Pennsylvania

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

ORIGIN OF STATE NAME: Named for Admiral William Penn, father of the founder of Pennsylvania.

NICKNAME: The Keystone State.

CAPITAL: Harrisburg.

ENTERED UNION: 12 December 1787 (2nd).

SONG: "Pennsylvania."

MOTTO: Virtue, Liberty and Independence.

COAT OF ARMS: A shield supported by two horses displays a sailing ship, a plow, and three sheaves of wheat; an eagle forms the crest. Beneath the shield an olive branch and a cornstalk are crossed, and below them is the state motto.

FLAG: The coat of arms appears in the center of a blue field.

OFFICIAL SEAL: obverse: a shield displays a sailing ship, a plow, and three sheaves of wheat, with a cornstalk to the left, an olive branch to the right, and an eagle above, surrounded by the inscription "Seal of the State of Pennsylvania." reverse: a woman representing Liberty holds a wand topped by a liberty cap in her left hand and a drawn sword in her right, as she tramples a lion representing Tyranny. The legend "Both Can't Survive" encircles the design.

BIRD: Ruffed grouse.

FISH: Brook trout.

FLOWER: Mountain laurel.

TREE: Hemlock.

LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., 3rd Monday in January; Presidents' Day, 3rd Monday in February; Memorial Day, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Columbus Day, 2nd Monday in October; Veterans' Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November and the following day; Christmas Day, 25 December.

TIME: 7 AM EST = noon GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

Located in the northeastern United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the second-largest of the three Middle Atlantic states and ranks 33rd in size among the 50 states.

The total area of Pennsylvania is 45,308 sq mi (117,348 sq km), of which land occupies 44,888 sq mi (116,260 sq km) and inland water 420 sq mi (1,088 sq km). The state extends 307 mi (494 km) e-w and 169 mi (272 km) n-s. Pennsylvania is rectangular in shape, except for an irregular side on the e and a break in the even boundary in the nw where the line extends n-e for about 50 mi (80 km) along the shore of Lake Erie.

Pennsylvania is bordered on the n by New York; on the e by New York and New Jersey (with the Delaware River forming the entire boundary); on the se by Delaware; on the s by Maryland and West Virginia (demarcated by the Mason-Dixon line); on the w by West Virginia and Ohio; and on the nw by Lake Erie. The total boundary length of Pennsylvania is 880 mi (1,416 km). The state's geographical center lies in Centre County, 2.5 mi (4 km) sw of Bellefonte.

TOPOGRAPHY

Pennsylvania may be divided into more than a dozen distinct physiographic regions, most of which extend in curved bands from east to south. Beginning in the southeast, the first region (including Philadelphia) is a narrow belt of coastal plain along the lower Delaware River; this area, at sea level, is the state's lowest region. The next belt, dominating the southeastern corner, is the Piedmont Plateau, a wide area of rolling hills and lowlands. The Great Valley, approximately 10-15 mi (16-24 km) in width, runs from the middle of the state's eastern border to the middle of its southern border. The eastern, central, and western parts of the Great Valley are known as the Lehigh, Lebanon, and Cumberland valleys, respectively. West and north of the Great Valley, the Pocono Plateau rises to about 2,200 ft (700 m). Next, in a band 50-60 mi (80-100 km) wide, most of the way from the north-central part of the eastern border to the west-central part of the southern border are the Appalachian Mountains, a distinctive region of parallel ridges and valleys.

The Allegheny High Plateau, part of the Appalachian Plateaus, makes up the western and northern parts of the state. The Allegheny Front, the escarpment along the eastern edge of the plateau, is the most striking topographical feature in Pennsylvania, dissected by many winding streams to form narrow, steep-sided valleys; the southwestern extension of the Allegheny High Plateau contains the state's highest peak, Mt. Davis, at 3,213 ft (980 m). A narrow lowland region, the Erie Plain, borders Lake Erie in the extreme northwestern part of the state. The mean elevation of the state is approximately 1,100 ft (336 m).

According to federal sources, Pennsylvania has jurisdiction over 735 sq mi (1,904 sq km) of Lake Erie; the state government gives a figure of 891 sq mi (2,308 sq km). Pennsylvania contains about 250 natural lakes larger than 20 acres (8 hectares), most of them in the glaciated regions of the northeast and northwest. The largest natural lake within the state's borders is Conneaut Lake, about 30 mi (48 km) south of the city of Erie, with an area of less than 1.5 sq mi (39 sq km); the largest manmade lake is Lake Wallenpaupack, in the Poconos, occupying about 9 sq mi (23 sq km). Pennsylvania claims more than 21 sq mi (54 sq km) of the Pymatuning Reservoir on the Ohio border.

The Susquehanna River and its tributaries drain more than 46% of the area of Pennsylvania, much of it in the Appalachian Mountains. The Delaware River forms Pennsylvania's eastern border and, like the Susquehanna, flows southeastward to the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the western part of the state is drained by the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which join at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio. The Beaver, Clarion, and Youghiogheny rivers are also important parts of this system.

During early geological history, the topography of Pennsylvania had the reverse of its present configurations, with mountains in the southeast and a large inland sea covering the rest of the state. This sea, which alternately expanded and contracted, interwove layers of vegetation (which later became coal) with layers of sandstone and shale.

CLIMATE

Although Pennsylvania lies entirely within the humid continental zone, its climate varies according to region and elevation. The regions with the warmest temperatures and the longest growing seasons are the low-lying southwest Ohio valley and the Monongahela valley in the southeast. The region bordering Lake Erie also has a long growing season, as the moderating effect of the lake prevents early spring and late autumn frosts. The first two areas have hot summers, while the Erie area is more moderate. The rest of the state, at higher elevations, has cold winters and cool summers.

Among the major population centers, Philadelphia has an annual average temperature of 55°f (12°c), with a normal minimum of 46°f (7°c) and a normal maximum of 64°f (17°c). Pittsburgh has an annual average of 51°f (10°c), with a minimum of 41°f (5°c) and a maximum of 60°f (15°c). In the cooler northern areas, Scranton has a normal annual average ranging from 40°f (4°c) to 59°f (15°c); Erie, from 41°f (5°c) to 57°f (13°c). The record low temperature for the state is −42°f (−41°c), set at Smethport on 5 January 1904; the record high, 111°f (44°c), was reached at Phoenixville on 10 July 1936.

Philadelphia has about 40.9 in (103 cm) of precipitation annually, and Pittsburgh has 37 in (93 cm). Pittsburgh, however, has much more snow—43.1 in (109 cm), compared with 21 in (52 cm) for Philadelphia. The snowfall in Erie, in the snow belt, averages 85.5 in (217 cm) per year, with heavy snows sometimes experienced late in April. In Philadelphia, the sun shines an average of 56% of the time; in Pittsburgh, 45%.

The state has experienced several destructive floods. On 31 May 1889, the South Fork Dam near Johnstown broke after a heavy rainfall, and its rampaging waters killed 2,200 people and devastated the entire city in less than 10 minutes. On 19-20 July 1977, Johnstown experienced another flood, resulting in 68 deaths. Three tornadoes raked the southwestern part of the commonwealth on 23 June 1944, killing 45 persons and injuring another 362. Rains from Hurricane Agnes in June 1972 resulted in floods that caused 48 deaths and more than $1.2 billion worth of property damage in the Susquehanna Valley.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Maple, walnut, poplar, oak, pine, ash, beech, and linden trees fill Pennsylvania's extensive forests, along with sassafras, sycamore, weeping willow, and balsam fir (Abies fraseri). Red pine and paper birch are found in the north while the sweet gum is dominant in the extreme southwest. Mountain laurel (the state flower), June-berry, dotted hawthorn, New Jersey tea, and various dogwoods are among the shrubs and small trees found in most parts of the state, and dewberry, wintergreen, wild columbine, and wild ginger are also common. In April 2006, the small whorled pogonia and Virginia spirea were classified as threatened, with the northeastern bulrush as endangered.

Numerous mammals persist in Pennsylvania, among them the white-tailed deer (the state animal), black bear, red and gray foxes, opossum, raccoon, muskrat, mink, snowshoe hare, common cottontail, and red, gray, fox, and flying squirrels. Native amphibians include the hellbender, Fowler's toad, and the tree, cricket, and true frogs; among reptilian species are the five-lined and black skinks and five varieties of lizard. The ruffed grouse, a common game species, is the official state bird; other game birds are the wood dove, ring-necked pheasant, bobwhite quail, and mallard and black ducks. The robin, cardinal, English sparrow, red-eyed vireo, cedar waxwing, tufted titmouse, yellow-shafted flicker, barn swallow, blue jay, and killdeer are common non-game birds. More than 170 types of fish have been identified in Pennsylvania, with brown and brook trout, grass pickerel, bigeye chub, pirate perch, and white bass among the common native varieties.

In 1978, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the US Fish and Wildlife Service signed a cooperative agreement under which the federal government provides two dollars for each dollar spent by the state to determine the status of and improve conditions for threatened or endangered species. On the threatened or endangered list in April 2006 were 12 animal species (vertebrates and invertebrates), including the Indiana bat, bald eagle, orangefoot pimpleback pearly mussel, dwarf wedgemussel, and pink mucket pearly mussel.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Pennsylvania's environment was ravaged by uncontrolled timber cutting in the 19th century, and by extensive coal mining and industrial development until recent times. Pittsburgh's most famous landmarks were its smokestacks, and it was said that silverware on ships entering the port of Philadelphia would tarnish immediately from the fumes of the Delaware River. The anthracite-mining regions were filled with huge, hideous culm piles, and the bituminous and anthracite fields were torn up by strip-mining.

In 1895, Pennsylvania appointed its first commissioner of forestry, in an attempt to repair some of the earlier damage. Gifford Pinchot, who twice served as governor of Pennsylvania, was the first professionally trained forester in the United States (he studied at the École National Forestiere in Paris), developed the US Forest Service, and served as Pennsylvania forest commissioner from 1920 to 1922. In 1955, the state forests were put under scientific management.

In 1972, Pennsylvania voters ratified a state constitutional amendment adopted 18 May 1971, acknowledging the people's "right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the environment" and naming the state as trustee of these resources. Passage of the amendment came only two years after establishment of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, which in the 1990s was reorganized into two separate entities. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) was established on 1 July 1995 to maintain and preserve the state's 116 state parks, manage the 2.1 million acres of state forest land, and provide information on the state's ecological and geologic resources. The DCNR also oversees environmental education and provides assistance and grants for preserving rivers, community trails, parks, and recreation. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was established to protect the state's air, land, and water from pollution and to provide a cleaner environment for the health and safety of Pennsylvania's citizens.

In March 1979, Pennsylvania suffered the worst nuclear-power accident in US history when a nuclear reactor on Three Mile Island malfunctioned and radioactive gases escaped. A second reactor was shut down immediately even though it was not damaged. The cleanup of radioactive waste cost about $1 billion, and it was not until late 1985 that the undamaged unit was placed back in operation.

An oil spill at Marcus Hook, near the Delaware Border, released 435,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River in September 1985; damage to birds and wetlands was more extensive in Delaware than in Pennsylvania. In 1996, there were 404,000 acres (163,492 hectares) of wetlands in the state. There are about 50 private conservancy groups that work with the state to protect these lands.

As of the early 1990s, sewage and industrial wastes were the major pollutants in areas with high industrial and population concentrations. In western and parts of central Pennsylvania, drainage from abandoned bituminous coal mines created serious water quality problems; active mines in this region were also potentially polluting. A similar situation prevailed in the anthracite areas of northeastern Pennsylvania. Oil and gas well operations, located

primarily in the northwestern portion of the commonwealth, were additional pollution sources. In 2003, 166.9 million lb of toxic chemicals were released in the state.

After miners were trapped (and subsequently successfully rescued) in an accident at Quecreek Mine in July 2002, the DEP launched a program to build a database of abandoned mine locations to minimize the risk of another such accident occurring.

In 2003, Pennsylvania had 572 hazardous waste sites listed in the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) database. In 2006, Pennsylvania ranked second in the nation (following New Jersey) for the highest number of hazardous waste sites on the National Priorities List, with 94 sites; these included the Rodale Manufacturing Co. Westinghouse Electric Corp. (Sharon), and Saegertown Industrial Area. At least 26 sites have been deleted from the list in past years. In 2005, the EPA spent over $14 million through the Superfund program for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites in the state. In 2004, the state received a federal EPA grant of $52.5 million for the clean water state revolving fund.

POPULATION

Pennsylvania ranked sixth in population in the United States with an estimated total of 12,429,616 in 2005, an increase of 1.2% since 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, Pennsylvania's population grew from 11,881,643 to 12,281,054, an increase of 3.4%. The population is projected to reach 12.7 million by 2015 and 12.8 million by 2025. In 2004, the median age for Pennsylvanians was 39.3. In the same year, 22.9% of the populace was under age 18 while 15.3% was age 65 or older. The population density in 2004 was 276.9 persons per sq mi.

As recently as 1940, Pennsylvania was the second most populous state in the United States. By the 1980 census, however, the state had slipped to fourth place, with a population of 11,863,895; it dropped to fifth place in 1990 with a population of 11,881,643.

The largest city in the state, Philadelphia, was the fifth-largest US city as of 2004, with a population of 1,470,151. Philadelphia's population has declined since 1970, when 1,949,996 people lived there. The population of the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area was estimated 5,800,614 in 2004. Pittsburgh's population declined from 616,806 in 1950 to an estimated 322,450 in 2004 in the city proper. In 2004, the Pittsburgh metropolitan area had an estimated population of 2,401,575. The 2004 estimated populations of Pennsylvania's other major cities were Allentown, 106,732, and Erie, 103,925. Other cities with large populations include Reading, Scranton, Bethlehem, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Altoona, and Wilkes-Barre.

ETHNIC GROUPS

During the colonial period, under the religious tolerance of a Quaker government, Pennsylvania was a haven for dissident sectarians from continental Europe and the British Isles. Some German sectarians, including the Amish, have kept up their traditions to this day. An initially friendly policy toward the Indians waned in the late 18th century under the pressures of population growth and the anxieties of the French and Indian War. The famous Carlisle Indian School (1879–1918) educated many leaders from various tribes throughout the United States. In Pennsylvania itself, however, there were only 18,348 American Indians in 2000, up from 15,000 in 1990. In 2004, American Indians accounted for 0.2% of the population.

Modest numbers of black slaves were utilized as domestics, field workers, and iron miners in colonial Pennsylvania. Antislavery sentiment was stirred in the 18th century through the efforts of a Quaker, John Woolman, and other Pennsylvanians. The Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act was passed in 1780, and the important antislavery newspaper The Liberator appeared in Philadelphia in 1831. As of 2000, black Americans numbered 1,224,612 (10% of the total state population), and were concentrated in the large cities. Philadelphia was 43.2% black in 2000, with 655,824 African American residents. In 2004, 10.5% of the state's population was black.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries brought waves of immigrants from Ireland, Wales, various Slavic nations, and the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. Many of the new immigrants settled in the east-central anthracite coal-mining region. In 2000, 508,291 Pennsylvania residents, or 4.1% of the total population, were foreign born, up from 3.1% in 1990. Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, the former Soviet Union, Korea, and Poland were the leading countries of origin. In the valleys surrounding Pittsburgh there are still self-contained ethnic enclaves, and there has been increased interest in preserving distinctive ethnic traditions.

