in South Korea.
(AP, 3/19/08)
1997 Feb 23, In Philadelphia a
group of white men attacked a black family in the Grays Ferry section.
Nine men were tried in 1998 and 6 were convicted on a variety of felony
accounts.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A3)
1997 Feb 25, A jury in Media, Pa.,
convicted multimillionaire John E. du Pont of third-degree murder,
deciding he was mentally ill when he killed world-class wrestler David
Schultz. Du Pont was sentenced to serve 13- to 30-years in prison.
(AP, 2/25/07)
1997 Mar 26, Former drug counselor
John G. Bennett Jr. pleaded no contest in Philadelphia to charges
stemming from a $100 million charity fraud. Bennett was sentenced to 12
years in prison for fraud, tax violations and money laundering.
(AP, 3/25/07)
1997 Aug 12, Steel workers in West
Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania ended a 10-month strike at
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. with a new contract. It was the longest
strike by a major steel company.
(SFC, 8/13/97, p.A3)
1997 Sep, Devon Capital Management
under John Gardner Black was shut down by the SEC. Mr. Black was
charged with fraud after losing millions in high-risk bonds and
derivatives and then trying to cover up the losses. Some $70 million
was lost from the investments of 64 cash-strapped school districts in
the state.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 24, A firebomb killed a
grandmother, her daughter and three children in a blighted neighborhood
of crack houses.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A4)
1997 Oct 25, A Million Woman March
was planned to occur in Philadelphia to revitalize black families and
communities.
(SFC, 10/10/97, p.A3)
1997 Nov 26, It was reported that
Philadelphia agreed with the Norwegian shipbuilder Kvaerner ASA to a
99-year lease on 114 acres of the former Naval Shipyard that includes 2
drydocks with the option to buy the property for 1 dollar at the end of
the lease.
(WSJ, 11/26/97, p.B8)
1997 Dec 21, Johnny Coles (71),
jazz trumpeter, died in Philadelphia. His records included "The Warm
Sound of Johnny Coles" and "Little Johnny C."
(SFC,12/26/97, p.B6)
1997 The Zippo Manufacturing Co.
opened a Zippo museum in Bradford to celebrate its 65th anniversary.
(Hem., 10/97, p.78)
1997 John Street, Philadelphia
City Council president and later mayor, proposed a rigid anti-loitering
law aimed at clearing city streets of panhandlers. An estimated 4,500
homeless lived in Philadelphia at the time. A campaign to move the
homeless into shelters reduced the number on the streets to 130 in 2004.
(SSFC, 6/13/04, A22)
1998 Jan 7, The book "A Prayer for
the City" by Buzz Bissinger was about Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell and
his last 3 years in office. Rendell served 2 terms from 1990-1998.
(WSJ, 1/6/98, p.16)(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A7)
1998 Mar 22, In Miles Township,
Pa., 11 students were killed in a cabin fire while on a camping trip.
(SFC, 3/23/98, p.A2)
1998 Apr 13, An Amtrak train
collided with Conrail freight cars near Pittsburgh and injured 20
people.
(WSJ, 4/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 24, In Pennsylvania a
14-year-old boy was arrested after he shot a teacher to death and
injured 2 others during a dance for 8th graders in Edinboro. Andrew
Wurst (14) later pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was
sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A3)(AP, 4/24/03)
1998 May 10, In Clearfield, Pa.,
Kimberly Jo Dotts (15) was hanged to death by teenagers who planned to
run away to Florida. Seven young people 14-24 were arrested for murder
and the trial of Jessica Holtmeyer (16) and Aaron Straw (19) began in
1999. Holtmeyer was convicted Jan 28.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A8)(SFC, 1/29/99, p.A6)
1998 Jun 1, In Philadelphia the
largest transit union went on strike and shut down a system that served
435,000 people a day. This followed 3 months of negotiations with the
transportation authority (SEPTA).
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A5)
1998 Jun 10, Dr. Stephen Grosse, a
flamboyant gay dentist, was found shot dead in his burning car near
Philadelphia.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 15, Police and federal
agents and garbage trucks began Operation Sunrise in Philadelphia to
clean up a blighted neighborhood.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 20, Seven people were
killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when a Greyhound bus crashed into a
tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder. At least 18 people were hurt.
The driver was on his last run before retirement. he was among the dead
with his wife and boy that they took care of.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 23, Laboratory grown
adult nerve cells were implanted into a human brain for the first time
to treat a stroke at the Univ. of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
(SFC, 7/2/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun, Federal prosecutors
accused 2 Amish men of buying cocaine from a local chapter of the Pagan
Motorcycle Club and distributing it to their friends at "running
around" parties (rumschpringes in Dutch).
(SFC, 7/2/98, p.A7)
1998 Jul 11, Public transit
resumed and the 40-day transit strike came to a tentative end after a
contract agreement was reached.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 5, Marie Noe of
Philadelphia (69), was arrested and charged with murdering 8 of 10
children by suffocation over a 19 year period (1949-1968). In 1999 Noe
(70) pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years probation.
(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A3)(SFC, 6/29/99, p.A2)(AP, 8/5/99)
1998 Sep 17, In Apollo,
Pennsylvania, nuclear-processing plant operators were ordered to pay 8
cancer-stricken victims $36.5 million.
(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 17, In Gabon Karen
Phillips (37), a US Peace Corps worker from Philadelphia, was raped and
stabbed to death in Oyem. 3 people were arrested in connection with her
death.
(SFEC, 12/20/98, p.C10)
1999 Feb 19, In Allentown, Pa., An
explosion at a chemical processing plant in the Lehigh Valley
Industrial Park killed 5 people and injured 14.
(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A7)(WSJ, 2/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 18, In Norristown Dennis
Czaikowski (40) shot and killed Carol Kepner (54) and wounded Maria
Jordan (37) before being subdued by police following a standoff at the
Norristown State Hosp. where he had been fired.
(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A4)
1999 Aug 7, In China Song Yongyi,
a research librarian at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., was
imprisoned while collecting data on the Cultural Revolution. On Dec 12
he was charged with "the purchase and illegal provision of intelligence
to foreigners." Yongyi was released on Jan 28, 2000.
(SFC, 1/26/00, p.A8)(SFC, 1/29/00, p.A8)
1999 Aug 16, Gov. Tom Ridge
ordered a lockdown of all state prisons following the escape Michael
McCloskey (43) and Anthony Yang (31) from the State Correctional
Institution at Dallas.
(SFC, 8/17/99, p.A3)
1999 Sep 7-19, Hurricane Floyd
caused one death in Caribbean and 56 in United States. Storm hit
Bahamas before striking Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.
(AP, 9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1999 Oct, The plum pox virus made
its first appearance in North America in Pennsylvania orchards.
(SFC, 11/27/99, p.A20)
1999 Nov 2, Democrat John F.
Street became the 2nd black mayor of Philadelphia with his win over Sam
Katz.
(SFC, 11/3/99, p.A17)
1999 Nov 21, A Penn State student
and a bus driver were killed when 4 charter buses crashed on I-80 in
heavy fog.
(SFC, 11/22/99, p.A9)
1999 Dec 5, W. Russell G. Byers
(59), a Daily News columnist, was stabbed to death as he fought off a
robber by a convenience store in the Chestnut Hill section of
Philadelphia.
(SFC, 12/6/99, p.B2)
2000 Feb 3, Nancy Hershey Bromer,
publisher of "Old News," died at age 78. Old News had begun as a
monthly magazine about Pennsylvania history in the 1980s and later
expanded to national and world history.
(ON, 3/00, p.3)
2000 Feb 5, An oil pipeline began
leaking and released some 25,000 gallons below the surface of a frozen
pond in the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in southwest
Philadelphia.
(SFC, 2/7/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 1, In Pennsylvania Ronald
Taylor (39) killed 3 people and wounded 2 at an apartment and 2 fast
food restaurants in Wilkinsburg. In 2001 Taylor was sentenced to death
for the killing of 3 white men.
(SFC, 3/2/00, p.A3)(AP, 3/1/01)(SFC, 11/12/01, p.A12)
2000 Mar 19, At Bloomsburg Univ. a
fire at the off-campus Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity killed 3 members.
(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A10)
2000 Apr 21, In Sinking Spring
Carlos Angel Diaz Santiago (22) pushed the car of his former girlfriend
onto the tracks of an oncoming train. Candace Wertz (20), her son (2),
Cynthia Jacques (22), and her daughter (2) were killed.
(SFC, 4/22/00, p.A3)
2000 Apr 28, In Pennsylvania
Richard Baumhammers (34) shot and killed 5 people in a racially
motivated shooting spree in McKees Rocks. He was sentenced to death in
2001.
(SFC, 4/29/00, p.A3)(BS, 5/12/01, p.3A)
2000 May 18, In Philadelphia a
91-year-old pier at a new open-air bar collapsed into the Delaware
River and 3 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/19/00, p.A3)(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.B1)
2000 May 21, In Pennsylvania a
commuter plane, returning from Atlantic City, NJ, crashed near
Wilkes-Barre and all 19 people aboard were killed.
(SFC, 5/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Jun 26, The new United
Religions organization planned a charter signing ceremony at Carnegie
Mellon Univ. in Pittsburgh. Episcopal Bishop William Swing first
announced his dream June, 1995, at Grace Cathedral in SF. A 41-member
Global Council will coordinate activities. 24 members will be chosen by
a worldwide membership in 8 regional elections, with a dozen at-large
trustees and 5 seats from the current board. The basic unit of the
organization will be a group of 7 or more people from a mix of
religious traditions.
(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A1,5)
2000 Jun 18, A US F-14 Tomcat
fighter jet crashed during an air show at Willow Grove, Pa. Two naval
aviators were killed.
(SFC, 6/20/00, p.A9)
2000 Jul 3, The $2.5 million,
393-foot Gettysburg National Tower, erected in 1974, was destroyed.
(SFC, 7/4/00, p.A3)
2000 Jul 12, In Philadelphia a
WPVI News camera showed city police beat and kick Thomas Jones (30)
over nationwide TV. Jones had stolen a patrol car and shot at an
officer. Jones later pleaded guilty to carjacking and other crimes, and
was sentenced to 18 to 36 years in prison. Ballistic tests later showed
that Officer Michael Livewell was shot in the thumb by another officer
during their struggle with Jones. 13 police officers were later
suspended for up to 15 days in connection with the incident.
(SFC, 7/14/00, p.A1,16)(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A5)(AP,
7/12/05)
2000 Jul 31, The Republican
National Convention opened in Philadelphia.
(SFEC, 7/30/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 1, In Philadelphia police
arrested at least 280 protesters and raided a warehouse site used as a
staging area for passive resistance demonstrations. 15 police officers
were injured.
(SFC, 8/2/00, p.A9)(SFC, 8/5/00, p.A3)
2000 Oct 27, Philadelphia teachers
called a strike. Mayor John Street planned a talk with Gov. Tom Ridge
on arranging a "friendly takeover" of the school system by the state to
force teachers back to work.
(SFC, 10/28/00, p.A9)
2000 Dec 28, Masked men shot and
killed 7 people in a suspected drug house in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 12/29/00, p.A3)
2001 Mar 7, In Williamsport a
14-year-old girl at Bishop Neumann High School shot and wounded a
13-year-old classmate with a .22 caliber handgun.
(SFC, 3/8/01, p.A5)
2001 Apr 13, In Philadelphia a
fire at a boarding house killed 7 people. The unlicensed house was home
to seniors and disabled people.
(SFC, 4/14/01, p.A5)
2001 Apr 28, It was reported that
researchers at the Univ. of Pennsylvania had used gene therapy to
reverse a form of congenital blindness in dogs.
(SFC, 4/28/01, p.A3)
2001 Apr, Willie Stargell (61),
former Pittsburgh Pirates baseball Hall of Fame star (1962-1982), died
in North Carolina of a stroke.
(WSJ, 4/10/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 17, Tropical Strom
Allison moved into southeastern Pennsylvania and killed 4 people. This
raised the toll from Allison to at least 43.
(SFC, 6/18/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 11, 8:45 a.m. American
Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 carrying 92 people, crashed into the
North tower of the World Trade Center in NYC. It was enroute from
Boston to LA.
9:03 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767
carrying 65 people, crashed into the South Tower of the WTC. It was
enroute from Boston to LA.
9:38 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757
carrying 64 people, crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. It was
enroute from Washington DC to LA.
9:40 a.m. The FAA grounded all domestic flights and
ordered all airborne craft to land immediately.
10:00 a.m. The South Tower of the WTC collapsed.
10:10 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757
carrying 45 people, crashed southeast of Pittsburgh. The plane had left
Newark for SF but was believed to be directed by hijackers to Camp
David. Passengers appeared to have overcome the hijackers. In 2002 it
was reported that Congress was the target.
10:29 a.m. The North Tower of the WTC collapsed.
5:25 p.m. Building 7 of the WTC complex collapsed.
Four groups of terrorists used knives, hijacked 4 airplanes, and were
suspected to be linked to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda organization and
appeared to be a franchise operation.
(SFC, 9/12/01, p.A6,10,12)(WSJ, 9/12/01, p.A1)(SFC,
11/6/01, p.A6)
2001 Sep 13, In the Sep 11
terrorist attack, 18 hijackers were identified as ticketed passengers.
The data flight recorder for United Flight 93 was found at the
Pennsylvania crash site.
(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 20, Pres. Bush named Gov.
Tom Ridge (56) of Pennsylvania to direct the new office of Homeland
Security.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A16)
2001 Oct 19, In Philadelphia
luggage, from a baggage locker that was deposited Sep 29, was found to
contain C-4 plastic explosives.
(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A17)
2001 Dec 9, An Amtrak Acela train
killed 3 people on tracks northeast of Philadelphia.
(WSJ, 12/10/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 10, In Philadelphia a
gunman opened fire outside the Great Valley Shopping Center in East
Whiteland Township and killed 2 people. A 3rd was wounded.
(SFC, 12/11/01, p.A9)
2001 Dec 18, A federal judge in
Philadelphia threw out Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence for the 1981
shooting of a Philadelphia police officer and ordered a new sentencing
hearing for the former Black Panther alternately portrayed as a vicious
cop-killer and a victim of a racist frame-up. Both sides appealed the
ruling.
(SFC, 12/19/01, p.A1)(AP, 12/17/02)
2001 Dec 21, Gov. Mark Schweiker
announced an agreement on a state takeover of the Philadelphia school
system. Plans called Edison Schools Inc. to help run the district.