Hispanics and Latinos in Pennsylvania numbered 394,088 in 2000 (3.2%), up from 232,000 in 1990. Most were Puerto Ricans, with smaller numbers of Cubans and Central Americans. In 2004, 3.8% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin. In 2000, Asians numbered 219,813; the Asian population included 50,650 Chinese (almost double the 1990 total of 25,908), 31,612 Koreans, 57,241 Asian Indians (almost triple the 1990 figure of 19,769), 14,506 Filipinos, and 30,037 Vietnamese, up sharply from 14,126 in 1990. Pacific Islanders numbered 3,417. In 2004, Asians accounted for 2.2% of the population. That year, 0.9% of the population reported origin of two or more races.

LANGUAGES

Once home to several Algonkian tribes, Pennsylvania still has such Algonkian place-names as Punxsutawney, Aliquippa, Pocono, Towanda, Susquehanna, and Shamokin. An Iroquoian tribe gave its name to the Conestoga region. The word came to identify first the pioneers' covered wagons manufactured in the area and then, in shortened form, a cheap cigar called a stogie.

Although not quite homogeneous, Pennsylvania's North Midland dialect is significant as the source of much Midwestern and western speech. The only non-Midland sector is the northern tier of counties, settled from southern New York State, where features of the northern dialect predominate.

On the whole, Pennsylvania North Midland is distinguished by the presence of want off a tram or bus, snake feeder (dragonfly), run (small stream), waterspouts and spouts (gutters), and creek as /krik/. With these features are found others that commonly occur in Southern Pennsylvania, such as corn pone, roasting ears, and spiket (spigot). Western Pennsylvania, however, contrasts with the eastern half by the dominance of /nawthing/ for nothing, /greezy/ for greasy, /kao/ for cow, sugar tree (sugar maple), hap (quilt), and clothes press (closet), as well as by the influential merging of the /ah/ vowel and the /aw/ vowel so that cot and caught sound alike. Southern Pennsylvania has flannel cakes for pancakes and ground hackie for chipmunk. Within this region, Philadelphia and its suburbs have distinctive baby coach for baby carriage, pavement for sidewalk, hoagie for a large sandwich, the vowel of put in broom and Cooper, and the vowel of father in on and fog. In the east and northeast, a doughnut is a cruller, one is sick in the stomach, and syrup has the vowel of sit.

In much of central Pennsylvania, descendants of the colonial Palatinate German population retain their speech as Deutsch, often misnamed Pennsylvania Dutch, which has influenced English in the state through such loanwords as toot (bag), rainworm (earthworm), snits (dried apples), and smearcase (cottage cheese).

In 2000, 10,583,054 Pennsylvanians—91.6% of the population five years old or older—spoke only English at home, down slightly from 92.7% in 1990.

The following table gives selected statistics from the 2000 Census for language spoken at home by persons five years old and over. The category "Other West Germanic languages" includes Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Afrikaans. The category "Other Slavic languages" includes Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian. The category "Other Asian languages" includes Dravidian languages, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Turkish. The category "Other Indic languages" includes Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, and Romany. The category "Other Indo-European languages" includes Albanian, Gaelic, Lithuanian, and Rumanian.

RELIGIONS

With a long history of toleration, Pennsylvania has been a haven for numerous religious groups. The first European settlers were Swedish Lutherans; German Lutherans began arriving 1703. William Penn brought the Quakers to Pennsylvania during the 1680s and the climate of religious liberty soon attracted other dissident groups, including German Mennonites, Dunkars, Moravians, and Schwenkfelders; French Huguenots; Scots-Irish Presbyterians; and English Baptists. Descendants of the 16th-century Anabaptists, the Mennonites for the most part settled as farmers; they and the Quakers were the first religious groups openly to advocate abolition of slavery and to help runaway slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad. The Amish-Mennonite followers of Jacob Amman continue to dress in black clothing, shun the use of mechanized tools, automobiles and electrical appliance, and observe Sundays by singing 16th-century hymns.

The Presbyterians, who built their first church in the state in 1704, played a major role both in the establishment of schools in the colony and in the later development of Pittsburgh and other cities in the western part of the state. Methodists held their first services in Philadelphia in 1768; for many years thereafter, Methodist circuit riders proselytized throughout the state.

Immigration during the 19th century brought a major change in patterns of worship. The Quakers gradually diminished in number and influence, while Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches and Jewish synagogues opened in many of the mining and manufacturing centers. The bulk of the Jewish migration came, after 1848, from Germany and, after 1882, from East Europe and Russia. The Gilded Age saw the founding of a new group in Pittsburgh by clergyman Charles Taze Russell; first called the Russellites, members of this group (established in 1872) are known today as Jehovah's Witnesses.

Roman Catholics constitute the largest religious group in the state, with a total membership of about 3,686,088 in 2004, with about 1,486,058 belonging to the archdiocese of Philadelphia. The largest Protestant denomination in 2000 was the United Methodist Church, with 659,350 adherents; however, membership in 2004 was reported at about 471,311. Other major Protestant groups (with 2000 membership data) were the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 611,913; the Presbyterian Church USA, 324,714; the American Baptist Church USA, 132,858; and the Episcopal Church, 116,511. The historically important Mennonites, of various traditions, had over 68,000 adherents in 2000. Amish communities had over 25,000 members and Moravians numbered over 10,000. Friends USA (Quakers) reported a membership of about 11,844. Jewish congregations included an estimated 283,000 members and the Muslim congregations had about 71,190 adherents. About 5.1 million people (42.1% of the population) were not counted as members of any religious organization. In 2005, the United Church of Christ reported about 182,779 members statewide.

The American Council of Christian Churches maintains executive offices in Bethlehem. The Mennonite Central Committee, a relief organization, is based in Akron. The Moravian Historical Society can be found in Nazareth,

TRANSPORTATION

Like so many of its industrial assets, Pennsylvania's well-developed road and rail networks are showing signs of old age. Nevertheless, the state remains an important center of transportation, and its ports are among the busiest in the United States.

The early years of railroad building left Pennsylvania with more miles of track than any other state. The first railroad charter, issued in 1819, provided for a horse-drawn railroad from the Delaware Valley to the headwaters of the Lehigh River. The state authorized construction of a line between Columbia and Philadelphia in 1828, and partial service began four years later as part of the State Works. The roadbed was state-owned, and private rail car companies paid a toll to use the rails. During this time, Pennsylvanians John Jervis and Joseph Harrison were developing steam-powered locomotives. Taking advantage of the new technology were separate rail lines connecting Philadelphia with Germantown (1834), Trenton, New Jersey (1838), and Reading (1839), with the Lehigh Valley (1846), and with New York City (1855). In December 1852, the Pennsylvania Central completed lines connecting Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Five years later, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the State Works, eliminating state competition and tolls. By 1880, the company (which had added many smaller coal hauling lines to its holdings) was the world's largest corporation, with more than 30,000 employees and $400 million in capital. Although railroad revenues declined with the rise of the automobile, the Pennsylvania Railroad remained profitable until the 1960s, when the line merged with the New York Central to form the Penn Central. In 1970, the Penn Central separated its real estate holdings from its transportation operation, on which it declared bankruptcy.

As of 2003, the state had 6,942 rail mi (11,176 km) of track, of which 3,566 mi (5,741 km) were operated by the two Class I railroads serving the state: CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern. Overall that same year, Pennsylvania was served by 60 railroads, more than any other state. Coal was the top commodity by tonnage, carried by rail originating and terminating within the state. As of 2006, Amtrak operated passenger service through Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other cities along the east-west route, and from Philadelphia to New York and Washington, DC, along the northeast corridor.

Mass transit systems exist in metropolitan Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties, and in Altoona, Allentown, Erie, Harrisburg. Johnstown, Lancaster, Reading, Scranton, State College, and Wilkes-Barre. The Philadelphia Rapid Transit System, the state's first subway, was established in 1902 and is operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, (SEPTA), which also runs buses, trolleys, trackless trolleys, and commuter trains in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. In 1985, a 1.1-mile (1.8-km) subway was opened in Pittsburgh as part of a 10.5-mile (16.9-km) light-rail (trolley) transit system linking downtown Pittsburgh with the South Hills section of the city.

Throughout its history, Pennsylvania has been a pioneer in road transportation. One of the earliest roads in the colonies was a "king's highway," connecting Philadelphia to Delaware in 1677; a "queen's road" from Philadelphia to Chester opened in 1706. A flurry of road building connected Philadelphia with other eastern Pennsylvania communities between 1705 and 1735. The first interior artery, the Great Conestoga Road, was opened in 1741 and linked Philadelphia with Lancaster. Indian trails in western Pennsylvania were developed into roadways, and a thoroughfare to Pittsburgh was completed in 1758. During the mid-1700s, a Lancaster County artisan developed an improved wagon for transporting goods across the Alleghenies. Called a Conestoga wagon after the region from which it came, this vehicle later became the prime means of transport for westward pioneers. Another major improvement in land transportation came with the opening in 1792 of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, one of the first stone-surfaced roads in the United States. The steel-cable suspension bridge built by John Roebling over the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh in 1846 revolutionized bridge building, leading to the construction of spans longer and wider than had previously been thought possible. During the 1920s, Pennsylvania farmers were aided by the building of inexpensive rural roads connecting them with their markets.

A major development in automotive transport, the limited-access highway came to fruition with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which opened in 1940 and was the first high-speed, multilane highway in the United States. In 2004, Pennsylvania had 120,623 mi (194,203 km) of public roads. Besides the Turnpike, the major highways are I-80 (Keystone Shortway), crossing the state from East Stroudsburg to the Ohio Turnpike; I-81, from the New York to the Maryland border via Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Harrisburg; and I-79, from Erie to the West Virginia border via Pittsburgh. As of 2004, there were some 9.989 million motor vehicles registered, including around 5.593 million automobiles, about 3.716 million trucks of all types, and some 29,000 buses. In that same year, there were a total of 8,430,142 licensed drivers in the state.

Blessed with access to the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes and with such navigable waterways as the Delaware, Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers, Pennsylvania was an early leader in water transportation, and Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Erie all developed as major ports. The peak period of canal building came during the 1820s and 1830s, which saw the completion of the Main Line of Public Works, used to transport goods between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from 1834 to 1854. This system used waterways and a spectacular portage railroad that climbed over and cut through, via a tunnel, the Allegheny Mountains. Monumental as it was, the undertaking was largely a failure. Built too late to challenge the Erie Canal's domination of east-west trade, the Main Line was soon made obsolete by the railroads, as was the rest of the state's 800-mi (1,300-km) canal system.

Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Erie are the state's major shipping ports. The Philadelphia Harbor (including ports in the Philadelphia metropolitan area) handled 35.219 million tons of cargo in 2004. Although no longer the dominant gateway to the Mississippi, Pittsburgh is still a major inland port, and handled 41.034 million tons of cargo that year, while Erie, the state's port on the Great Lakes, handled 1.099 million tons of cargo. In 2003, water-borne shipments totaled 104.404 million tons. In 2004, Pennsylvania had 259 mi (416 km) of navigable inland waterways.

In 2005, Pennsylvania had a total of 810 public and private-use aviation-related facilities. This included 468 airports, 329 heliports, three STOLports (Short Take-Off and Landing), and 10 seaplane bases. The busiest air terminal in the state is Philadelphia International Airport, with 13,824,332 passenger enplanements in 2004, followed by Pittsburgh International Airport with 6,606,117 enplanements in that same year, making them the 17th- and 32nd-busiest airports in the United States, respectively.

HISTORY

Soon after the glacier receded from what is now Pennsylvania, about 20,000 years ago, nomadic hunters from the west moved up the Ohio River, penetrated the passes through the Allegheny Mountains, and moved down the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers. By about ad 500, the earliest Indians, already accustomed to fishing and gathering nuts, seeds, fruit, and roots, were beginning to cultivate the soil, make pottery, and build burial mounds. Over the next thousand years, the Indians became semisedentary, or only seasonal, nomads.

Woodland Indians living in Pennsylvania, mostly of the Algonkian language family, were less inclined toward agriculture than other Indian tribes. The first Europeans to sail up the Delaware River found the Leni-Lenape ("original people"), who, as their name signified, had long occupied that valley, and whom the English later called the Delaware. Other Algonkian tribes related to the Leni-Lenape were the Nanticoke, who ranged along the Susquehanna River, and the Shawnee, who were scattered throughout central Pennsylvania. The other major Indian language group in Pennsylvania was Iroquoian. This group included the Susquehanna (Conestoga), living east of the Susquehanna River and south to the shores of Chesapeake Bay; the Wyandot, along the Allegheny River; and the Erie, south of Lake Erie. Proving that tribes related by language could be deadly enemies, the Iroquoian Confederacy of the Five Nations, located in what is now New York, destroyed the Iroquoian-speaking Erie in the 1640s and the Susquehanna by 1680. The confederacy conquered the Leni-Lenape by 1720 but failed to destroy them.

The first European to reach Pennsylvania was probably Cornelis Jacobssen, who in 1614 entered Delaware Bay for Dutch merchants interested in the fur trade. In 1638, the Swedes began planting farms along the Delaware River; they lived in peace with the Leni-Lenape and Susquehanna, with whom they traded for furs. Under Governor Johan Printz, the Swedes expanded into present-day Pennsylvania with a post at Tinicum Island (1643) and several forts along the Schuylkill River. The Dutch conquered New Sweden in 1655, but surrendered the land in 1664 to the English, led by James, Duke of York, the brother of King Charles II and the future King James II.

The English conquest was financed partly by Admiral William Penn, whose son, also named William, subsequently joined the Society of Friends (Quakers), a radical Protestant sect persecuted for espousing equality and pacifism. Dreaming of an ideal commonwealth that would be a refuge for all persecuted peoples, Penn asked Charles II, who had not paid the debt owed to Penn's father, to grant him land west of the Delaware. The Duke of York willingly gave up his claim to that land, and Charles II granted it in 1681 as a proprietary colony to the younger Penn and named it Pennsylvania in honor of Penn's father.

As proprietor of Pennsylvania, Penn was given enormous power to make laws and wars (subject to approval by the king and the freeman of Pennsylvania), levy taxes, coin money, regulate commerce, sell land, appoint officials, administer justice, and construct a government. From the beginning, Penn virtually gave up his lawmaking power and granted suffrage to property holders of 50 acres or £50. Even before coming to Pennsylvania, he forged his first Frame of Government, a document that went into effect on 25 April 1682 but lasted less than a year. Under it, a 72-member council, presided over by a governor, monopolized executive, legislative, and judicial power, although a 200-member assembly could veto or amend the council's legislation. Arriving in the colony in October 1682, Penn approved the location and layout of Philadelphia, met with the Leni-Lenape to acquire land and exchange vows of peace, called for elections to select an assembly, and proposed a Great Law that ranged from prescribing weights and measures to guaranteeing fundamental liberties.