(SFC, 12/22/01, p.A4)
2001 Dec 28, In Pennsylvania a
30-50 car crash on snow-slickened I-80 left 5 people dead near
Williamsport. Another 50 cars were involved in 2 pileups that left at
least 2 people dead.
(SFC, 12/29/01, p.A6)
2001 Dec, The $265 million Kimmel
Center for the Performing Arts approached completion. The Philadelphia
structure was designed by Rafael Viñoly.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A13)
2001 Verizon Hall, home of the
Philadelphia Orchestra, opened at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Pa.
(WSJ, 5/18/06, p.D8)
2002 Jan 7, Louis Pollak, a
federal judge in Philadelphia, challenged the scientific validity of
fingerprint evidence. In March Pollak declared fingerprint id to be the
"bedrock of forensic science."
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.A1)(SFC, 3/14/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 25, In Pittsburgh 2
masked gunmen killed 2 men and a young girl in a sandwich shop.
(SSFC, 1/27/02, p.A17)
2002 Feb 4, A New Jersey teenager
(16) began a 2-day shooting spree on the outskirts of Philadelphia that
left 6 people dead. He was arrested Feb 22.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 18, Researchers in
Pittsburgh reported a strain of Group A streptococci resistant to
erythromycin (the macrolide class of antibiotics).
(SFC, 4/18/02, p.A4)(WSJ, 4/18/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 23, Chaim Potok (73),
rabbi and author of novels that included "The Chosen," died at his home
in suburban Philadelphia. "Literature presents you with alternative
mappings of the human experience."
(SFC, 7/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 24, John Rigas (78), CEO
of Adelphia Comm. Corp., was arrested with his 2 sons on charges of
that they looted the company of more than $1 billion.
(SFC, 7/25/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 24, In Pennsylvania 9
coal miners were trapped by a flood 240 feet underground. All 9 were
rescued Jul 27.
(WSJ, 7/26/02, p.A1)(SSFC, 7/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 25, Encouraged by a tinny
tapping sound coming up from the depths, rescuers in Somerset, Pa.,
brought in a huge drill in a race to save nine coal miners trapped 240
feet underground by a flooded shaft.
(AP, 7/25/03)
2002 Jul 26, Hershey Foods in
Hershey, Pa., announced that it would put itself up for sale under
directions by the Hershey Trust Co.
(SFC, 7/26/02, p.B3)
2002 Jul 28, In Somerset,
Pennsylvania 9 coal miners, trapped July 24 by a flood 240 feet
underground, were rescued after 77 hours underground in the Quecreek
Mine.
(SSFC, 7/28/02, p.A1)(AP, 7/28/03)
2002 Aug 7, Destiny Wright
disappeared at a sleepover with other children in Philadelphia. Abdul
El-Shabazz (18) was arrested the next day and led police to her body.
(SFC, 8/10/02, p.A5)
2002 Aug 10, Leaders of Roman
Catholic religious orders, meeting in Philadelphia, approved details of
their plan to keep sexually abusive clergy away from children, while
retaining them in the priesthood, creating review boards to monitor how
their communities handle offenders.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2002 Oct 1, Walter H. Annenberg
(94), media tycoon, philanthropist and former ambassador, died in
Wynnewood, Pa. Biographies included "Legacy: A Biography of Moses and
Walter Annenberg" by Christopher Ogden and "The Annenbergs" by John
Cooney.
(SFC, 10/2/02, p.A2)
2002 Oct 15, A listeria outbreak
blamed for at east 7 deaths in the northeast was traced to a Wampler
Foods plant in Franconia, Pa.
(SFC, 10/16/02, p.A5)
2002 Oct 17, Ira Einhorn, the '70s
hippie guru who had fled to Europe after being charged with murder, was
convicted in Philadelphia of killing his girlfriend, Holly Maddux, and
stuffing her corpse in his closet a quarter-century earlier. He was
later sentenced to life without parole.
(AP, 10/17/03)
2002 Nov 10, A series of
pulverizing storms barreled through more than a half-dozen US states
including Tennessee, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi and Pennsylvania,
killing at least 36 people. More than 100 were injured.
(SFC, 11/12/02, p.A4)(AP, 11/10/07)
2002 Semion Mogilevich (b.1946), a
Ukrainian businessman, and Igor Fisherman were indicted in Philadelphia
on charges of money laundering and securities fraud in connection with
the collapse of YBM Magnex, Inc. in which investors lost some $150
million. In 2006 Mogilevich was under investigation for possible links
to natural gas deals between Russia and Ukraine.
(WSJ, 12/22/06, p.A11)
2002 The US Geological Survey
estimated there may be 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Marcellus
Shale of Pennsylvania. In 2008 Prof. Terry Engelder of Pennsylvania
State Univ. estimated the amount at 168 trillion cubic feet. US
consumption in 2007 was 23.05 trillion.
(WSJ, 4/2/08, p.A2)
2003 Mar, Philadelphia school
officials began an inventory of stored art. By 2004 some 1,200 works
were counted with an estimated value in the millions.
(SFC, 7/8/04, p.A2)
2003 Apr 19, In northeast
Pennsylvania Hadley Bilger (13) was abducted by her uncle after he shot
and killed her parents. Bilger was released the next day and Robert Lee
Hixson (42) surrendered to police.
(AP, 4/20/03)(SFC, 4/21/03, p.A3)
2003 Apr 24, In Red Lion, Pa.
James Shetts (14), a student armed with at least two handguns, fatally
shot Eugene Segro (51), his school principal, in a crowded cafeteria
before killing himself.
(Reuters, 4/24/03)(SFC, 4/25/03, A7)
2003 Jun 17, John Redwood (60),
actor and playwright, died in south Philadelphia. His plays included
"No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs" (2001).
(SFC, 7/1/03, p.A17)
2003 Aug 28, In Erie, Pa., Brian
Douglas Wells (46), pizza delivery man, was killed when a bomb strapped
to his chest exploded while under police custody. Wells claimed a
customer had strapped on the bomb and ordered him to rob a bank. In
2007 a grand jury indicted 2 people in connection with the crime.
Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong (59), described as the ringleader, pleaded
guilty but mentally ill for killing her boyfriend to keep him silent
about the robbery. Diehl-Armstrong was trying to raise money to hire
Kenneth Barnes to kill her father due to an inheritance dispute. In
2008 Kenneth Barnes (54) pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.A8)(AP, 7/11/07)(SFC, 9/4/08, p.A7)
2003 Nov 14, In Pittsburgh, Pa., a
3rd person died from an outbreak of hepatitis A that infected nearly
600 people. They all had recently eaten at a Chi-Chi's Mexican mall
restaurant. Green onions were blamed for the outbreak.
(SFC, 11/15/03, p.A3)(AP, 11/16/03)(SFC, 11/22/03,
p.A5)
2003 Dec 4, Federal prosecutor
Jonathan Luna was attacked after leaving his office in Baltimore around
midnight. His body was found 6 hours later, stabbed 36 times apparently
in a furious fight for his life before drowning in a Pennsylvania
creek. Luna was involved in the prosecution of rapper Deon Lionel Smith
(32) and Walter Oriley Poindexter.
(AP, 12/5/03)(SFC, 12/5/03, p.A6)
2003 Dec 15, Charles Cullen (43),
a former nurse, was charged with murder after telling prosecutors that
he killed 30-40 severely ill patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey
since 1987 by injecting them with drugs. Cullen later pleaded guilty to
killing 29 people and attempting to kill six others; he was sentenced
to 18 life prison terms.
(SFC, 12/17/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/30/04, p.A1)(SFC,
5/20/04, p.A3)(AP, 12/15/08)
2003 Dec 29, Paul Goldman, a
native of Uzbekistan, stabbed and killed Faina Zonis in the
Philadelphia suburb of Bensalem. Goldman soon fled the country. Police
found his parents dead by suicide on Jan 13. Goldman was captured in
France on Jan 20, 2004. Zonis committed suicide Apr 11, 2004.
(SFC, 1/17/04, p.A4)(SFC, 1/21/04, p.A3)(AP, 4/13/04)
2003 Pittsburgh joined 14 other
Pennsylvania cities classified as economically distressed.
(WSJ, 5/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 19, The Pennsylvania
Turnpike Commission voted to raise tolls an average of 42% for all
vehicles.
(USAT, 1/20/04, p.12A)
2004 Mar 21, Veterans Stadium
(b.1971) in Philadelphia was demolished in 62 seconds following 2,800
explosions.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
2004 Mar 27, Edward J. Piszek
(87), founder of Mrs. Paul's Kitchens, died in Fort Washington, Pa.
(SFC, 4/1/04, p.B7)
2004 Jul 5, Gov. Ed Rendell signed
laws authorizing 61,000 slot machines in Pennsylvania, more than any
other state except Nevada. Most of the state's share will pay for a $1
billion cut in property taxes a year.
(AP, 7/5/04)
2004 Jul 8, John Rigas (79),
founder of Adelphia Communications Corp. (1952), was convicted along
with his son Timothy of looting the cable company to line their own
pockets.
(SFC, 7/9/04, p.C1)(USAT, 7/9/04, p.1B)
2004 Jul 12, A foot or more of
rain fell in parts of the Northeast. No injuries had been reported in
the stricken areas of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
(AP, 7/13/04)
2004 Jul 16, PNC Financial, based
in Pennsylvania, agreed to by Riggs National of Washington DC for $779
million. Riggs was fined $25 million in May for violating money
laundering regulations.
(Econ, 7/24/04, p.69)
2004 Sep 1, It was reported that
for about $10 million, Philadelphia city officials planned to turn all
135 square miles of the city into the world's largest wireless Internet
hot spot. EarthLink was given the contract and planned to rent 4,000
city light posts for its equipment. Completion of the network was
expected in Spring 2007.
(AP, 9/1/04)(SFC, 3/2/06, p.C2)
2004 Oct 18, The Dover, Pa.,
school district voted 6-3 to mandate the teaching of “intelligent
design” in public schools along with the theory of evolution. A number
of parents soon filed suit. In 2007 Edward Humes authored “Monkey Girl:
Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America’s Soul.”
(SFC, 11/30/04, p.A1)(SFC, 12/15/04, p.A4)(WSJ,
2/8/07, p.D7)
2004 Dec 13, A Montgomery County,
Pa., judge allowed trustees of the Barnes Foundation to move the Barnes
art collection to downtown Philadelphia from Lower Meriod Township.
(SFC, 12/15/04, p.E5)
2005 Jan 23, The Philadelphia
Eagles defeated the Atlanta Falcons 27-10 to win the NFC championship
game; the New England Patriots won the AFC championship by beating the
Pittsburgh Steelers, 41-27.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2005 Feb 25, Hall of Fame
basketball coach John Chaney was suspended for the rest of the regular
season by Philadelphia’s Temple Univ. for ordering rough play by one of
his players during a game against Saint Joseph's.
(AP, 2/25/06)
2005 Mar 26, A small plane,
carrying 2 Rhode Island families from vacation in Florida, crashed near
Penn. State Univ. All 6 people aboard were killed.
(SSFC, 3/27/05, p.A3)
2005 Jun 7, Terry Long, former
Pittsburgh Steelers lineman, died in a hospital about five hours after
he was found unresponsive in his suburban Pittsburgh home. An Oct 19
revised death certificate indicated that he had committed suicide by
drinking antifreeze, and did not die as a direct result of
football-related head injuries.
(AP, 1/26/06)
2005 Jun 12, I fire in
Philadelphia left 5 children dead. Security bars on windows may have
hampered escape attempts.
(SFC, 6/13/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul, Pennsylvania legislators
increase their salaries 16 percent to 34 percent to at least $81,050,
more than any state except California, and crafted the package in
secret without debate or public scrutiny. They also found a way around
a constitutional provision barring them from collecting any salary
increase during the term in which it is approved. Democratic Gov. Ed
Rendell signed the bill into law. A lawsuit was soon filed in state
court challenging the legality of paying the raises early as
unvouchered expenses, though no hearing date has been set. A ruling
against the unvouchered expenses would nullify the entire law,
including their raises.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Jul 18, LaToyia Figueroa, who
was five months' pregnant, was last seen in West Philadelphia. Police
recovered her remains a month later. On August 20, 2005, They arrested
Steven Poaches, her former boyfriend and the father of the unborn
child. On October 17, 2006, in a nonjury trial, Common Pleas Judge M.
Teresa Sarmina found Stephen Poaches, guilty of two counts of
first-degree murder in the deaths of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa and
her fetus. Poaches waived his right to appeal and, in exchange,
prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. He was given an
automatic life sentence with no parole.
(AP,
8/20/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaToyia_Figueroa)
2005 Sep 24, Monica
Lozada-Rivadineira (26), a immigrant from Bolivia, disappeared in NYC.
Her daughter, Valery, was found in the evening wandering barefoot in
Queens. On Oct 6 Police found her body in a Pennsylvania landfill and
police said she was killed by her boyfriend. In 2006 Cesar Ascarruna
(32) pleaded guilty to manslaughter and reckless endangerment. He was
sentenced to 32 years in prison.
(AP, 10/7/05)(SFC, 3/16/06, p.A3)
2005 Oct 7, John Rigas and his
son, founders of bankrupt Adelphia Communications, were indicted for
failure to pay some $300 million in taxes.
(SFC, 10/8/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 31, A transit strike in
Philadelphia brought the city’s buses, subways and trolleys to a halt.
(SFC, 11/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 8, Pennsylvania voters
came down hard on school board members who backed a statement on
intelligent design being read in biology class, ousting eight
Republicans and replacing them with Democrats who want the concept
stripped from the science curriculum.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 13, In Lititz,
Pennsylvania, David G. Ludwig (18) killed 14-year-old Kara Beth
Borden's parents, Michael F. and Cathryn Lee Borden, after they and
their daughter argued about her curfew. David and Kara were arrested
Nov 14 in Indiana following a police chase and crash. On June 14, 2006,
Ludwig agreed to a plea deal and was sentenced to two terms of life
imprisonment without chance of parole.
(AP, 11/14/05)(SFC, 11/15/05,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_G._Ludwig)
2005 Nov 17, Pennsylvania
Democratic congressman John Murtha argued that it was time to bring US
troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.35)
2005 Nov 18, In Pennsylvania an
oil painting by Jackson Pollock and a silkscreen by Andy Warhol were
stolen from the Everhart Museum by thieves who shattered a glass door
in the back of the building. The thieves had disappeared by the time
police arrived, four minutes after the alarm sounded at 2:30 a.m.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Dec 6, Philadelphia won the
first NHL scoreless game that was decided by a shootout, beating
Calgary 1-0.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2005 Dec 20, A US federal court in
Pennsylvania ruled it was unconstitutional to teach schoolchildren the
intelligent design theory of life as an alternative to evolution,
dealing a blow to religious conservatives. Local parents had sued the
Dover, Pa., school board after the board required that ninth-grade
biology students be read a statement critical of evolution.