When the First Frame proved unwieldy, Penn on 2 April 1683 approved a Second Frame, which created an 18-member council and a 36-member assembly. A conspicuous friend of the deposed James II, Penn lost control of Pennsylvania from 1692 to 1694, and it was during this period that the legislature began to assert its rights. Penn returned to the colony in 1699, and on 28 October 1701 approved yet another constitution, called the Charter of Privileges. This document lodged legislative power in an annually elected unicameral assembly, executive power in a governor and council, which he now appointed, and judicial power in appointed provincial judges and an elected county judiciary. The Charter of Privileges remained in force until 1776.

As Pennsylvania's government evolved, its population grew steadily. Most of the first immigrants were from the British Isles and Germany. From 1681 to 1710, numerous English and Welsh Quaker migrants populated a 25-mi (40-km) zone surrounding Philadelphia. By 1750, most German immigrants were settled in a semicircular zone some 25-75 mi (40-120 km) from Philadelphia. A third and outermost ring, extending roughly 75 mi (120 km) west and north of the Germans, was populated beginning in 1717 by the Scots-Irish, who were indifferent farmers, but known as aggressive pioneers. By 1776, each of the major groups—which remained quite distinct—constituted roughly a third of the 300,000 Pennsylvanians. Minorities included about 10,000 Scots, 10,000 Irish Catholics, 8,000 French Huguenots, 8,000 black slaves (despite Quaker hostility to slavery), and 1,000 Jews.

A key issue during the pre-Revolutionary period was the size and extent of the colony. Conflicting colonial charters, reflecting vague English ideas of American geography, brought all of Pennsylvania's boundaries except the Delaware River into dispute. After a protracted struggle, Pennsylvania and Maryland agreed upon a basis for Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to run the famous line (1763–67) that divided North and South. Although Virginia and Pennsylvania both claimed the area around Pittsburgh, a joint commission agreed in 1779 to extend the Mason-Dixon line west the full five degrees prescribed in Penn's original charter. Five years earlier, the Penn family had abandoned to New York land north of the 42d parallel. This was confirmed as Pennsylvania's northern border in 1782, when the US Congress rejected Connecticut's claim to the Wyoming Valley area, where skirmishes (called the Yankee-Pennamite wars) had been going on since the 1760s.

Pennsylvania moved rapidly toward independence after the British victory in the French and Indian War. The Proclamation of 1763, preventing settlement west of the Alleghenies, outraged western Pennsylvania, while the Stamp Act (1765), Townshend Acts (1767), and Tea Act (1773) incensed Philadelphians. Although the Continental Congress began meeting in Philadelphia in September 1774, Pennsylvania revolted reluctantly. In July 1776, only three Pennsylvania delegates to the Second Continental Congress voted for independence, while two were opposed and two absented themselves from the vote. Nevertheless, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from Independence Hall, Pennsylvania's State House, on 4 July 1776. As the headquarters of the Congress, Philadelphia was an important British target. The American defeat at the Battle of Brandywine Creek on 11 September 1777 led to the British occupation of the city. The provisional capital was moved first to Lancaster and then to York, where the Articles of Confederation were drafted. Following battles at Germantown and Whitemarsh, General George Washington set up winter headquarters at Valley Forge, remaining there from December 1777 to June 1778. Faced with the threat of French naval power intervening on behalf of the Americans, the British evacuated Philadelphia during the spring of 1778, and Congress reconvened there on 2 July. Philadelphia would serve as the US capital until 1783, and again from 1790 to 1800.

With independence, Pennsylvania adopted the state constitution of 1776, which established a powerful unicameral assembly elected annually by all freemen supporting the Revolution, a weak administrative supreme executive council (with a figurehead president), an appointed judiciary, and a council of censors meeting every seven years in order to take a census, reapportion the assembly, and review the constitutionality of state actions. In 1780, Pennsylvania passed the first state law abolishing slavery. Seven years later, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the US Constitution and join the Union. In 1790, Pennsylvania adopted a new constitution, modeled on the federal one, allowing all tax-paying males to vote. This document provided for a powerful governor, elected for a three-year term and eligible to succeed himself twice, a bicameral legislature (with senators elected every four years and a house elected annually), and an appointed judiciary.

Opposition to national taxes was evidenced by two disturbances in the 1790s. In 1794, western Pennsylvania settlers, opposed to a federal excise tax on distilled spirits, waged the Whiskey Rebellion. The insurrection was soon quashed by state troops under federal command. The levying of a federal property tax inspired the unsuccessful Fries Rebellion (1799) among Pennsylvania Germans.

By 1800, the first stages of industrialization were at hand. Pittsburgh's first iron furnace was built in 1792, and the increasing use of coal as fuel made its mining commercially feasible. The completion of the Main Line of Public Works, a canal and rail system connecting Philadelphia with Pittsburgh, was a major development of the early 19th century, which was otherwise a period of political turmoil and shifting party alliances.

By 1838, Pennsylvania adopted a new constitution curtailing the governor's power (he could serve only two three-year terms in a nine-year period), making many judgeships elective for specific terms, restricting the charter of banks, and disenfranchising black people. The 1840s saw not only an influx of Irish immigrants but also the rise of the Native American (Know-Nothing) Party, an anti-Catholic movement. The antislavery crusade, which gave birth to the Republican Party, influenced state politics during the following decade.

Although a Pennsylvania Democrat, James Buchanan, carried the state and won the presidency in 1856, the Republicans captured Pennsylvania for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, partly by their strong support for a protective tariff. Protectionism attracted Pennsylvania because, in addition to its enormously productive farms, it was heavily industrialized, leading the nation in the production of iron, lumber, textiles, and leather.

Pennsylvania rallied to the Union cause, supplying some 338,000 men, a figure exceeded only by New York. The state was the scene of the Battle of Gettysburg (1-3 July 1863), a turning point in the war for the Union cause. Under General George Gordon Meade, the Union troops (one-third of whom were Pennsylvanians) defeated Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee, who was then forced to lead a retreat to Virginia.

The Civil War left the Republican Party dominant in Pennsylvania, but, in the postwar years, the Republicans were themselves dominated by industry, particularly the Pennsylvania Railroad. Between 1890 and 1900, the state was the nation's chief producer of coal, iron, and steel, and for much of that period the main source of petroleum and lumber. Farmers' sons and daughters joined immigrants from abroad in flocking to the anthracite and bituminous coal regions and to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other urban centers to work in mines, mills, and factories. As the state's industrial wealth increased, education, journalism, literature, art, and architecture flourished in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The 1876 Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia illustrated America's advancement in the arts and industry.

Pennsylvania adopted a reform constitution in 1873, increasing the size of the Senate and house to reduce the threat of bribery, prescribing rules to prevent treachery in legislation and fraud at the polls, equalizing taxation, limiting state indebtedness, restricting the governor to one four-year term in eight years, and creating the office of lieutenant governor. None of this, however, seriously hampered the Republican political machine, led by Simon Cameron, Matthew Quay, and Boies Penrose, which dominated the state from the 1860s to the 1920s. Though Progressive reforms were enacted in subsequent years, the Penrose machine grew ever more efficient, while industrial leaders—supported both by the Pennsylvania state government and by society at large—smashed labor's efforts to unite, particularly in the great steel strike of 1919.

During the nationwide boom years of the 1920s, Pennsylvania did little more than hold its own economically, and its industrial growth rate was low. The state's share of the nation's iron and steel output no longer exceeded that of the rest of the country combined. Coal, textiles, and agriculture—all basic to the state's economy—were depressed. When Penrose died in 1921, at least five factions sought to control the powerful Pennsylvania Republican Party. In this confusion, Gifford Pinchot, a Progressive disciple of Theodore Roosevelt, won the governorship for 1923–27 and reorganized the state's administration, but failed in his attempt to enforce prohibition and to regulate power utilities.

The disastrous depression of the 1930s brought major changes to Pennsylvania. Serving again as governor (1931–35), Pinchot fought for state and federal relief for the unemployed. The Republican organization's lack of enthusiasm for Pinchot and Progressivism helped revive the state Democratic Party long enough to secure the election in 1934—for the first time since 1890—of its gubernatorial nominee, George H. Earle. As governor, Earle successfully introduced a Little New Deal, supporting labor, regulating utilities, aiding farmers, and building public works. With government support, coal miners, steelworkers, and other organized labor groups emerged from the Depression strong enough to challenge industry. Full employment and prosperity returned to Pennsylvania with the unprecedented demands on it for steel, ships, munitions, and uniforms during World War II.

Despite their professed opposition to government control, the Republican administrations (1939–55) that succeeded the Earle regime espoused and even enlarged Earle's program. They regulated industry, improved education, and augmented social services, at the same time increasing state bureaucracy, budgets, and taxes. Markets, transportation, banks, factories, machinery, and skilled labor remained abundant. Two Democratic governors were able to attract new industries to the state during the 1950s and early 1960s. However, the economy was still not healthy in 1963, when Republican William W. Scranton entered the statehouse (1963–67). Scranton continued both to enlarge state responsibilities (through increased taxes) and to secure federal aid for economic and social programs. He was rewarded with four years of steady economic growth. Pennsylvania's unemployment level, second-highest in the nation from 1950 to 1962, had dropped below the national average by 1966. The 1873 constitution was extensively revised at a constitutional convention held in 1967–68, during the administration of Raymond P. Shafer (1967–71), Scranton's Republican successor.

Pennsylvania faced an unresolved financial crisis in 1971 when Democrat Milton J. Shapp became governor. During his first term (1971–75), Shapp weathered the storm by securing passage of a state income tax. He virtually eliminated state patronage by signing union contracts covering state employees. Not only did he continue to attract business to Pennsylvania, but he also championed the consumer with no-fault auto insurance, adopted in 1974. Shapp's second term, however, was wrecked by his pursuit of the 1976 presidential nomination and by rampant corruption among Pennsylvania Democrats. Shapp's successor, Republican Richard L. Thornburgh, had scarcely been seated in the governor's chair before the release of radioactive gases resulting from the malfunction of one of the two nuclear reactors at Three Mile Island in March 1979 confronted him—and others—with vexing questions concerning the safety and wisdom of nuclear power. Nevertheless, in September 1985, during Thornburgh's second term, and following six years of cleanup of radioactive waste, the undamaged reactor at Three Mile Island was restarted.

In the mid-1980s, Pennsylvania found itself confronted with the problem of completing the transition from a manufacturing to a service economy. While some parts of the state, namely southeastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, had successfully negotiated the transition, the economies of Pittsburgh, Lehigh Valley, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre remained centered on the depressed steel and coal industries. Under Governor Robert Casey, who took office in 1987, Pennsylvania created an organization called the Governor's Response Team to assist ailing industries in the state. The team helped companies obtain low-interest loans and subsidized companies that sought to retrain their workers. In the first year of its existence, the team reached out to assist 214 companies, saved 10,000 existing jobs, and created 10,000 new ones.

In the mid-1990s, steel was no longer the mainstay of industry in Pennsylvania, although the state still led the nation in production of specialty steel. Important manufacturing sectors included food processing and chemicals, especially pharmaceuticals. Philadelphia had become a center for high-technology industries, while Pittsburgh was a mecca for corporate headquarters. By 2000 the state's economy was described as "relentlessly strong" by one newspaper, and legislators considered $643.5 million in tax cuts to residents and businesses along with increased spending in education and health care. As in many other regions of the nation, one of the by-products of Pennsylvania's robust economy was urban sprawl. A landmark in the anti-sprawl movement, in June 2000 Republican Governor Tom Ridge signed into law a plan that encouraged local governments to work together, allowed them to determine growth areas, and required state agencies to comply with community development guidelines.

In 1996 Governor Ridge approved the deregulation of the state's electrical utilities. Four years later, a report indicated the move had helped the economy (by lower consumer bills) but would result in lower tax revenues (due to restructuring and lower prices). While computer models forecasted that by 2004 reductions in electric rates under deregulation would lead to $1.9 billion in additional economic output, a $1.4-billion increase in personal income, and 36,000 new jobs, legislators had not yet addressed the projected shortfall in tax revenues, which would affect public transportation and municipalities.

The state remained one of the nation's most populous, ranking fifth both in the 1990 census and 1995 estimates, before slipping to sixth (with over 12.2 million people) in 2000. The July 2004 population was 12.4 million, still ranking sixth in the nation.

Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, President George Bush proposed the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. Former Governor Tom Ridge was named first secretary of the department.

Democratic Governor Ed Rendell, elected in 2002, was the first former Philadelphia mayor to become Pennsylvania governor in 90 years. Rendell pledged to lower property taxes by one-third during his first year in office, raise income taxes, and to provide prescription drug coverage for senior citizens. He favored the introduction of slot machines at the state's racetracks and increasing school spending. In 2003, Pennsylvania faced a $2.4 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2003/04.

Pennsylvania's 2005 budget was $22 billion; and the state's budget had been balanced. Governor Rendell was implementing his "Plan for a New Pennsylvania," by increasing education funding; passing an economic stimulus package to revitalize towns and communities; passing legislation to reduce property taxes; and expanding Pennsylvania's PACE and PACENET program to provide seniors with prescription drug coverage.

STATE GOVERNMENT

The 1873 constitution, substantially reshaped by a constitutional convention in 1967–68, is the foundation of state government in Pennsylvania. Between 1968 and January 2005, 30 amendments had been adopted.

The General Assembly consists of a 50-member Senate, elected to staggered four-year terms, and a 203-member House of Representatives, elected every two years. Regular sessions are two-years and begin on the first Tuesday in January of the odd-numbered year. The session ends on November 30 of the even-numbered year. Each calendar receives its own legislative number. Special sessions may be called by the majority petition of each house. To qualify for the General Assembly, a person must have been a state resident for four years and a district resident for at least one year; senators must be at least 25 years old, representatives at least 21. The legislative salary was $66,203.55 in 2004.

As head of the executive branch and chief executive officer of the state, the governor of Pennsylvania has the power to appoint heads of administrative departments, boards, and commissions, to approve or veto legislation, to grant pardons, and to command the state's military forces. The governor, who may serve no more than two four-year terms in succession, must be a US citizen, a qualified voter, be at least 30 years old, and have been a Pennsylvania resident for at least seven years before election. Elected with the governor is the lieutenant governor, who serves as president of the Senate and chairman of the board of pardons, and assumes the powers of the governor if the governor becomes unable to continue in that office. As of December 2004, the governor's salary was $155,753.

Other state elected officials are the auditor general, who oversees all state financial transactions; the state treasurer, who receives and keeps records of all state funds; and the attorney general, who heads the Department of Justice. All other department heads, or secretaries, are appointed by the governor and confirmed by a majority of the Senate.

A bill may be introduced in either house of the General Assembly. After the measure is passed by majority vote in each house, the governor has 10 days including Sundays (or 30 days, including Sundays, if the legislature has adjourned) in which to sign it, refuse to sign it (in which case it automatically becomes law), or veto it. Vetoes may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the elected members of each house. A bill becomes effective 60 days after enactment.

A proposed constitutional amendment must be approved by a majority of both house and Senate members in two successive legislatures before it can be placed on the ballot. If approved by a majority of the voters in a general election, the amendment then becomes part of the constitution.

To vote in state elections a person must be a US citizen for at least one month before the next election, at least 18 years old, and a resident of Pennsylvania and of the precinct for at least 30 days preceding the election. Restrictions apply to convicted felons.