(AFP, 12/21/05)(SFC, 12/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 23, In a NYC probe, first
reported by the Daily News in October, authorities confirmed this week
that investigators found paperwork indicating that bones of British
broadcaster Alistair Cooke had been removed and sold by Biomedical
Tissue Services, before he was cremated in 2004. Human bone, skin and
tendons were allegedly removed from the bodies of hundreds of others
without required permission from their families. The Brooklyn case
stemmed from a deal struck between Michael Mastromarino (42), a Fort
Lee, NJ, dentist who started Biomedical Tissue Services, and Joseph
Nicelli (49), an embalmer and funeral parlor operator from Staten
Island. In 2006 seven funeral directors pleaded guilty to undisclosed
charges and agreed to cooperate with investigators. In 2008
Mastromarino pleaded guilty to hundreds of counts of abusing corpses,
forgery, theft and other allegations stemming from the operation, which
he ran with 3 Philadelphia funeral directors.
(AP, 12/23/05)(SFC, 2/24/06, p.A2)(SFC, 10/19/06,
p.A7)(SFC, 8/30/08, p.A2)
2006 Jan 3, In Pennsylvania the
Dover School Board rescinded its policy of presenting intelligent
design as an alternative to evolution in high school biology classes.
(SFC, 1/4/06, p.A2)
2006 Jan 4, In a triple-overtime
game that began Jan. 3 and finished after midnight, No. 3 Penn State
beat No. 22 Florida State 26-23 in the Orange Bowl.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2006 Jan 25, It was reported that
Wyoming rancher Allen Cook (57), with no connection to the University
of Pittsburgh, has given the school 4,700 acres of land littered with
dinosaur fossils.
(AP, 1/25/06)
2006 Feb 5, In Detroit, Mich., the
Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl over the Seattle Seahawks 21-10.
(AP, 2/6/06)
2006 Feb 16, Pennsylvania Sen.
Arlen Specter asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate whether
a top aide improperly helped direct nearly $50 million in Pentagon
spending to clients represented by her husband. His request followed a
USA TODAY report that he secured $48.7 million in projects for six
clients of the aide's spouse's firm.
(USAT, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 23, A New Zealand
teenager hacked into the University of Pennsylvania computer system.
Owen Thor Walker (18), known by his online name "AKILL," also was
linked to a network accused of infiltrating 1.3 million computers and
skimming millions of dollars from victims' bank accounts. In 2008
Walker was ordered to pay more than $11,000 in fines but avoided a
conviction so that he can help police solve computer crimes.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2006 Apr 12, Police checking on a
home in Leola, Pennsylvania, discovered a gruesome scene: the bodies of
six people, some wrapped in sheets and blankets in the basement, and
blood, bone fragments and a hammer upstairs. Jesse Dee Wise (21) was
charged the next day for the murder of 6 relatives.
(AP, 4/13/06)(SFC, 4/14/06, p.A3)
2006 May 11, The Philadelphia City
Council unanimously approved a plan to blanket the city's 135 square
miles with a high-speed wireless Internet connection, a measure the
mayor is expected to sign soon.
(AP, 5/12/06)
2006 Jun 29, East Coast rains,
which began over the weekend, have been blamed for five deaths in
Pennsylvania, four in Maryland, one in Virginia and three in New York.
(AP, 6/29/06)
2006 Jul 11, The American League
edged the National League 3-2 in the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2006 Jul 13, Hazleton, Pa., passed
Mayor Louis Barletta’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act in an effort to
get rid of undocumented immigrants. In August federal lawsuits were
filed against Hazleton and other local governments for attempting to
regulate immigration. A 1976 US Supreme Court decision said regulation
of immigration is exclusively a federal power. In 2007 a federal judge
struck down the Hazleton anti-illegal immigration law.
(SFC, 8/16/06, p.A5)(SFC, 7/27/07, p.A13)
2006 Jul 18, A heat wave in the US
left at least 7 people dead including 5 in Oklahoma and 2 in
Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 7/19/06, p.A2)
2006 Aug 4, In Philadelphia
Danieal Kelly (14), a disabled girl, was found dead in her mother's
squalid house covered with bone-deep, maggot-infested bedsores. She
weighed 42 pounds. In 2008 4 social workers were among nine people
charged in relation to her death. In 2008 Andrea Kelly, the mother, was
charged with murder and Daniel, the father, was charged with child
endangerment. Both parents retained lawyers who filed suits against
their criminal co-defendants, blaming them for the girl's demise. In
2009 mother Andrea Kelly pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20-40
years in prison.
(AP,
8/1/08)(www.philly.com/philly/news/26859869.html)(SFC, 4/30/09, p.A4)
2006 Sep 6, Philadelphia’s Art
Commission voted 6-2 to move a 2,000-pound bronze statue of Rocky
Balboa, commissioned by actor Sylvester Stallone, out of storage and
onto a street-level pedestal near the steps of the Philadelphia Museum
of Art.
(SFC, 9/7/06, p.A2)
2006 Sep 17, In Pennsylvania 5
Duquesne basketball players were shot and wounded during an apparent
act of random violence on campus. As of 2007 two alleged gunmen and two
women who allegedly helped facilitate the shooting awaited trial.
(AP, 9/17/07)
2006 Oct 2, In Nickel Mines,
Pennsylvania, Charles Carl Roberts IV (32), a local truck driver, lined
at least 11 girls against a blackboard and shot them in the head at a
one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County. He shot himself as
police stormed the schoolhouse. Two young students were killed, along
with a female teacher's aide who was slightly older than the students.
Seven others, most shot at point-blank range, were taken to hospitals,
and two of them died early the next day.
(AP, 10/3/06)(SFC, 10/3/06, p.A1)(Econ, 10/7/06,
p.38)
2006 Oct 4, A Philadelphia jury
awarded a woman $1 million and her husband $500,000 in compensatory
damages after finding that Wyeth's hormone replacement drug Prempro was
a cause of her breast cancer. In the first federal Prempro trial, a
jury last month in Little Rock, Arkansas found Wyeth was not negligent
and had adequately warned patients and doctors of the cancer risk
associated with the drug. Wyeth faced some 5,000 lawsuits involving its
hormone replacement drugs.
(Reuters, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 13, A jury in
Philadelphia said US retail giant Wal-Mart must pay 78 million dollars
for violating labor laws in Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 10/14/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 20, In Pennsylvania 24
rail cars carrying ethanol derailed and 9 caught fire on a bridge over
the Beaver River in New Brighton, 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
(SSFC, 10/22/06, p.A5)
2006 Nov 16, A state regulatory
board approved Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to make deeper cuts in
mercury emissions from Pennsylvania's coal-fired power plants, despite
opposition from power plants and mining companies.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Dec 20, Pennsylvania cleared
the way for 2 slot machine casino licenses in Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh.
(SFC, 12/21/06, p.A3)
2006 Dec 22, Rafael Robb (56),
tenured economics professor at the Univ. of Pennsylvania, bludgeoned
his wife (39) to death in Norristown. In 2007 he pleaded guilty to
manslaughter.
(SFC, 11/27/07, p.A8)
2006 Dec 29, In Allentown, Pa., a
fire swept through 4 downtown row houses killing 5 people. An extension
cord overload was blamed.
(SFC, 12/30/06, p.A3)
2006 An auto accident in
Pennsylvania that left 2 men dead was later attributed to a defective
replacement tire from China. In 2007 it was estimated that some 450,000
tires imported by Foreign Tire Sales Inc. of New Jersey from Hangzhou
Zhongce Rubber Co. were defective.
(WSJ, 6/26/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 12, In Philadelphia,
Penn., 3 men were shot to death in a marketing company conference room
and another was critically injured by a gunman who killed himself as
police closed in. The gunman had put a gig sum in a failed venture.
(AP, 2/13/07)(WSJ, 2/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 15, Hundreds of drivers
became stranded on a stretch of eastern Pennsylvania that had been hit
by a monster storm. The National Guard was called in to deliver food
and other necessities to a 50-mile line of vehicles trapped on I-78.
(WSJ, 2/16/07, p.A1)(AP, 2/16/08)
2007 Feb 16, A thick layer of ice
kept major highways closed, a day after hundreds of drivers became
stranded on a stretch of eastern Pennsylvania that had been hit by a
monster storm.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 17, In southwestern
Pennsylvania fire swept through a house in Waynesburg, killing six
young children and a woman and injuring one other person.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Jun 19, James Cockayne (21)
of New Hope, Pa., was beaten and stabbed to death in the Virgin
Islands. 3 men, Anselmo Boston, Kamal Thomas and Jahleel Ward, were
arrested after the parents of Cockayne appeared on US news programs and
accused Virgin Islands detectives of botching an investigation into
their son's death. On Oct 10, 2008, Ward was found guilty of
first-degree murder and other charges. Anselmo Boston and Kamal Thomas
were found guilty on two counts each of third-degree assault, among
other charges.
(AP, 10/6/08)(AP, 10/10/08)
2007 Jul 8, In Pennsylvania Gov.
Ed Rendell ordered a range of government services shutdown after last
minute negotiations failed to break a budget stalemate. The shutdown
took about 24,000 workers off the job. A budget deal was hammered out
the following night.
(AP, 7/9/07)(SFC, 7/9/07, p.A3)(AP, 7/8/08)
2007 Jul 10, Railroad Development
Corp., a Pittsburgh-based railroad company under Henry Posner III,
planned to shut down Guatemala's only train service after years of
fighting thieves, squatters and government-backed lawsuits. Posner
expected to take his case to int’l. arbitration under CAFTA with a
demand for $65 million in lost revenues and investments.
(AP, 7/10/07)(WSJ, 1/23/07, p.A14)
2007 Aug 15, Pennsylvania Superior
Court Judge Michael Thomas Joyce, an appeals court judge, was indicted
on charges of scamming $440,000 from insurers by claiming he suffered
debilitating injuries in a car crash, even while he golfed, skated and
went scuba diving.
(AP, 8/16/07)
2007 Aug 27, Police arrested Paul
Devoe III (43) in Shirley, NY, following 5 recent murders in Texas and
one in Pennsylvania. On December 19, 2007, the Texas Travis County
District Attorney announced his office's intention to pursue the death
penalty.
(SFC, 8/28/07,
p.A6)(www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/us/28texas.html)
2007 Sep 10, It was reported that
John Kanzius of Erie, Pa., had accidentally discovered a way to burn
salt water when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency
generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as
the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.
(AP, 9/10/07)
2007 Sep 13, In Philadelphia
police chief Sylvester Johnson acknowledged that police alone could not
quell the city’s deadly violence and planned to introduce “Call to
Action: 10,000 Men,” an effort to get volunteers on the streets as of
Oct 21.
(SFC, 9/14/07, p.A5)
2007 Sep 17, The Roman Catholic
Diocese of Pittsburgh said it has created a $1.25 million fund to
settle 32 lawsuits alleging abuse or injury by priests.
(AP, 9/17/07)
2007 Oct 4, In Philadelphia
Mustafa Ali (36), a convicted bank robber, shot and killed two armored
car guards servicing an ATM outside a bank. Several schools were locked
down amid a massive manhunt for the gunman, who was arrested the next
day.
(AP, 10/4/07)(AP, 10/6/07)
2007 Oct 12, In Norristown, Pa.,
Michele Cossey (46), the mother of a 14-year-old who authorities say
had a cache of guns, knives and explosive devices in his bedroom for a
possible school attack, was charged with buying her son 3 weapons.
Authorities said the teenager felt bullied and tried to recruit another
boy for a possible attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
(AP, 10/12/07)
2007 Oct 26, Friedman Paul Erhardt
(63), television's "Chef Tell," died in Upper Black Eddy, Pa.
(AP, 10/26/08)
2007 Oct 29, Democrats Barack
Obama and John Edwards sharply challenged Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's
candor, consistency and judgment in a televised debate in Philadelphia.
(AP, 10/30/08)
2007 Oct 30, It was reported that
John Murtha, US Democratic Congressman from Johnstown, Pa., and
chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, had
steered at least $600 million in earmarks to his district over the past
4 years. Since 1992 he has sent some $2 billion to his home district.
(WSJ, 10/30/07, p.A1)
2007 Nov 3, Boss, a robotic
Chevrolet Tahoe from Carnegie Mellon Univ., won the annual DARPA
sponsored race in San Bernadino County, Ca. 6 of 11 starting vehicles
finished the 10-mile race, designed to simulate a town. No car finished
the first race in 2004.
(Econ, 11/10/07, p.100)
2007 Nov 12, It was reported that
a donor had given a staggering $100 million to the Erie Community
Foundation in Pennsylvania, and all of the charities would receive a
share.
(AP, 11/12/07)
2007 Nov 12, A new study said US
researchers have developed a method of producing hydrogen gas from
biodegradable organic material, potentially providing an abundant
source of this clean-burning fuel. The method used by engineers at
Pennsylvania State University combines electron-generating bacteria and
a small electrical charge in a microbial fuel cell to produce hydrogen
gas.
(AFP, 11/13/07)
2007 Nov 30, New Zealand officials
said police have questioned the suspected teenage kingpin of an
international cyber crime network accused of infiltrating 1.3 million
computers and skimming millions of dollars from victims' bank accounts.
Earlier this month, Ryan Goldstein, 21, of Ambler, Pa., was indicted in
the case. Authorities allege that the New Zealand suspect and Goldstein
were involved in crashing a University of Pennsylvania engineering
school server Feb. 23, 2006. On Feb 29 Owen Thor Walker (18) was
charged with two counts of accessing a computer for dishonest purpose,
damaging or interfering with a computer system and possessing software
for committing crime, and two counts of accessing a computer system
without authorization.
(AP, 11/30/07)(AP, 2/29/08)
2007 Dec 16, Street and highway
crews were at work trying to clear roads across the Great Lakes states
into New England as a storm blamed for three deaths spread a hazardous
mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. The storm was blamed for at least
10 deaths including 4 in Indiana, 2 in Michigan and Wisconsin, one in
Pennsylvania and one in Nova Scotia.
(AP, 12/16/07)(SFC, 12/18/07, p.A19)
2007-2008 Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., sponsored $14.7
million in defense earmarks for Kuchera Defense Systems, a campaign
donor. The Pentagon went along with it, despite the fact that two
convicted drug dealers had been deeply involved with the company.