POLITICAL PARTIES

The Republican Party totally dominated Pennsylvania politics from 1860, when the first Republican governor was elected, to the early 1930s. During this period, there were 16 Republican and only two Democratic administrations. Most of the Republicans were staunchly probusiness, though one Republican Progressive, Gifford Pinchot, was elected governor in 1922 and again in 1930. A Democrat, George Earle, won the governorship in 1934, in the depths of the Depression, but from 1939 through 1955, Republicans again held the office without interruption. Only since the mid-1950s has Pennsylvania emerged as a two-party state, with Democrats electing governors in 1954, 1958, 1970, 1974, 1986 and 1990, and Republicans winning the governorships in 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, and 1994. In 1998, Tom Ridge, the Republican first elected to the office in 1994, won a second term as governor. He was named the first secretary of the newly created Department of Homeland Security in November 2002, after having served as the first administrator of the Office of Homeland Security

from September 2001. In 2002, Democrat Ed Rendell was elected governor.

Both US Senate seats were held by Republicans from 1968 to 1991. In November of 1991, a little-known Democrat and former college president named Harris Wofford defeated former governor Richard Thornburgh for the seat of Senator John Heinz, who died in 1991. In 1994, Republican Rick Santorum, a congressman from the Pittsburgh area, defeated Wofford; Santorum was reelected in 2000. Pennsylvania's other senator, Republican Arlen Specter, was elected to his fifth term in 2004. In 2005, Pennsylvania's 19 US House seats were held by 7 Democrats and 12 Republicans. In mid-2005, there were 30 Republicans and 20 Democrats in the state Senate, and 110 Republicans and 93 Democrats in the state House.

Democratic voters were heavily concentrated in metropolitan Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania, a pivotal state for Jimmy Carter in 1976, was swept by the Republican tide in the 1980 presidential election; Ronald Reagan, the Republican nominee, won nearly 50% of the popular vote. In 1984, President Reagan received 53% of the popular vote, while Democrat Walter Mondale received 46%. In 1988, Republican and former vice president George Bush won 51% of the popular vote. Democratic nominee Bill Clinton garnered 45% of the vote in 1992, and in 1996, Clinton won 49% of the vote. In 2000, Democrat Al Gore won 51% of the vote to Republican George W. Bush's 47%; Green Party candidate Ralph Nader won 2% of the vote. In 2004, Democrat John Kerry won 50.8% of vote to incumbent President Bush's 48.6%. In 2004 there were 8,367,000 registered voters. In 1998, 48% of registered voters were Democratic, 42% Republican, and 9% unaffili-ated or members of other parties. The state had 21 electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election, a loss of 2 votes over 2000.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

As of 2005, Pennsylvania had 67 counties, 1,018 municipal governments, 501 public school districts, and 1,885 special districts. In 2002, there were 1,546 townships.

Under home-rule laws, municipalities may choose to draft and amend their own charter. Pennsylvania counties are responsible for state law enforcement, judicial administration, and the conduct of state elections: counties also are involved in public health, regional planning, and solid waste disposal. Counties can also maintain hospitals, homes for the aged, community colleges, libraries, and other community facilities. The chief governing body in each county is a three-member board of commissioners, each elected to a four-year term. Other elected officials generally include the sheriff, district attorney, notary, clerk of courts, register of wills, recorder of deeds, jury commissioners, auditor or controller, and treasurer. Among the appointed officials is a public defender. Counties are divided by law into nine classes, depending on population. Philadelphia's county offices were merged with the city government in 1952, pursuant to the home-rule charter of 1951.

There are four classes of cities. The only first-class city, Philadelphia, is governed by a mayor and city council. Other elected officials are the controller, district attorney, sheriff, register of wills, and three city commissioners. Major appointed officials include managing director, director of finance, city representative, and city solicitor. Both Pittsburgh and Scranton (classified as second-class cities) are governed under mayor-council systems that give the mayors strong discretionary powers.

Boroughs are governed under mayor-council systems giving the council strong powers. Other elected officials are the tax assessor, tax collector, and auditor or controller. The state's first-class townships, located mostly in metropolitan areas, are governed by elected commissioners who serve four-year overlapping terms. Second-class townships, most of them located in rural areas, have three supervisors who are elected at large to six-year terms.

In 2005, local government accounted for about 416,829 full-time (or equivalent) employment positions.

STATE SERVICES

To address the continuing threat of terrorism and to work with the federal Department of Homeland Security, homeland security in Pennsylvania operates under executive order; a homeland security director was appointed to oversee the state's homeland security activities.

Executive agencies under the governor's jurisdiction are the Advisory Commission on African American Affairs, the Advisory Commission on Asian American Affairs, Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, Commission for Children and Families, Green Government Council, Sportsmen's Advisory Council, Office of Inspector General, Office of Public Liaison, Pennsylvania Rural Development Council, and the Council on the Arts. The State Ethics Commission enforces the Pennsylvania Public Official and Employee Ethics Act. The Liquor Control Board operates state liquor stores and claims to be the world's largest single purchaser of liquors and wines.

The Department of Education administers the school laws of Pennsylvania, oversees community colleges, licenses and regulates private schools, and administers the state public library program. Educational policy is the province of the State Board of Education, a panel with 17 members appointed by the governor to six-year terms. Also within the department are various boards that make policies for and review developments within the state's higher educational system.

The Department of Transportation maintains state-operated highways, mass transit, rail service, and aviation facilities. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission also has transport-related responsibilities. Agencies and departments providing health and welfare services include the Department of Aging, Department of Community and Economic Development, and Department of Health. All public assistance, social service, mental health, and developmental disability programs are administered by the Department of Public Welfare.

The Office of Attorney General has divisions on criminal law, legal services, and public protection. The National Guard, Bureau for Veterans' Affairs, and state veterans' homes are under the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs; the Pennsylvania State Police is a separate state agency. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency allocates federal funds for crime control, juvenile justice, and delinquency prevention. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (formerly the State Council of Civil Defense) provides assistance in emergency situations resulting from natural or manmade disasters.

All state park and forest preservation programs, ecological and geological resource information programs, and community conservation partnerships are under the supervision of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Protection. Land and water environmental protection programs are under the supervision of the Department of Environmental Protection. The Department of Labor and Industry administers safety, employment, and industrial standards; operates vocational rehabilitation and workers' compensation programs; and mediates labor disputes.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

Since 1968, all Pennsylvania courts have been organized under the Unified Judicial System. The highest court in the state is the Supreme Court, which, having been established in 1722, is the oldest appellate court in the United States. The Court consists of 7 justices, elected to 10-year terms. The justice with the longest continuous service on the court automatically becomes chief justice. In general, the Supreme Court hears appeals from the commonwealth court. A separate appellate court, called the Superior Court, hears appeals from the courts of common pleas. There are 15 superior court judges, also elected to 10-year terms, as are the commonwealth and common pleas, which have original jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases not otherwise specified.

In counties other than Philadelphia, misdemeanors and other minor offenses are tried by district justices, formerly known as justices of the peace. The Philadelphia municipal court consists of 22 judges, all of whom must be lawyers; the six judges who constitute the Philadelphia traffic court need not be lawyers. Pittsburgh's magistrates' court, appointed by the mayor, comprises 5 to 8 judges who need not be lawyers. All of Pennsylvania's judges, except traffic court judges and Pittsburgh's magistrates, are initially elected on a partisan ballot and thereafter on a nonpartisan retention ballot.

As of 31 December 2004, a total of 40,963 prisoners were held in Pennsylvania's state and federal prisons, an increase from 40,890 of 0.2% from the previous year. As of year-end 2004, a total of 1,827 inmates were female, up from 1,823 or 0.2% from the year before. Among sentenced prisoners (one year or more), Pennsylvania had an incarceration rate of 329 per 100,000 population in 2004.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pennsylvania in 2004, had a violent crime rate (murder/nonnegligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; aggravated assault) of 411.1 reported incidents per 100,000 population, or a total of 50,998 reported incidents. Crimes against property (burglary; larceny/theft; and motor vehicle theft) in that same year totaled 299,611 reported incidents or 2,415 reported incidents per 100,000 people. Pennsylvania has a death penalty, of which lethal injection is the sole method of execution. From 1976 through 5 May 2006, the state has carried out three executions, the last of which took place in July 1999. As of 1 January 2006, Pennsylvania had 231 inmates on death row.

In 2003, Pennsylvania spent $218,059,061 on homeland security, an average of $18 per state resident.

ARMED FORCES

In 2004, there were 2,837 active-duty military personnel and 25,076 civilian personnel stationed in Pennsylvania. The US Army War College is in Carlisle, and there are army depots in Chambersburg, New Cumberland, and Scranton. Defense contracts worth more than $6.2 billion were awarded to Pennsylvania firms in 2004, tenth-highest in the United States for that year. In addition, there was another $2.9 billion in payroll outlays by the Department of Defense.

In 2003, there were 1,145,919 veterans living in the state, of whom 221,316 served in World War II; 149,673 in the Korean conflict; 335,124 during the Vietnam era; and 124,852 in the Gulf War. In 2004, the Veterans Administration expended more than $2.4 billion in pensions, medical assistance, and other major veterans' benefits.

As of 31 October 2004, the Pennsylvania State Police employed 4,227 full-time sworn officers.

MIGRATION

When William Penn's followers arrived in Pennsylvania, they joined small groups of Dutch, Swedish, and Finnish immigrants who were already settled along the Delaware River. By 1685, 50% of Pennsylvania's European population was British. In 1683, the Frankfort Land Co. founded the Mennonite community of Germantown on 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) east of the Schuylkill River. One hundred years later there were 120,000 Germans, about one-fourth of the state's census population; the Moravians, from Saxony, settled primarily in Bethlehem and Nazareth, and the Amish in Lancaster and Reading.

During the 19th century, more immigrants settled in Pennsylvania than in any other state except New York. Between 1840 and 1890, the anthracite mines in east-central Pennsylvania attracted the Irish, Welsh, and Slavs; Scots-Irish, Italian, Austrian, Hungarian, and Polish (and, after 1880, Russian) immigrants worked the western coal fields. The cities attracted Italian, French, and Slavic workers. East European and Russian Jews settled in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh between 1882 and 1900. By the turn of the century, the urban population surpassed the rural population.

During the 20th century, these patterns have been reversed. The trend among whites, particularly since World War II, has been to move out—from the cities to the suburbs, and from Pennsylvania to other states. Blacks, who began entering the state first as slaves and then as freemen, continued to migrate to the larger cities until the early 1970s, when a small out-migration began. Overall, between 1940 and 1980, Pennsylvania lost a net total of l,759,000 residents through migration; it lost an additional 98,000 residents between 1980 and 1983. From 1985 to 1990, Pennsylvania had a net migration gain of nearly 21,000. Between 1990 and 1998, the state had a net loss of 219,000 in domestic migration but a net gain of 104,000 in international migration. In 1996, about 3% of Pennsylvania's population (421,000) was foreign-born. In 1998, 11,942 foreign immigrants arrived in the state; of these, the greatest number, 1,127, came from India. Pennsylvania's overall population increased only 1% between 1990 and 1998. In the period 2000–05, net international migration was 102,470 and net internal migration was −28,012, for a net gain of 74,458 people.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION

Pennsylvania participates in such regional bodies as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, Wheeling Creek Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Commission, and Great Lakes Commission. In 1985, Pennsylvania, seven other Great Lakes states, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario signed the Great Lakes Compact to protect the lakes' water reserves. Other agreements include the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Interstate Mining Compact Commission, Ohio River Basin Commission, Appalachian Regional Commission, Brandywine River Valley Compact, New Jersey-Pennsylvania Turnpike Bridge Compact, Potomac Valley Conservancy District, Pymatuning Lake Compact, and the Tri-State Agreement on the Chesapeake Bay.

Some of the most important interstate agreements concern commerce and development along the Delaware River. The Delaware River Basin Commission involves the governors of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania in the utilization and conservation of the Delaware and its surrounding areas. Through the Delaware River Port Authority, New Jersey and Pennsylvania control an interstate mass transit system. The two states also are signatories to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Compact and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. During fiscal year 2005, Pennsylvania received $15.561 billion in federal grants (fifth among the 50 states). Federal grants were estimated at $16.324 billion in fiscal year 2006, and an estimated $16.846 billion in fiscal year 2007.

ECONOMY

Dominated by coal and steel, Pennsylvania is an important contributor to the national economy, but its role has diminished considerably since the early 20th Century. The state reached the height of its economic development by 1920, when its western oil wells and coal fields made it the nation's leading energy producer. By that time, however, Pennsylvania's oil production was already on the decline, and demand for coal had slackened. No longer did the state dominate US steel production. Pennsylvania produced 60% of the United States total in 1900, but only 30% in 1940 and 24% in 1960. Philadelphia, a diversified manufacturing center, began to lose many of its textile and apparel factories. The Great Depression of the 1930s hastened the decline. Industrial production in 1932 was less than half the 1929 level, and mineral production, already in a slump throughout the 1920s, dropped more than 50% in value between 1929 and 1933. By 1933, some 37% of the state's workforce was unemployed.

Massive federal aid programs and the production of munitions stimulated employment during the 1940s, but some sections of the state have never fully recovered from the damage of the Depression years. Declines in coal and steel production and the loss of other industries to the Sunbelt have not yet been entirely countered by gains in other sectors, despite a steady expansion of machinery production, increased tourism, and the growth of service-related industries and trade. Manufacturing, the second-largest employer in Pennsylvania—providing one million jobs in the 1990s—lost about 350,000 jobs during the 1980s. The outlook for the steel industry remains uncertain, as Pennsylvania's aging factories face severe competition from foreign producers. Services, in contrast, recorded about as much growth as manufacturing lost. The fastest growing service industries were concentrated in the medical and health fields. Coming into the 21st century, the annual growth rate for Pennsylvania's economy averaged 4.75% (1998 to 2000), which was then more than halved to 2.2% in the national recession of 2001. Manufacturing output, which grew 5.2% from 1997 to 2000 (although decreasing as a share of total output from 20.1% to 18.4%), fell 7.2% in 2001 (decreasing its share to 16.7%). The strongest growth in output was in various service sectors, with output from general services up 28% from 1997 to 2001; from financial services, up 22.1%, and from trade, up 19.5%.

In 2004, Pennsylvania's gross state product (GSP) was $468.089 billion, of which manufacturing (durable and nondurable goods) accounted for the largest share at $75.281 billion or 16% of GSP, followed by the real estate sector at $55.986 billion (11.9% of GSP), and healthcare and social assistance services at $42.035 billion (8.9% of GSP). In that same year, there were an estimated 927,369 small businesses in Pennsylvania. Of the 275,853 businesses that had employees, an estimated total of 271,410 or 98.4% were small companies. An estimated 33,188 new businesses were established in the state in 2004, up 6.3% from the year before. Business terminations that same year came to 34,507, up 4.8% from 2003. There were 1,138 business bankruptcies in 2004, down 4.6% from the previous year. In 2005, the state's personal bankruptcy (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13) filing rate was 472 filings per 100,000 people, ranking Pennsylvania as the 31st highest in the nation.

INCOME

In 2005 Pennsylvania had a gross state product (GSP) of $487 billion which accounted for 3.9% of the nation's gross domestic product and placed the state at number 6 in highest GSP among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2004 Pennsylvania had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $33,312. This ranked 19th in the United States and was 101% of the national average of $33,050. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of PCPI was 4.0%. Pennsylvania had a total personal income (TPI) of $412,890,270,000, which ranked sixth in the United States and reflected an increase of 5.1% from 2003. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of TPI was 4.2%. Earnings of persons employed in Pennsylvania increased from $291,978,764,000 in 2003 to $308,068,372,000 in 2004, an increase of 5.5%. The 2003–04 national change was 6.3%.

The US Census Bureau reports that the three-year average median household income for 2002 to 2004 in 2004 dollars was $44,286 compared to a national average of $44,473. During the same period an estimated 10.4% of the population was below the poverty line as compared to 12.4% nationwide.

LABOR

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in April 2006 the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Pennsylvania 6,318,700, with approximately 299,400 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 4.7%, compared to the national average of 4.7% for the same period. Preliminary data for the same period placed nonfarm employment at 5,747,200. Since the beginning of the BLS data series in 1976, the highest unemployment rate recorded in Pennsylvania was 12.9% in March 1983. The historical low was 4% in March 2000. Preliminary nonfarm employment data by occupation for April 2006 showed that approximately 4.4% of the labor force was employed in construction; 11.6% in manufacturing; 19.7% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 5.8% in financial activities; 11.6% in professional and business services; 18.3% in education and health services; 8.5% in leisure and hospitality services; and 13% in government.

The history of unionism in Pennsylvania dates back to 1724 when Philadelphia workers organized the Carpenters' Company, the first crafts association in the colonies. Its Carpenters' Hall gained fame as the site of the First Continental Congress in 1774; the carpenters were also responsible for the first strike in the United States in 1791. The nation's first labor union was organized by Philadelphia shoemakers in 1794. By 1827, the Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations, the country's first central labor body, was striking for a 10-hour workday and was the impetus behind the formation of the Organized Workingman's Party. Nine years later there were no fewer than 58 labor organizations in Philadelphia and 13 in Pittsburgh, but the Panic of 1837 resulted in a sharp decline of union strength and membership for many years. Union ranks were further depleted by the Civil War, despite the efforts of Pennsylvania labor leader William Sylvis, who later became an important figure in the national labor reform movement. After the Civil War ended, the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor was established in Philadelphia in 1869.

The coal fields were sites of violent organizing struggles. In 1835, low wages and long hours sparked the first general mine strikes, which, like a walkout by anthracite miners in 1849, proved unsuccessful. During the 1850s and 1870s, a secret society known as the Molly Maguires led uprisings in the anthracite fields, but its influence ended after the conviction of its leaders for terrorist activities. The demise of the Molly Maguires did not stop the violence, however. Eleven persons were killed during a mine strike at Connellsville in 1891, and a strike by Luzerne County miners in 1897 resulted in 20 deaths. Finally, a five-month walkout by anthracite miners in 1902 led to increased pay, reduced hours, and an agreement to employ arbitration to settle disputes.

Steelworkers, burdened for many years by 12-hour workdays and 7-day workweeks, called several major strikes during this period. An 1892 lockout at Andrew Carnegie's Homestead steel mill led to a clash between workers and Pinkerton guards hired by the company. After several months, the strikers went back to work, their resources exhausted. A major strike in 1919, involving half of the nation's steelworkers, shut down the industry for more than three months, but it too produced no immediate gains. The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, later the United Steelworkers, finally won a contract and improved benefits from US Steel in 1937, although other steel companies held out until the early 1940s, when the Supreme Court forced recognition of the union.

The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2005, a total of 753,000 of Pennsylvania's 5,456,000 employed wage and salary workers were formal members of a union. This represented 13.8% of those so employed, down from 15% in 2004, but still above the national average of 12%. Overall in 2005, a total of 818,000 workers (15%) in Pennsylvania were covered by a union or employee association contract, which includes those workers who reported no union affiliation. Pennsylvania is one of 28 states that do not have a right-to-work law.

As of 1 March 2006, Pennsylvania had a state-mandated minimum wage rate of $5.15 per hour. In 2004, women in the state accounted for 47.5% of the employed civilian labor force.

AGRICULTURE

Pennsylvania ranked 20th among the 50 states in agricultural income in 2005, with receipts of $4.7 billion.

During the colonial period, German immigrants farmed the fertile land in southeastern Pennsylvania, making the state a leader in agricultural production. Unlike farmers in other states, who worked the soil until it was depleted and then moved on, these farmers carefully cultivated the same plots year after year, using crop rotation techniques that kept the land productive. As late as 1840, the state led the nation in wheat production, thanks in part to planting techniques developed and largely confined to southeastern Pennsylvania. However, westward expansion and the subsequent fall in agricultural prices hurt farming in the state, and many left the land for industrial jobs in the cities. Today, most farms in the state produce crops and dairy items for Philadelphia and other major eastern markets.

As of 2004 there were about 58,200 farms averaging 132 acres (54 hectares) in size. The leading farm areas were all in southeastern Pennsylvania. Lancaster County is by far the most productive, followed by the counties of Chester, Berks, Franklin, and Lebanon. These five counties account for over 40% of state agricultural sales.

Field crops in 2004 included: hay, 4,296,000 tons (valued at $380 million); corn for grain, 137.2 million bushels (valued at $274.4 million); soybeans, 10.5 million bushels (valued at $97.5 million); wheat, 6.6 million bushels (valued at $21.8 million); oats, 6.1 million bushels (valued at $10.3 million); and barley, 3.4 million (valued at $7.7 million).

Pennsylvania is a major producer of mushrooms and greenhouse and nursery crops. Other crops are fresh vegetables, potatoes, strawberries, apples, pears, peaches, grapes, and cherries (sweet and tart). The value of fresh market vegetables exceeded $70.4 million in 2004; the value of vegetables for processing, $10.9 million.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Most of Pennsylvania's farm income stems from livestock production, primarily in Lancaster County.

In 2005, there were an estimated 1.63 million cattle and calves, valued at $1.8 billion. During 2004, there were around 1.1 million hogs and pigs, worth $106.9 million. In 2003 the state produced 7 million lb (3.2 million kg) of sheep and lambs, which brought in $7.5 million in gross income.

Pennsylvania is a leading producer of chickens in the United States, selling 44.2 million lb (20 million kg) in 2003. An estimated 10.4 billion lb (4.7 billion kg) of milk (fourth among the 50 states) was produced from 575,000 milk cows in the same year.

FISHING

There is very little commercial fishing in Pennsylvania. In 2004, the commercial catch was only 14,000 lb (640 kg), worth $38,000. In 2003, there were 5 processing and 34 wholesale plants in the state with about 976 employees.

The state's many lakes and streams make it a popular area for sport fishing. All recreational fishing in the state is supervised by the Fish Commission, established in 1866 and one of the oldest conservation agencies in the United States. Walleye, trout, and salmon were the leading species. There are two national fish hatcheries in the state. In 2004, Pennsylvania issued 1,018,756 sport fishing licenses.

FORESTRY

Pennsylvania's richly diverse forests dominate the landscape, covering 58% (16,585,000 acres/6,712,000 hectares) of the total land area. For the northeastern United States, public ownership is high at 26% (4,403,000 acres/1,782,000 hectares), mostly owned by the commonwealth. The 1989 Forest Inventory identified 90 different tree species; most of the 2,076 species of native vascular plants are forest related. Eagles and ospreys are making a comeback, there is a resident elk herd (the largest east of the Mississippi), coyotes have moved in, and river otters and fishers have been re-introduced. Some species of forest birds which are experiencing declines regionally have increasing populations in Pennsylvania's forests.

The forest products industry and forest-based recreation are very important to Pennsylvania's economy. Ten commercial tree species dominate the average annual net growth, producing 74% of the wood grown each year. In 2004, the total lumber production was 1,143 million board feet, or 2.3% of the US total.

Camping, fishing, hiking, and hunting are traditional Pennsylvania pastimes and the clean streams, vistas, and flora and fauna of the forest provide a focal point for these activities.

MINING

According to preliminary data from the US Geological Survey (USGS), the estimated value of nonfuel mineral production by Pennsylvania in 2003 was $1.26 billion, a decrease from 2002 of about 2%. The USGS data ranked Pennsylvania as 10th among the 50 states by the total value of its nonfuel mineral production, accounting for over 3% of total US output.

According to the preliminary data for 2003, by descending order of value, crushed stone, cement (portland and masonry), and construction sand and gravel were the state's top nonfuel minerals by value. Collectively, these commodities accounted for almost 92% of all nonfuel mineral output, by value. By volume, Pennsylvania in 2003 was third in portland cement, fourth (out of four states) in the production of tripoli, and sixth in the production of masonry cement and lime.

Preliminary figures for 2003 showed that crushed stone production totaled 96 million metric tons, which had a value of $547 million, while portland cement output that year totaled 6.13 million metric tons and was valued at an estimated $457 million. Construction sand and gravel production in 2003 totaled 18 million metric tons and was worth $115 million. Lime output that same year stood at 1.25 million metric tons and was worth $91.3 million.

Although no metals were mined in Pennsylvania, the state was the nation's fifth leading producer of raw steel, processing 5.53 million metric tons of raw steel in 2003.

ENERGY AND POWER

As of 2003, Pennsylvania had 85 electrical power service providers, of which 35 were publicly owned and 13 were cooperatives. Of the remainder, 11 were investor owned, 17 were generation-only suppliers and nine were delivery-only providers. As of that same year there were 5,747,853 retail customers. Of that total, 5,161,605 received their power from investor-owned service providers. Cooperatives accounted for 207,495 customers, while publicly owned providers had 83,030 customers. Generation-only suppliers had 295,723 customers. There was no customer data on the number of delivery-only customers.

Total net summer generating capability by the state's electrical generating plants in 2003 stood at 42.368 million kW, with total production that same year at 206.349 billion kWh. Of the total amount generated, 14.6% came from electric utilities, with the remaining 85.4% coming from independent producers and combined heat and power service providers. The largest portion of all electric power generated, 116.009 billion kWh (56.2%), came from coal-fired plants, with nuclear power generation in second place at 74.360 billion kWh (36%). Other renewable power sources, pumped storage facilities, hydroelectric, petroleum, natural gas, and other types of gas fueled plants accounted for the remaining production.

Operating nuclear plants in Pennsylvania as of 2006 were: Peach Bottom in York County; Beaver Valley at Shippingsport, Susquehanna in Luzerne County; Limerick, near Philadelphia; and Unit 1 of the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg.

The nation's first oil well was struck in Titusville in 1859, and for the next five decades Pennsylvania led the nation in oil production. As of 2004, Pennsylvania had proven crude oil reserves of 12 million barrels, less than 1% of all proven US reserves, while output that same year averaged 7,000 barrels per day. Including federal offshore domains, the state that year ranked 24th (23rd excluding federal offshore) in proven reserves and 22nd (21st excluding federal offshore) in production among the 31 producing states. In 2004 Pennsylvania had 16,242 producing oil wells, accounting for under 1% of all US production. As of 2005, the state's five refineries had a combined crude oil distillation capacity of 770,000 barrels per day.

In 2004, Pennsylvania had 44,227 producing natural gas and gas condensate wells. In that same year, marketed gas production (all gas produced excluding gas used for repressuring, vented and flared, and nonhydrocarbon gases removed) totaled 159.827 billion cu ft (4.5 billion cu m). As of 31 December 2004, proven reserves of dry or consumer-grade natural gas totaled 2,386 billion cu ft (67.76 billion cu m).

Virtually all the state's commercial oil and gas reserves lie beneath the Allegheny High Plateau, in western Pennsylvania.

Coal is the state's most valuable mineral commodity, accounting for more than two-thirds of all mine income. In 2004, Pennsylvania had 260 producing coal mines, 202 of which were surface operations and 58 were underground. Coal production that year totaled 65,996,000 short tons, up from 63,708,000 short tons in 2003. Of the total produced in 2004, underground mines accounted for most of the production at 53,224,000 short tons.

Pennsylvania is the only state to produce both anthracite (hard) and bituminous (soft or brown) coal. The state has a total of 66 anthracite mines (46 surface and 20 underground) and 194 bituminous (156 surface and 38 underground) mines. In 2004, anthracite production totaled 1,679,000 short tons, with bituminous output at 64,317,000 short tons.

Total recoverable coal reserves in 2004 totaled 614 million short tons. Of that total, recoverable anthracite reserves that year totaled 22 million short tons, while recoverable bituminous reserves were placed at 592 million short tons. Bituminous coal is mined in Washington, Clearfield, Greene, Cambria, Armstrong, Somerset, Clarion, Allegheny, and 19 other counties in the western part of the state. A anthracite mining is concentrated in Schuylkill, Luzerne, Lackawanna, Northumberland, Carbon, Columbia, Sullivan, and Dauphin counties in the east. One short ton equals 2,000 lb (0.907 metric tons).

INDUSTRY

At different times throughout its history, Pennsylvania has been the nation's principal producer of ships, iron, chemicals, lumber, oil, textiles, glass, coal, and steel. Although it is still a major manufacturing center, Pennsylvania's industrial leadership has diminished steadily during the 20th century.

The first major industry in colonial Pennsylvania was shipbuilding, centered in Philadelphia. Iron works, brick kilns, candle factories, and other small crafts industries also grew up around the city. By 1850, Philadelphia alone accounted for nearly half of Pennsylvania's manufacturing output, with an array of products including flour, preserved meats, sugar, textiles, shoes, furniture, iron, locomotives, pharmaceuticals, and books. The exploitation of the state's coal and oil resources and the discovery of new steel-making processes helped build Pittsburgh into a major industrial center.

According to the US Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) for 2004, Pennsylvania's manufacturing sector covered some 21 product subsectors. The shipment value of all products manufactured in the state that same year was $190.370 billion. Of that total, chemical manufacturing accounted for the largest share at $29.876 billion. It was followed by food manufacturing at $23.707 billion; primary metal manufacturing at $17.760 billion; petroleum and coal product manufacturing at $17.471 billion; and fabricated metal product manufacturing at $15.090 billion.

In 2004, a total of 645,796 people in Pennsylvania were employed in the state's manufacturing sector, according to the ASM. Of that total, 457,003 were actual production workers. In terms of total employment, the fabricated metal product manufacturing industry accounted for the largest portion of all manufacturing employees with 85,795 (62,587 actual production workers). It was followed by food manufacturing, with 71,228 (51,734 actual production workers); machinery manufacturing, with 51,643 (32,815 actual production workers); plastics and rubber products manufacturing, with 44,095 (34,117 actual production workers); printing and related support activities, with 42,733 (31,705 actual production workers); and transportation equipment manufacturing, with 37,763 (27,124 actual production workers).

ASM data for 2004 showed that Pennsylvania's manufacturing sector paid $26.816 billion in wages. Of that amount, the fabricated metal product manufacturing sector accounted for the largest share at $3.402 billion. It was followed by food manufacturing at $2.468 billion; machinery manufacturing at $2.372 billion; primary metal manufacturing at $2.140 billion; and chemical manufacturing at $2.063 billion.

COMMERCE

A major component in Philadelphia's early economy, trade remains important to the state.