(AP, 6/5/09)
2008 Jan 30, In Philadelphia Nurse
Lee Cruceta (35) admitted he cut body parts from 244 corpses and helped
forge paperwork so the parts, some of them diseased, could be used in
unsuspecting patients. Cruceta has also pleaded guilty to related
charges in New York and negotiated pleas to serve concurrent sentences
of 6 1/2 to 20 years.
(AP, 1/30/08)
2008 May 1, Philadelphia’s Mayor
Michael Nutter and police commissioner hoped to have 200 more police
officers on the streets by this time as part of a new 33-page
crime-fighting plan. Murders in the city had reached 392 in 2007. Gov.
Ed Rendell agreed to help foot the bill.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.33)
2008 Mar 27, A US appeals Court in
Philadelphia overturned the death sentence of Mumia Abu Jamal, who had
been convicted of killing Officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec 9, 1981.
(SFC, 3/28/08, p.A4)
2008 Apr 7, In Ohio 9 mortgage
lenders agreed to modify adjustable-rate mortgages for borrowers facing
foreclosure. In Pennsylvania mortgage companies and consumer advocates
opened talks to help cash-strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure. Last
week Maryland’s Gov. signed a measure creating a 150-day moratorium on
foreclosures.
(WSJ, 4/8/08, p.A4)
2008 Apr 22, In Pennsylvania
Hillary Clinton won the primary with about 55% of the vote to 45% for
Obama.
(AP, 4/23/08)
2008 May 1, Philadelphia’s Police
Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey announced a major reorganization of the
department's command structure and the addition of nearly 250 officers
on street patrols, part of a crime-fighting strategy he said was
already showing results. Mayor Michael Nutter and the police
commissioner had hoped to have 200 more police officers on the streets
by this time as part of a new 33-page crime-fighting plan. Murders in
the city had reached 392 in 2007. Gov. Ed Rendell agreed to help foot
the bill.
(Econ, 2/9/08,
p.33)(http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_9120792)
2008 May 3, In Philadelphia police
officer Liczbinski was shot with an assault rifle after a robbery. One
suspect was fatally shot by police soon after, another was arrested the
next day and a third was captured May 7.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 5, Philadelphia police
stopped the suspects' car while investigating a triple shooting. No
weapons were found in the car or on the suspects, but officers said
they had seen them shoot three people on a drug corner moments earlier.
Video shot by WTXF-TV from a helicopter showed officers gathered around
the vehicle as they pulled three men out. About a half-dozen officers
held two men on the ground on the driver's side. Both were kicked
repeatedly, while one was punched; one also appeared to be struck with
a baton. A review of the video led to the firing of 4 officers with
disciplinary action for 4 others. In 2009 a grand jury cleared the
officers involved saying no excessive force was used.
(AP, 5/8/08)(WSJ, 5/20/08, p.A2)(SFC, 8/7/09, p.A5)
2008 May 13, EarthLink said it is
pulling out of its high-speed Internet network in Philadelphia, and
that it would shut down the operation on June 12.
(SFC, 5/14/08, p.C3)
2008 Jun 12, Deaths due to the
heat wave across the US East Coast climbed past 30 with at least 15
dead in Philadelphia and 7 in NYC.
(WSJ, 6/13/08, p.A2)
2008 Jul 9, In western
Pennsylvania the bodies of 22-year-old Ashley Guarino, her 2-year-old
daughter Dreux and 11-month-old son Orlando Jr. were found by
relatives. Orlando Maurice Guarino (38) was arrested the next day and
charged with the murders of his wife and children.
(AP, 7/11/08)
2008 Jul 25, Randy Pausch (47), a
Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist, died at his home in
Virginia. His "last lecture" in September 2007, about facing terminal
cancer, has become an Internet sensation and a best-selling book.
(AP, 7/25/08)
2008 Oct 17, In Philadelphia
college student Jocelyn Kirsch (23) was sentenced to five years in
prison and ordered to pay more than $100,000 in restitution. She and
her former boyfriend, Edward Anderton, had stolen the identities of
friends and neighbors in 2006 and 2007 to net more than $116,000 in
goods and services. Anderton’s sentence was pending.
(AP, 10/17/08)
2008 Oct 29, The Philadelphia
Phillies won the baseball World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 with
the conclusion of Game 5, which had been stopped by rain 2 days earlier.
(SFC, 10/30/08, p.D1)
2008 Nov 6, Philadelphia’s Mayor
Nutter said a budget deficit crises will force the city to close
libraries and swimming pools, suspend planned tax reductions, cut more
than 800 jobs and trim salaries to deal with a $1 billion shortfall.
(SFC, 11/7/08, p.A7)
2008 Nov 19, FBI agent Sam Hicks
was shot and killed while serving a warrant at a home near Pittsburgh,
during a roundup of drug suspects in the greater Pittsburgh area.
Christina Korbe was charged with homicide. Her husband, Robert Korbe,
was one of 35 people charged in a 27-count drug-trafficking indictment.
(AP, 11/19/08)(SFC, 11/20/08, p.A4)
2008 Dec 26, In Philadelphia a
duplex fire apparently caused by fuel spilling from an overfilled
kerosene heater killed seven people, including 3 kids, in a basement
that had only one exit.
(AP, 12/27/08)
2008 Dec 31, SF ended the year
with 98 homicides. In Milwaukee, Wisc., the total number of homicides
dropped 32%, from 105 in 2007 to 71 in 2008, the lowest number since
1985. Detroit had 344 slayings, a 13% drop from the 396 in 2007;
Philadelphia's 332 killings were a 15% drop from the 392 in 2007; and
the 234 homicides in Baltimore were 17% less than the 392 the year
before. Cleveland recorded 102 homicides in 2008, down from a 13-year
high of 134 in 2007. Homicides in New York rose 5.2%, to 522 from 496
the year before. Slayings in Los Angeles were down to 376 in 2008
compared to 400 the prior year. Preliminary data in Chicago showed 508
homicides were reported in 2008, the first time the city had more than
500 murders since 2003 and about 15% more than the 442 homicides
reported in 2007. Washington, D.C., ended 2008 with 186 homicides, up
from 181 in 2007.
(SFC, 1/2/09, p.1)(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 7, The SEC charged Joseph
S. Forte of Broomall, Pennsylvania, an investment fund manager, with
running a Ponzi scheme since at least 1995. Losses to investors were
estimated at $50 million.
(WSJ, 1/28/09,
p.A12)(www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2009/lr20847.htm)
2009 Jan 16, Artist Andrew Wyeth
(b.1917), American artist, died at his home in the Philadelphia suburb
of Chadds Ford. He had portrayed the hidden melancholy of the people
and landscapes of Pennsylvania's Brandywine Valley and coastal Maine in
works such as "Christina's World."
(AP, 1/16/09)
2009 Jan 22, US federal agents
raided Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense systems, 2 small
Pennsylvania defense contractors. They were given millions in federal
funding by Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the defense appropriations
committee. In 2007 the WSJ identified Murtha as the largest earmarker
in the House.
(WSJ, 1/22/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 1, In Super Bowl XLIII at
Tampa, Florida, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals
27-23.