According to the 2002 Census of Wholesale Trade, Pennsylvania's wholesale trade sector had sales that year totaling $183.7 billion from 15,991 establishments. Wholesalers of durable goods accounted for 9,887 establishments, followed by nondurable goods wholesalers at 4,777 and electronic markets, agents, and brokers accounting for 1,327 establishments. Sales by durable goods wholesalers in 2002 totaled $77.5 billion, while wholesalers of nondurable goods saw sales of $83.2 billion. Electronic markets, agents, and brokers in the wholesale trade industry had sales of $22.9 billion.

In the 2002 Census of Retail Trade, Pennsylvania was listed as having 48,041 retail establishments with sales of $130.7 billion. The leading types of retail businesses by number of establishments were: food and beverage stores (6,949); clothing and clothing accessories stores (6,276); motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers (5,465); miscellaneous store retailers (5,449); and gasoline stations (4,476). In terms of sales, motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts stores accounted for the largest share of retail sales at $33.1 billion, followed by food and beverage stores at $21.3 billion; general merchandise stores at $16.8 billion; nonstore retailers at $11.6 billion; gasoline stations at $9.6 billion; and building material/garden equipment and supplies dealers at $9.2 billion. A total of 661,993 people were employed by the retail sector in Pennsylvania that year.

During the colonial era, Philadelphia was one of the busiest Atlantic ports and the leading port for the lucrative Caribbean trade. Philadelphia remains one of the country's leading foreign trade centers. In 2005, total exports of Pennsylvania goods had a value of $22.2 billion (ninth in the United States).

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Consumer protection affairs in Pennsylvania are the responsibility of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, which is under the Office of Attorney General. The bureau investigates and mediates complaints, acts in an advisory position to the legislature on issues that would affect consumers, investigates claims of fraud and deception, and acts to promote consumer education. Also within the Office of Attorney General is the Charitable Trusts and Organizations section and the Office of Consumer Advocate, which is responsible for representing the state's consumers in matters that involve utility services. Pennsylvanians are encouraged to report instances of fraud, waste, or mismanagement of state funds through a toll-free telephone service run by the Auditor General. Additionally, the Department of Insurance and the Department of Banking protect state residents against insurance fraud and banking fraud, respectively.

When dealing with consumer protection issues, the state's Attorney General's Office can initiate civil and criminal proceedings; administer consumer protection and education programs; handle formal consumer complaints; and exercise broad subpoena powers. However, the Attorney General cannot represent the state before regulatory agencies. In antitrust actions, the Attorney General's Office can act on behalf of those consumers who are incapable of acting on their own; initiate damage actions on behalf of the state in state courts; initiate criminal proceedings; and represent counties, cities and other governmental entities in recovering civil damages under state or federal law.

The offices of the Bureau of Consumer Protection and of the Office of Consumer Advocate are located in Harrisburg. The Office of the Attorney General has regional offices in Allentown, Ebensburg, Erie, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton. County government consumer protection offices are located in Doylestown, Media, Norristown and West Chester.

BANKING

Philadelphia is the nation's oldest banking center, and Third Street, between Chestnut and Walnut, has been called the cradle of American finance. The first chartered commercial bank in the United States was the Bank of North America, granted its charter in Philadelphia by the federal government in December 1781 and by Pennsylvania in April 1782. The First Bank of the United States was headquartered in Philadelphia from its inception in 1791 to 1811, when its charter was allowed to expire. Its building was bought by Stephen Girard, a private banker whose new institution quickly became one of the nation's largest banks. Girard's bank was closed after he died in 1831, but a new Girard Bank was opened in 1832; it merged with Philadelphia National Bank in 1926.

By the early 1800s, Philadelphia had reached its zenith as the nation's financial center. It was the home of the Bank of Pennsylvania, founded in 1793; the Bank of Philadelphia (1804); the Farmers and Mechanics Bank (1809); the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (1816), the first mutual savings bank; and, most powerful of all, the Second Bank of the United States (1816). After 1823, under the directorship of Nicholas Biddle, this bank became an international leader and the only rival to New York City's growing banking industry. When President Jackson vetoed the bank's recharter in 1831, Philadelphia lost its preeminence as a banking center.

Pittsburgh's rise to prominence during the late 1800s, was due in great part to the efforts of its most successful financier, Andrew Mellon. In March 1982, the state legalized multibank holding companies; subsequently, the Mellon Bank acquired Centre County Bank of State College, Girard Bank, and Northwest Bank. Other major institutions are: Pittsburgh National Bank, part of PNC Financial, and Philadelphia National Bank. First Pennsylvania, in financial difficulty for several years, was saved from possible failure early in 1980 through a loan package engineered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

As of June 2005, Pennsylvania had 254 insured banks, savings and loans, and saving banks, plus 73 state-chartered and 579 federally chartered credit unions (CUs). Excluding the CUs, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington market area accounted for the largest portion of the state's financial institutions and deposits in 2004, with 156 institutions and $221.259 billion in deposits. As of June 2005, CUs accounted for 6.2% of all assets held by all financial institutions in the state, or some $23.100 billion. Banks, savings and loans, and savings banks collectively accounted for the remaining 93.8% or $348.550 billion in assets held.

The median net interest margin (the difference between the lower rates offered to savers and the higher rates charged on loans) for the state's banks stood at 3.31% as of fourth quarter 2005, down from 3.37% in 2004 and 3.38% in 2003. Pennsylvania's banks' media past-due/nonaccrual loan to total loan ratios in fourth quarter 2005 stood at 1.26%, down from 1.36% in 2004 and 1.51% in 2003.

Regulation of Pennsylvania's state-charter banks and other state-chartered financial institutions is the responsibility of the state's Department of Banking.

INSURANCE

In 2004, there were over 8.5 million individual life insurance policies in force, with a total value of about $551 billion; total value for all categories of life insurance (individual, group, and credit) was over $909.5 billion. The average coverage amount is $64,100 per policy holder. Death benefits paid that year totaled $2.67 billion.

There were 37 life and health and 200 property and casualty insurance companies domiciled in Pennsylvania in 2003. In 2004, direct premiums for property and casualty insurance totaled over $19.2 billion. That year, there were 60,779 flood insurance policies in force in the state, with a total value of $8 billion. About $2.2 billion of coverage was held through FAIR plans, which are designed to offer coverage for some natural circumstances, such as wind and hail, in high risk areas.

In 2004, 58% of state residents held employment-based health insurance policies, 5% held individual policies, and 25% were covered under Medicare and Medicaid; 12% of residents were uninsured. In 2003, employee contributions for employment-based health coverage averaged at 15% for single coverage and 23% for family coverage. The state does not offer a health benefits expansion program in connection with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA, 1986), a health insurance program for those who lose employment-based coverage due to termination or reduction of work hours.

In 2003, there were over 8.3 million auto insurance policies in effect for private passenger cars. Required minimum coverage includes bodily injury liability of up to $15,000 per individual and $30,000 for all persons injured in an accident, as well as property damage liability of $5,000. Coverage for first party medical expenses is also required. In 2003, the average expenditure per vehicle for insurance coverage was $810.25.

SECURITIES

Formally established in 1790, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) is the oldest stock exchange in the United States. It was also the nation's most important exchange until the 1820s, when the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) eclipsed it. Since World War II, the Philadelphia exchange has merged with stock exchanges in Baltimore (1949), Washington, DC (1953), and Pittsburgh (1969). As the primary odd-lot market for Government National Mortgage Association securities and as a leading market for odd-lot government securities and stock options, PHLX ranks after only the NYSE and American exchanges (AMEX) in trading volume. PHLX was the first exchange in the United States to trade foreign currency options (1982) and the National Over-the-Counter Index (1985). Over 2,600 stocks and over 800 options are traded on the exchange.

Sales of securities are regulated by the Pennsylvania Securities Commission, which also licenses all securities dealers, agents, and investment advisers in the state.

In 2005, there were 5,490 personal financial advisers employed in the state and 7,680 securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents. In 2004, there were over 415 publicly traded companies within the state, with over 168 NASDAQ companies, 97 NYSE listings, and 26 AMEX listings. In 2006, the state had 26 Fortune 500 companies; AmerisouceBergen ranked first in the state and 27th in the nation with revenues of over $54.5 billion, followed by Sunoco, Comcast, Rite Aid, and Cigna. Comcast is listed on NASDAQ; the other top four are listed on the NYSE.

PUBLIC FINANCE

Pennsylvania's budget is prepared annually by the Office of Budget and submitted by the governor to the General Assembly for amendment and approval. By law, annual operating expenditures may not exceed available revenues and surpluses from prior years. The fiscal year (FY) runs from 1 July to 30 June.

Fiscal year 2006 general funds were estimated at $24.7 billion for resources and $24.5 billion for expenditures. In fiscal year 2004, federal government grants to Pennsylvania were $19.9 billion.

On 5 January 2006 the federal government released $100 million in emergency contingency funds targeted to the areas with the greatest need, including $7.7 million for Pennsylvania.

TAXATION

In 2005, Pennsylvania collected $27,263 million in tax revenues or $2,193 per capita, which placed it 22nd among the 50 states in per capita tax burden. The national average was $2,192 per capita. Property taxes accounted for 0.2% of the total; sales taxes, 29.6%; selective sales taxes, 18.9%; individual income taxes, 30.4%; corporate income taxes, 6.2%; and other taxes, 14.7%.

As of 1 January 2006, Pennsylvania had one individual income tax bracket of 3.07%. The state taxes corporations at a flat rate of 9.99%.

In 2004, state and local property taxes amounted to $12,518,226,000 or $1,010 per capita. The per capita amount

ranks the state 24th nationally. Local governments collected $12,449,837,000 of the total and the state government $68,389,000.

Pennsylvania taxes retail sales at a rate of 6%. In addition to the state tax, local taxes on retail sales can reach as much as 1%, making for a potential total tax on retail sales of 7%. Food purchased for consumption off-premises is tax exempt. The tax on cigarettes is 135 cents per pack, which ranks 12th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania taxes gasoline at 31.2 cents per gallon. This is in addition to the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline.

According to the Tax Foundation, for every federal tax dollar sent to Washington in 2004, Pennsylvania citizens received $1.06 in federal spending.

ECONOMIC POLICY

The Center for Entrepreneurial Assistance directs and controls the Department of Community and Economic Development's economic assistance activities. Other agencies include the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority and the Pennsylvania Capital Loan Fund. Pennsylvania also encourages industrial development, domestic and foreign investment to the state, and export assistance to Pennsylvania companies.

The Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority Board and the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority provide loans to businesses that want to build new facilities or renovate and expand older ones. The Office of Minority Business Enterprise seeks to strengthen minority businesses by helping them obtain contracts with the state. The Small Business Development Center aids small businesses by providing a network of informational sources. Additional services are provided by the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Office of Corporate and Financial Regulation, the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, the Community Economic Development Loan Program, the Customized Job Training Program, the Enterprise Zone Program, the Export Finance Program, the First Industries Fund, the Industrial Sites Reuse Program, the Infrastructure Development Program, the Keystone Innovation Starter Kit, Keystone Opportunity Zones, the Pennsylvania Capital Access Program (PennCap), the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority, Small Business Development Centers, and the Tax Increment Financing Guarantee Program.

HEALTH

The infant mortality rate in October 2005 was estimated at 6.9 per 1,000 live births. The birth rate in 2003 was 11.4 per 1,000 population. The abortion rate stood at 14.3 per 1,000 women in 2000. In 2003, about 76% of pregnant woman received prenatal care beginning in the first trimester. In 2004, approximately 86% of children received routine immunizations before the age of three.

The crude death rate in 2003 was 10.5 deaths per 1,000 population, which was the second-highest rate in the country that year (following West Virginia). As of 2002, the death rates for major causes of death (per 100,000 resident population) were: heart disease, 315; cancer, 242 (the third-highest rate in the country); cerebrovascular diseases, 69.5; chronic lower respiratory diseases, 48.8; and diabetes, 30.1. The mortality rate from HIV infection was 4 per 100,000 population. In 2004, the reported AIDS case rate was at about 13.1 per 100,000 population. In 2002, about 57% of the population was considered overweight or obese. As of 2004, about 22.6% of state residents were smokers.

In 2003, Pennsylvania had 201 community hospitals with about 40,900 beds. There were about 1.8 million patient admissions that year and 33 million outpatient visits. The average daily inpatient census was about 28,200 patients. The average cost per day for hospital care was $1,326. Also in 2003, there were about 740 certified nursing facilities in the state with 90,857 beds and an overall occupancy rate of about 89.7%. In 2004, it was estimated that about 69.9% of all state residents had received some type of dental care within the year. Pennsylvania had 332 physicians per 100,000 resident population in 2004 and 995 nurses per 100,000 in 2005. In 2004, there were a total of 7,789 dentists in the state.

About 14% of state residents were enrolled in Medicaid programs in 2003. In 2004, Pennsylvania tied with Arkansas and Florida at third in the nation for the highest percentage of residents on Medicare (following West Virginia and Maine). Approximately 12% of the state population was uninsured in 2004. In 2003, state health care expenditures totaled $18.8 million.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, which originated as the medical school of the College of Philadelphia in 1765, is the nation's oldest medical school. One of the nation's newest is the Hershey Medical Center of Pennsylvania State University. Other medical schools in Pennsylvania are the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Temple University's School of Medicine, the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and Allegheny University, the last three in Philadelphia. The state also aids colleges of osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, and optometry—all in Philadelphia. In 2005, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, ranked 13th and 15th respectively on the Honor Roll of Best Hospitals 2005 by U.S. News & World Report. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia ranked first in the nation in reputation for pediatric care

SOCIAL WELFARE

In 2004, about 487,000 people received unemployment benefits, with the average weekly unemployment benefit at $294. For 2005, the estimated average monthly participation in the food stamp program included about 1,042,809 persons (471,960 households); the average monthly benefit was about $88.28 per person. That year, the total of benefits paid through the state for the food stamp program was about $1.1 billion.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the system of federal welfare assistance that officially replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1997, was reauthorized through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. TANF is funded through federal block grants that are divided among the states based on an equation involving the number of recipients in each state. In 2004, the Pennsylvania TANF program had 231,000 recipients; state and federal expenditures on this TANF program totaled $346 million in fiscal year 2003.

In December 2004, Social Security benefits were paid to 2,405,080 Pennsylvania residents. This number included 1,556,970 retired workers, 266,100 widows and widowers, 275,950 disabled workers, 133,490 spouses, and 172,570 children. Social Security beneficiaries represented 19.3% of the total state population and 93.3% of the state's population age 65 and older. Retired workers received an average monthly payment of $982; widows and widowers, $945; disabled workers, $910; and spouses, $496. Payments for children of retired workers averaged $509 per month; children of deceased workers, $658; and children of disabled workers, $266. Federal Supplemental Security Income payments in December 2004 went to 316,917 Pennsylvania residents, averaging $437 a month.

HOUSING

Faced with a decaying housing stock, Philadelphia during the 1970s and 1980s encouraged renovation of existing units along with the construction of new ones, effectively revitalizing several neighborhoods. About 22.4% of all units in the state were built in the period from 1970 to 1989.

In 2004, there were 5,385,729 housing units in Pennsylvania, 4,817,757 of which were occupied; 72.8% were owner-occupied. About 57.6% of all units were single-family, detached homes. About 30.7% of all units were built in 1939 or earlier. In 2004, utility gas and fuel oil were the most common sources of energy for heating. It was estimated that 135,756 units lacked telephone services, 23,755 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 28,415 lacked complete kitchen facilities. The average household had 2.48 members.

In 2004, 49,700 new privately owned housing units were authorized for construction. The median home value was $116,520. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $1,114. Renters paid a median of $611 per month. In September 2005, the state received grants of $450,000 from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for rural housing and economic development programs. For 2006, HUD allocated to the state over $50 million in community development block grants. The city of Philadelphia was awarded over $53 million in community development block grants.

EDUCATION

Pennsylvania fell behind many of its neighbors in establishing a free public school system. From colonial times until the 1830s, almost all instruction in reading and writing took place in private schools. Called "dame schools" in the cities and "neighborhood schools" in rural areas, they offered primary courses, usually taught by women in their own homes. In addition, the Quakers, Moravians, and Scots-Irish Presbyterians all formed their own private schools, emphasizing religious study. Many communities also set up secondary schools, called academies, on land granted by the state; by 1850, there were 524 academies, some of which later developed into colleges. A public school law passed in 1834 was not mandatory in the school districts but was still unpopular. Thaddeus Stevens, then a state legislator, is credited with saving the law from repeal in 1835. Two years later, more than 40% of the state's children were in public schools.

As of 2004, 86.5% of the population 25 years old and older had completed four years of high school, and 25.3% had obtained a bachelor's degree or higher.

The total enrollment for fall 2002 in Pennsylvania's public schools stood at 1,817,000. Of these, 1,242,000 attended schools from kindergarten through grade eight, and 575,000 attended high school. Approximately 76.3% of the students were white, 15.8% were black, 5.5% were Hispanic, 2.3% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.1% were American Indian/Alaskan Native. Total enrollment was estimated at 1,812,000 in fall 2003 and expected to be 1,676,000 by 2014, a decline of 7.7% during the period 2002 to 2014. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $20.7 billion or $9,979 per student, the ninth-highest among the 50 states. In fall 2003 there were 316,337 students enrolled in 2,009 private schools. Since 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tested public school students nationwide. The resulting report, The Nation's Report Card, stated that in 2005 eighth graders in Pennsylvania scored 281 out of 500 in mathematics compared with the national average of 278.

As of fall 2002, there were 654,826 students enrolled in college or graduate school; minority students comprised 16.4% of total postsecondary enrollment. In 2005 Pennsylvania had 262 degree-granting institutions including 44 public four-year schools, 21 public two-year schools, and 98 nonprofit, private four-year schools. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, established in 1872, accounted for about 15% of enrollment. Four universities have nonprofit corporate charters but are classified as state-related: Pennsylvania State University, Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Lincoln University. Of these, Penn State is by far the largest. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State now has its main campus at University Park and 23 smaller campus locations statewide as well as a Penn State World Campus that allows online access to a Penn State education.

State-aided private institutions receiving designated grants from the legislature include the University of Pennsylvania, the largest of these schools, founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin as the Philadelphia Academy and Charitable School; among its noteworthy professional schools is the Wharton School of Business. Other private colleges and universities, also eligible to receive state aid through a per-pupil funding formula, include Bryn Mawr College (founded in 1880), Bucknell University (1846) in Lewisburg, Carnegie-Mellon University (1900) in Pittsburgh, Dickinson College (1733) in Carlisle, Duquesne University (1878) in Pittsburgh, Haverford College (1833), Lafayette College (1826), Lehigh University (1865), Swarthmore College (1864), and Villanova University (1842). The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) offers higher education grants, guarantees private loans, and administers work-study programs for Pennsylvania students.

ARTS

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) was established in 1966 and consists of a Council comprised of 19 members—15 private citizens appointed by the governor and 4 members of the General Assembly. In 2005, the PCA and other Pennsylvania arts organizations received 103 grants totaling $3,135,800 from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) was established in 1973. In 2005, the National Endowment for the Humanities contributed $6,181,059 for 59 state programs. The state and various private sources also provided funding for arts programs.

Philadelphia was the cultural capital of the colonies and rivaled New York as a theatrical center during the 1800s. In 1984, Philadelphia had five fully developed resident theaters, ranking third in the nation after New York and California. As of 2005 a number of regional and summer stock theaters were scattered throughout the state, the most noteworthy being in Bucks County, Lancaster, and Pittsburgh. The Bucks County Playhouse is recognized as the State Theater and carries a rich history of featuring well-known stars such as Grace Kelly, Robert Redford, and Walter Matthau. The Bucks County Playhouse is also noted for premiering the famous dramas, Harvey, Nobody Loves Me (Barefoot In The Park) and Give 'Em Hell Harry.

Pennsylvania's most significant contribution to the performing arts has come through music. One of America's first important songwriters, Stephen Foster, was born in 1826 in Lawrenceville and grew up in Pittsburgh. Some of Foster's songs include, "Oh! Susanna" (1848), "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" (1854), and "Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)" (1851).The Pittsburgh Symphony, which began performing in 1896, first achieved prominence under Victor Herbert. Temporarily disbanded in 1910, the symphony was revived under Fritz Reiner in 1927; subsequent music directors have included William Steinberg and Andre Previn. Even more illustrious has been the career of the Philadelphia Orchestra, founded in 1900. Among this orchestra's best-known permanent conductors have been Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy, both of whom recorded extensively.

An important dance company, the Pennsylvania Ballet, is based in Philadelphia, which is also home to the Curtis Institute of Music, founded in 1924. Pittsburgh hosts the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater (PBT). In 1989 PBT began conducting educational programs; as of 2005 the outreach programs had reached over 65,000 students from more than 200 school districts. The National Choreographic Center was established in the mid-1980s in Carlisle in conjunction with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet School. Opera companies include the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, Pittsburgh Opera, and Opera Company of Philadelphia.

In 1997 the Philadelphia Fringe Festival was founded. Under a changed title, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe evolved into a 16-day festival. The festival, which includes theater, dance, music, poetry and puppetry performances, has been recorded as drawing over 47,000 attendants. The American Poetry Review, published in Philadelphia, has become one of the nation's premier poetry journals. Favorite tourist sites featuring the arts include the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and the Edgar J. Kaufmann House, more commonly known as, Fallingwater, a home designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Bear Run.

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

As of December 2001, Pennsylvania had 459 public library systems, with a total of 636 libraries, of which there were 181 were branches. In that same year, the libraries had a combined 28,061,000 volumes of books and serial publications on their shelves, and a total circulation of 56,929,000. The system also had 1,957,000 audio and 831,000 video items, 29,000 electronic format items (CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, and disks), and 35 bookmobiles. The largest public library in the state, and one of the oldest in the United States, is the Free Library of Philadelphia, with 6,700,000 volumes in 73 branches. The Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh has 3,439,666 volumes and 18 branches. Harrisburg offers the State Library of Pennsylvania, which had 1,000,494 volumes in 1998. The Alverthorpe Gallery Library in Jenkintown contains the Rosenwald collection of illustrated books dating from the 15th century. In fiscal year 2001, operating income for the state's public library system came to $277,782,000 and included $2,705,000 in federal grants and $73,274,000 in state grants.

Philadelphia is the site of the state's largest academic collection, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, with 4,791,342 volumes. Other major academic libraries are at the University of Pittsburgh, 3,968,106 volumes; Penn State, over 2.5 million; Temple, 2,445,164; Carnegie-Mellon, 906,069; and Bryn Mawr, 1,062,594.

Pennsylvania has 362 museums and public gardens, with many of the museums located in Philadelphia. The Franklin Institute, established in 1824 as an exhibition hall and training center for inventors and mechanics, is a leading showcase for science and technology. Other important museums are the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Academy of Natural Sciences, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, American Catholic Historical Society, American Swedish Historical Foundation Museum, and Museum of American Jewish History.

The Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh is home to several major museums, including the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Art. Also in Pittsburgh are the Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science and the Frick Art Museum. Other institutions scattered throughout the state include the Moravian Museum, Bethlehem; US Army Military History Institute, Carlisle; Erie Art Center, Museum, and Old Custom House; Pennsylvania Lumber Museum, Galeton; Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and William Penn Memorial Museum, Harrisburg; Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Culture Society, Lenhartsville; Schwenkfelder Museum, Pennsburg; and Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg. A new exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium opened in June of 2000, featuring a $16.8 million aquarium that was twice as big as the old Aqua Zoo, and included 500 species of sea creatures.

Several old forts commemorate the French and Indian War, and George Washington's Revolutionary headquarters at Valley Forge is now a national historical park. Brandywine Battlefield (Chadds Ford) is another Revolutionary War site. Gettysburg National Military Park commemorates the Civil War. Other historic sites are Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia; the Daniel Boone Homestead, Birdsboro; John Brown's House, Chambers-burg; James Buchanan's home, Lancaster; and Ft. Augusta, Sunbury, a frontier outpost.

COMMUNICATIONS

Philadelphia already had mail links to surrounding towns and to Maryland and Virginia by 1737, when Benjamin Franklin was named deputy postmaster of the city, but service was slow and not always reliable. During the remainder of the century, significant improvements in delivery were made, but some townspeople devised ingenious ways of transmitting information even faster than the mails. Philadelphia stock exchange brokers, for instance, communicated with agents in New York by flashing coded signals with mirrors and lights from a series of high points across New Jersey, thereby receiving stock prices on the same day they were transacted. By 1846, the first telegraph service in the state linked Harrisburg and Lancaster.

In 2004, 95.6% of Pennsylvania's households had telephones. Additionally, by June of that same year there were 6,420,037 mobile wireless telephone subscribers. In 2003, 60.2% of Pennsylvania households had a computer and 54.7% had Internet access. By June 2005, there were 1,602,716 high-speed lines in Pennsylvania, 1,455,509 residential and 157,207 for business.

Pittsburgh's KDKA became the world's first commercial radio station in 1920. By 2005, it was one of 55 major AM and 144 major FM radio stations. In addition, there were 34 major television stations. WQED in Pittsburgh pioneered community-sponsored educational television when it began broadcasting in 1954. In 1999, the Philadelphia area had 2,670,710 households, 79% with cable; the Pittsburgh area had a 79% penetration rate in 1,135,290 households; and the Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York area had 599,930 households, 78% with cable.

A total of 217,724 Internet domain names were registered in the state as of 2000.

PRESS

Benjamin Franklin may have been colonial Pennsylvania's most renowned publisher, but its first was Andrew Bradford, whose American Weekly Mercury, established in 1719, was the third newspaper to appear in the colonies. Founded nine years later, the Pennsylvania Gazette was purchased by Franklin in 1730 and served as the springboard for Poor Richard's Almanack.

During the 1800s, newspapers sprang up in all the major cities and many small communities. By 1880, Pittsburgh had 10 daily newspapers—more than any other city its size. After a series of mergers and closings, however, it is left with only one paper today—the Post-Gazette. Philadelphia has two newspapers, the Inquirer and the Daily News. The Inquirer, founded in 1829, has won numerous awards for its investigative reporting.

In 2005, Pennsylvania had 50 morning newspapers, 31 evening newspapers, and 41 Sunday papers.

The following table shows the approximate circulation of some of the leading dailies in 2005:

In 2005, there were 198 weekly publications in Pennsylvania. Of these there are 107 paid weeklies, 38 free weeklies, and 53 combined weeklies. The total circulation of paid weeklies (506,614) and free weeklies (1,556,969) is 1,679,404. The Moon Record of Crescent, Pennsylvania ranked eighth among paid weeklies in the United States based on a circulation of 49,000. Based on circulation in the United States in 2005, among free weeklies the Bucks County Trend Midweek ranked first with a circulation of 625,000, followed by two northeast Philadelphia publications, the News Gleaner and Northeast Times, ranking fourteenth and fifteenth, respectively, with circulations of 136, 070 and 119,673. The Pittsburgh Pennysaver (circulation 772,546) ranked ninth in the United States among shopping publications in 2005.

Farm Journal and Current History, both monthlies, are published in Philadelphia, and there are monthlies named for both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Of more specialized interest are the gardening, nutrition, and health magazines and books from Rodale Press in Emmaus which publishes Prevention, Men's Health and Runner's World, Women's Health, Organic Gardening, Backpacker, Best Life, Bicycling and Mountain Bike. The Chilton Co., publisher of automotive guides, was acquired by The Thompson Corporation in 2003.

ORGANIZATIONS

In 2006, there were over 17,340 nonprofit organizations registered within the state, of which about 11,572 were registered as charitable, educational, or religious organizations.

Philadelphia is the home for two major service organizations: Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America and the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows. Educational organizations in that city include the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The Association for Children with Learning Disabilities is located in Pittsburgh, the College Placement Council in Bethlehem, and the American Philatelic Society in State College.

State organizations for arts and culture include ArtsQuest, Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Folk Heritage Institute, and the Pennsylvania Historical Association. There are also several municipal and regional historical societies and art councils. State environmental organizations include Preservation Pennsylvania and the Rodale Institute.

Professional and trade groups in the state include the American Board of Surgery, the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, the National Board of Medical Examiners, the United Steel Workers of America, and the Society of Automotive Engineers. Valley Forge is the home of the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America.

Among the many sports organizations headquartered in Pennsylvania are the US Squash Racquets Association, Pop Warner Football, US Rowing Association, and the Little League Foundation. The Major League Umpires Association is also based in the state.

The Jewish Publication Society is based in Philadelphia. The Mennonite Central Committee, a major international relief and service organization, is based in Akron. The Moravian Historical Society is based in Nazareth.

TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION

Tourism is the second-largest industry in the state of Pennsylvania, which hosted a record 126 million travelers in 2003. Of these, some 1.3 million were international visitors with the majority from Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Two-thirds of out-of-state visitors traveled to the state from New York, New Jersey, and Maryland; Virginians and Ohioans completed the list of top-five states providing tourists to Pennsylvania. The total economic impact from travel expenditures was $21.9 billion in 2003. The industry supported over 563,440 jobs.

Philadelphia—whose Independence National Historical Park has been called the most historic square mile in America—offers the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Carpenter's Hall, and many other sites. North of Philadelphia, in Bucks County, is the town of New Hope, with its numerous crafts and antique shops.

The Lancaster area is "Pennsylvania Dutch" country, featuring tours and exhibits of Amish farm life. Gettysburg contains not only the famous Civil War battlefield but also the home of Dwight D. Eisenhower, opened to the public in 1980. Among the most popular sites are Chocolate World and Hershey Park in the town of Hershey and Valley Forge National Historic Park. Annual parades and festivals include the Mummers Parade on 1 January in Philadelphia and the Kutztown Folk Festival, commemorating Pennsylvania Dutch life, held the first week of July. Fallingwater is a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house and visitor center.

No less an attraction are the state's outdoor recreation areas. The Laurel Highlands have many ski areas. The Laurel Caverns feature guided tours of the caves. By far the most popular for both skiing and camping are the Delaware Water Gap and the Poconos, also a favorite resort region. The state park system includes 116 state parks, 20 state forests, 1 national forest, and 3 environmental education centers.

SPORTS

Pennsylvania has seven major professional sports teams: the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League, the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, and the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League.