(SFC, 2/2/09, p.A1)
2009 Jan 26, Two Pennsylvania
judges were charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to
send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
Prosecutors later said Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella (58) and
Michael Conahan (56) took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile
offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company,
Western PA Child Care LLC.
(AP, 2/11/09)
2009 Feb 19, In Pennsylvania Roger
Leon Barlow (19) was charged with setting 9 fires in arson-prone
Coatesville, 35 miles west of Philadelphia.
(SFC, 2/20/09, p.A10)
2009 Feb 20, In Wampum,
Pennsylvania, Jordan Brown (11) shot his father's pregnant fiancee,
Kenzie Marie Houk (26), in the back of the head as she lay in bed. He
then put his youth model 20-gauge shotgun back in his room before going
out to catch his school bus.
(AP, 2/22/09)
2009 Feb 21, The Journal Register
Co., a Yardley, Pa.-based company, filed for bankruptcy protection. The
company owned 2o daily and 159 nondaily newspapers with some 3,500
employees.
(SSFC, 2/22/09, p.A8)
2009 Mar 2, A massive late winter
snow storm roared out of the Southeast and into the Northeast
overnight, idling hundreds of flights and making the morning rush
treacherous as motorists contended with nearly a foot of snow in spots.
Some 950 flights were canceled at the three main New York area
airports, an almost 300 canceled in Philadelphia.
(AP, 3/2/09)(SFC, 3/3/09, p.A5)
2009 Mar 12, Leonore Annenberg
(b.1918), the widow of billionaire publisher Walter Annenberg (d.2002),
died in southern California. She had continued directing the
philanthropy of the Annenberg Foundation based in Radnor, a suburb of
Philadelphia, Pa.
(SFC, 3/13/09, p.B8)
2009 Mar 14, In Coatesville,
Pennsylvania, the 20th arson fire this year was set, one day after
Roger Leon Barlow (19) was held for trial in connection with fires set
between Jan 2 and Feb 3.
(SSFC, 3/15/09, p.A10)
2009 Mar 16, Vincent Fumo (65),
former Pennsylvania state senator, was convicted of 137 counts of
corruption for schemes that defrauded the state senate of more than
$3.5 million.
(WSJ, 3/17/09, p.A6)
2009 Apr 4, In Pittsburgh, Pa.,
Richard Poplawski (23) shot and killed 3 police officers, who were
responding to a domestic violence disturbance. Poplawski received
gunshot wounds in his legs and was charged with 3 counts of murder. The
shooting began following an argument between Poplawski and his mother
over a dog urinating in their house.
(SSFC, 4/5/09, p.A12)(SFC, 4/6/09, p.A5)
2009 Apr 28, Veteran Republican
Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties with a suddenness that
seemed to stun the Senate, a moderate's defection that pushed Democrats
to within a vote of the 60 needed to overcome filibusters and enact
President Barack Obama's top legislative priorities.
(AP, 4/29/09)
2009 May 7, Seven Pittsburgh-area
ACORN workers were charged with falsifying voter registration forms,
with six accused of doing so to meet the group's alleged quota system
before last year's general election.
(AP, 5/7/09)
2009 May 23, It was reported that
millions of bats in at least 7 US states (Connecticut, New York,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia) have
died from white-nose syndrome, a fungal diseases.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.36)
2009 Jun 10, In Pennsylvania a car
fleeing a robbery scene jumped a curb in Philadelphia, smashed into a
crowd and killed three young children. One robber had fled on the
motorcycle and the other in a car. Both were arrested. Latoya Smith
(22), the mother and aunt of two of the children, died the next days
from her injuries.
(AP, 6/11/09)(AP, 6/12/09)
2009 Jul 14, In Pennsylvania
former lawmaker Vincent Fumo was sentenced to less than 5 years in
prison for misappropriating millions from the state and two nonprofits.
(SFC, 7/15/09, p.A6)
2009 Aug 4, In Bridgeville,
Pennsylvania, George Sodini (48) sprayed bullets into a fitness class
filled with women, killing three and then himself. He kept a Web page
in which he wrote about years of rejection by women and an earlier plan
for violence at the gym.
(AP, 8/5/09)
2009 Aug 6, Ethiopia’s Federal
High Court issued the guilty verdicts against 13 men, including a
US-based professor, convicted in absentia for plotting to overthrow the
government. Berhanu Nega, Ethiopian-born professor with US nationality
and teacher of economics at Philadelphia's Bucknell Univ., was accused
of masterminding a plan to topple PM Meles Zenawi..
(Reuters, 8/7/09)
2009 Aug 14, Real estate lender
Colonial BancGroup Inc. was shut down by federal officials in the
biggest US bank failure this year. The FDIC, which was appointed
receiver of the Montgomery, Ala.-based Colonial and its about $25
billion in assets, said the failed bank's 346 branches in Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas will reopen at the normal times
starting on Aug 15 as offices of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T.
Regulators also closed four other banks: Community Bank of Arizona,
based in Phoenix; Union Bank, based in Gilbert, Ariz.; Community Bank
of Nevada, based in Las Vegas; and Dwelling House Savings and Loan
Association, located in Pittsburgh. The closures boosted to 77 the
number of federally insured banks that have failed in 2009.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Sep 16, In Pennsylvania
Andrew Mogilyansky, a wealthy Russian-American car exporter from
suburban Philadelphia, was sentenced to 8 years in prison for procuring
girls from a Russian orphanage to have sex with them.
(SFC, 9/17/09, p.A7)
2009 Sep 21, The Philadelphia
Daily News reported that police officer Thomas Strain was put on desk
duty this month because of braids, even though the paper reported
dozens of black officers wear cornrows. The white officer, who came to
work with cornrows, was ordered by a black superior to get a haircut
because the braids violated department standards.
(AP, 9/21/09)
2009 Sep 24, In Pennsylvania US
Pres. Obama hosted a 2-day meeting of the G20 as it opened in
Pittsburgh.
(SFC, 9/26/09, p.A4)
2009 Sep 25, In Pennsylvania
police arrested 83 people during protests at the meeting of the G20
Pittsburgh. A “People’s March” attracted some 3,00 people. The G20
ended a 2-day meeting and reached a series of agreements aimed at
navigating the world out of recession. The alliance announced that it
will replace the G7 as the main forum for int’l. economic cooperation.
The G7 will now concentrate mainly on security issues.
(SFC, 9/26/09, p.A4)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.88)
2009 Sep, George Zimmermann, a
Pennsylvania landowner, filed suit against Atlas Energy Inc. for
polluting his soil and water in an attempt to link a natural gas
drilling technique with environmental contamination. Atlas was
exploiting the Marcellus Shale, a vast gas reserve that underlies about
two-thirds of Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia, Ohio and New
York State. Experts estimated that it contains enough natural gas to
meet total US demand for at least a decade. Baseline tests on
Zimmermann's water a year before drilling began were "perfect," he
said. In June, water tests found arsenic at 2,600 times acceptable
levels, benzene at 44 times above limits and naphthalene five times the
federal standard.
(Reuters, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Philadelphia, Pa.,
transit workers went on strike after rejecting a proposed contract that
included an 11.5% wage increase over 5 years.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 4, The New York Yankees
beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6, finally seizing the World
Series crown, the team's first since winning three straight from
1998-2000, making it championship No. 27.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 9, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed
Rendell said the Philadelphia transit strike has ended and that system
would be up and running for the morning commute.
(SFC, 11/9/09, p.A8)
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