The Phillies won the World Series in 1980; they won the National League Championship in 1993, but lost the World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Pirates won the World Series in 1909, 1925, 1960, 1971, and 1979. The Steelers established a legendary football dynasty in the 1970s, winning Super Bowls in 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, and 2006. They also played in the 1996 Super Bowl, losing to the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles won the National Football Conference championship in 1981, but lost to Oakland in that year's Super Bowl. The 76ers won the NBA championship in 1947, 1956, 1967, and 1983, and lost the championship series in 1977, 1980, and 1982. The Flyers won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975 and lost in the finals in 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987, and 1997. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992.

There are also minor league baseball teams in Harrisburg, Scranton, Altoona, Reading, Williamsport, Allentown, and Erie, and minor league hockey teams in Hershey, Johnstown, Wilkes-Barre, and Philadelphia.

Horse racing is conducted at Keystone Race Track in Bucks County, Penn National Race Course in Dauphin County, and Commodore Downs in Erie County. Harness-racing tracks include Liberty Bell Park in northeast Philadelphia, the Meadows in Washington County, and Pocono Downs in Luzerne County. Each June, Pennsylvania hosts a major auto race, the Pocono 500. Each July, the state hosts a second NASCAR Nextel Cup event, the Pennsylvania 500. The Penn Relays, an important amateur track meet, are held in Philadelphia every April.

In collegiate sports, football is most prominent. The University of Pittsburgh Panthers were named national champions in 1918, 1937, and 1976. Pennsylvania State University was named champion in 1982 and 1986 and joined the Big Ten in 1990. The Nittany Lions of Penn State won the Rose Bowl in 1995; the Sugar Bowl in 1983; the Orange Bowl in 1969, 1970, and 2006; the Fiesta Bowl in 1997; the Outback Bowl in 1996 and 1999; and the Cotton Bowl in 1972, to name just a few of their bowl victories. The University of Pennsylvania, members of the Ivy League, traditionally field strong teams in football and basketball. Villanova University, located in Philadelphia, won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball championship in 1985.

Each summer, Williamsport hosts baseball's Little League World Series.

FAMOUS PENNSYLVANIANS

Johan Printz (b.Sweden, 1592–1663), the 400-lb, hard-drinking, hard-swearing, and hard-ruling governor of New Sweden, was Pennsylvania's first European resident of note. The founder of Pennsylvania was William Penn (b.England, 1644–1718), a Quaker of sober habits and deep religious beliefs. Most extraordinary of all Pennsylvanians, Benjamin Franklin (b.Massachusetts, 1706–90), a printer, author, inventor, scientist, legislator, diplomat, and statesman, served the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and US governments in a variety of posts.

Only one native Pennsylvanian, James Buchanan (1791–1868), has ever become US president. Buchanan was a state assemblyman, five-term US representative, two-term US senator, secretary of state, and minister to Russia and then to Great Britain before entering the White House as a 65-year-old bachelor in 1857. As president, he tried to maintain the Union by avoiding extremes and preaching compromise, but his toleration of slavery was abhorrent to abolitionists and his desire to preserve the Union was obnoxious to secessionists. Dwight D. Eisenhower (b.Texas, 1890–1969) retired to a farm in Gettysburg after his presidency was over. George M. Dallas (1792–1864), Pennsylvania's only US vice president, was James K. Polk's running mate.

The six Pennsylvanians who have served on the US Supreme Court have all been associate justices: James Wilson (1742–98), Henry Baldwin (1780–1844), Robert C. Grier (1794–1870), William Strong (1808–95), George Shiras Jr. (1832–1924), and Owen J. Roberts (1875–1955). Controversial supreme court nominee Robert Heron Bock (b.Pennsylvania 1927) served as a federal judge for many years.

Many other Pennsylvanians have held prominent federal positions. Albert Gallatin (b.Switzerland, 1761–1849), brilliant secretary of the treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, later served as minister to France and then to Great Britain. Richard Rush (1780–1859) was Madison's attorney general and John Quincy Adams's secretary of the treasury. A distinguished jurist, Jeremiah Sullivan Black (1810–83) was Buchanan's attorney general and later his secretary of state. John Wanamaker (1838–1922), an innovative department store merchandiser, served as postmaster general under Benjamin Harrison. Philander C. Knox (1853–1921) was Theodore Roosevelt's attorney general and William Howard Taft's secretary of state. Financier Andrew C. Mellon (1855–1937) was secretary of the treasury under Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. Recent Pennsylvanians in high office include Richard Helms (1913–2002), director of the US Central Intelligence Agency from 1966 to 1973, and Alexander Haig (b.1924), former commander of NATO forces in Europe, chief of staff under Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan's first choice for secretary of state.

Three US senators, Simon Cameron (1799–1889), Matthew Quay (1833–1904), and Boies Penrose (1860–1921), are best known as leaders of the powerful Pennsylvania Republican machine. Senator Joseph F. Guffey (1870–1959) sponsored legislation to stabilize the bituminous coal industry. After serving as reform mayor of Philadelphia, Joseph S. Clark (1901–1990) also distinguished himself in the Senate, and Hugh Scott (1900–94) was Republican minority leader from 1969 to 1977. Outstanding representatives from Pennsylvania include Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868), leader of radical Republicans during the Civil War era; David Wilmot (1814–68), author of the proviso attempting to prohibit slavery in territory acquired from Mexico; and Samuel J. Randall (1828–90), speaker of the House of Representatives from 1876 to 1881.

Other notable historical figures were Joseph Galloway (b.Maryland, 1729?–1803), a loyalist; Robert Morris (England, 1734–1806), a Revolutionary financier; and Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Griscom, 1752–1836), the seamstress who allegedly stitched the first American flag. Pamphleteer Thomas Paine (England, 1737–1809), pioneer Daniel Boone (1734–1820), and General Anthony Wayne (1745–96) also distinguished themselves during this period. In the Civil War, General George B. McClellan (1826–85) led the Union army on the Peninsula and at the Battle of Antietam, while at the Battle of Gettysburg, Generals George Gordon Meade (b.Spain, 1815–72) and Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–86) both showed their military prowess.

Important state governors include John W. Geary (1819–73), Samuel W. Pennypacker (1843–1916), Robert E. Pattison (b.Maryland, 1850–1904), Gifford Pinchot (b.Connecticut 1865–1946), James H. Duff (1883–1969), George H. Earle (1890–1974), Milton J. Shapp (Ohio, 1912–88), William W. Scranton (b.Connecticut, 1917), George M. Leader (b.1918), and Richard L. Thornburgh (b.1932).

Pennsylvanians have won Nobel Prizes in every category except literature. General George C. Marshall (1880–1959), chief of staff of the US Army in World War II and secretary of state when the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) was adopted, won the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize. Simon Kuznets (b.Russia, 1901–85) received the 1971 Nobel Prize in economic science for work on economic growth, and Herbert A. Simon (b.Wisconsin, 1916–2001) received the 1978 award for work on decision making in economic organizations; in 1980, Lawrence R. Klein (b.Nebraska, 1920) was honored for his design and application of econometric models. In physics, Otto Stern (b.Germany, 1888–1969) won the 1943 prize for work on the magnetic momentum of protons. In chemistry, Theodore W. Richards (1868–1928) won the 1914 Nobel Prize for determining the atomic weight of many elements, and Christian Boehmer Anfinsen (1916–95) won the 1972 award for pioneering studies in enzymes. In physiology or medicine, Philip S. Hench (1896–1965) won in 1950 for his discoveries about hormones of the adrenal cortex, Haldane K. Hartline (1903–83) won in 1967 for work on the human eye, and Howard M. Temin (1934–94) was honored in 1975 for the study of tumor viruses.

Many other Pennsylvanians were distinguished scientists. Ebenezer Kinnersly (1711–78) studied electricity, and Benjamin Franklin's grandson Alexander Dallas Bache (1806–67) was an expert on magnetism. Caspar Wistar (b.Germany, 1761–1818) and Thomas Woodhouse (1770–1809) pioneered the study of chemistry, while William Maclure (b.Scotland, 1763–1840) and James Mease (1771–1846) were early geologists. David Rittenhouse (1732–96) was a distinguished astronomer. John Bartram (1699–1777) and his son William (1739–1823) won international repute as botanists. Benjamin Rush (1745–1813) was Pennsylvania's most distinguished physician. Philip Syng Physick (1768–1837) was a leading surgeon, and Nathaniel Chapman (b.Virginia, 1780–1853) was the first president of the American Medical Association. Rachel Carson (1907–64), a marine biologist and writer, became widely known for her crusade against the use of chemical pesti-cides. Noted inventors born in Pennsylvania include steamboat builder Robert Fulton (1765–1815) and David Thomas (1794–1882), the father of the American anthracite iron industry.

Pennsylvania played a large role in the economic development of the United States. In addition to Mellon, outstanding bankers include Stephen Girard (b.France, 1750–1831), Nicholas Biddle (1786–1844), Anthony J. Drexel (1826–93), and John J. McCloy (1895–1985). Andrew Carnegie (b.Scotland, 1835–1919) and his lieutenants, including Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919) and Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939), created the most efficient steel-manufacturing company in the 19th century. Wanamaker, Frank W. Woolworth (b.New York, 1852–1919), and Sebastian S. Kresge (1867–1966) were pioneer merchandisers.

Other prominent businessmen born in Pennsylvania are automobile pioneer Clement Studebaker (1831–1901), chocolate manufacturer Milton S. Hershey (1857–1945), and retired Chrysler chairman Lee A. Iacocca (b.1924).

Pennsylvania labor leaders include Uriah S. Stephens (1821–82) and Terence V. Powderly (1849–1924), leaders of the Knights of Labor; Philip Murray (b.Scotland, 1886–1952), president of the CIO; and David J. MacDonald (1902–79), leader of the steel-workers. Among economic theorists, Henry George (1839–97) was the unorthodox advocate of the single tax. Florence Kelley (1859–1932) was an important social reformer, as is Bayard Rustin (1910–1987).

Important early religious leaders, all born in Germany, include Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–87), organizer of Pennsylvania's Lutherans; Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700–1760), a Morovian leader; and Johann Conrad Beissel (1690–1768), founder of the Ephrata Cloister. Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), born a Congregationalist, founded the group that later became Jehovah's Witnesses. Among the state's outstanding scholars are historians Henry C. Lee (1825–1909), John Bach McMaster (1852–1932), Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer (1868–1936), and Henry Steele Commager (1902–98); anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901–78); behavioral psychologist B(urrhus) F(rederic) Skinner (1904–1990); urbanologist Jane Jacobs (1916–2006); and language theorist Noam Chomsky (b.1928). Thomas Gallaudet (b.1787–1851) was a pioneer in education of the deaf.

Pennsylvania has produced a large number of distinguished journalists and writers. In addition to Franklin, newspapermen include John Dunlap (b.Ireland, 1747–1812), Benjamin Franklin Bache (1769–98), William L. McLean (1852–1931), and Moses L. Annenberg (1878–1942). Magazine editors were Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (b.New Hampshire, 1788–1879), Cyrus H. K. Curtis (b.Maine, 1850–1933), Edward W. Bok (b.Netherlands, 1863–1930), and I(sidor) F(einstein) Stone (1907–1989). Ida M. Tarbell (1857–1944) was perhaps Pennsylvania's most famous muckraker. Among the many noteworthy Pennsylvania-born writers are Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810), Bayard Taylor (1825–78), novelist and physician Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914), Charles Godfrey Leland (1824–1903), Owen Wister (1860–1938), Richard Harding Davis (1864–1916), Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958), Hervey Allen (1889–1949), Christopher Morley (1890–1957), Conrad Richter (1890–1968), John O'Hara (1905–70), Donald Barthelme (1931–89), and John Updike (b.1932). James Michener (b.New York, 1907–97) was raised in the state. Pennsylvania playwrights include James Nelson Barker (1784–1858), Maxwell Anderson (1888–1959), George S. Kaufman (1889–1961), Marc Connelly (1890–1980), Clifford Odets (1906–63), and Ed Bullins (b.1935). Among Pennsylvania poets are Francis Hopkinson (1737–91), Philip Freneau (b.New York, 1753–1832), Thomas Dunn English (1819–1902), Thomas Buchanan Read (1822–72), and Wallace Stevens (1879–1955).

Composers include Stephen Collins Foster (1826–64), Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (1862–1901), Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881–1946), and Samuel Barber (1910–81). Among Pennsylvania painters prominent in the history of American art are Benjamin West (1738–1820), renowned as the father of American painting; Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827), who was also a naturalist; Thomas Sully (b.England, 1783–1872); George Catlin (1796–1872); Thomas Eakins (1844–1916); Mary Cassatt (1845–1926); Man Ray (1890–1976); Andrew Wyeth (b.1917); and Andy Warhol (1927–87). Outstanding sculptors include William Rush (1756–1833), George Grey Barnard (1863–1938), and Alexander Calder (1898–1976).

Pennsylvania produced and patronized a host of actors, including Edwin Forrest (1806–72) Lionel (1878–1954), Ethel (1879–1959), and John (1882–1942) Barrymore; W. C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield, 1880–1946); Ed Wynn (Isaiah Edwin Leopold, 1886–1966); William Powell (1892–1987); Ethel Waters (1896–1977); Janet Gaynor (1906–84); James Stewart (1908–97); Broderick Crawford (1911–1986); Gene Kelly (1912–96); Charles Bronson (Charles Buchinsky, b.1922); Mario Lanza (1925–59); Shirley Jones (b.1934); and comedian Bill Cosby (b.1937). Film directors Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993), Arthur Penn (b.1922), and Sidney Lumet (b.1924) and film producer David O. Selznick (1902–65) also came from Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania has produced outstanding musicians. Four important Pennsylvania-born vocalists are Marian Anderson (b.1897–1993), Blanche Thebom (b.1919), Marilyn Horne (b.1934), and Anna Moffo (1934–2006). Pianists include the versatile Oscar Levant (1906–72) and jazz interpreters Earl "Fatha" Hines (1905–83) and Erroll Garner (1921–77). Popular band leaders include Fred Waring (1900–84), Jimmy Dorsey (1904–57) and his brother Tommy (1905–56), and Les Brown (1912–2001). Perry Como (1913–2001), Daryl Hall (b.1949), and John Oates (b.New York, 1948) have achieved renown as popular singers. Dancers and choreographers from Pennsylvania include Martha Graham (1893–1991), Paul Taylor (b.1930), and Gelsey Kirkland (b.1952).

Of the many outstanding athletes associated with Pennsylvania, Jim Thorpe (b.Oklahoma, 1888–1953) was most versatile, having starred in Olympic pentathlon and decathlon events and football. Baseball Hall of Famers include Honus Wagner (1874–1955), Stan Musial (b.1920), and Roy Campanella (1921–1993). Outstanding Pennsylvania football players include Harold "Red" Grange (1903–91), George Blanda (b.1927), John Unitas (1933–2002), Joe Namath (b.1943), and Tony Dorsett (b.1954). Other stars include basketball's Wilt Chamberlain (1936–99); golf's Arnold Palmer (b.1929), tennis's Bill Tilden (1893–1953); horse racing's Bill Hartack (b.1932); billiards' Willie Mosconi (1913–93); swimming's Johnny Weissmuller (1904–84); and track and field's Bill Toomey (b.1939).

Pennsylvania has also been the birthplace of a duchess—Bessie Wallis Warfield, the Duchess of Windsor (1896–1986)—and of a princess—Grace Kelly, Princess Grace of Monaco (1929–82).

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