Portal:Philadelphia/Did you know? archive/2008

Philadelphia Portal did you know? archive

2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

2008

December

Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

...that when completed in 1926, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world?
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November

Virginia Knauer (right) with Elizabeth Dole (left).

...that Virginia Knauer was the first woman elected to the Philadelphia City Council?
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October

Multiple yellow fever virions (234,000x magnification)..

...that the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 claimed 5,000 lives in Philadelphia, about 10% of the city's population?
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September

The Headhouse at New Market.

...that the Headhouse in New Market, a National Historic Landmark, is a former firehouse built in 1804, and the oldest in the U.S.?
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August

The organ in its original home, the 1904 World's Fair.

...that the Wanamaker Organ, located at the Macy's department store, a National Historic Landmark in Center City, is the largest fully functional pipe organ in the world?
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July

Boyz II Men.

...that four-time Grammy Award-winning Boyz II Men is, based on sales, the most successful R&B male vocal group of all time, with five #1 R&B hits between 1992 and 1997 and sales of more than 60 million records?
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June

...that the Schuylkill Fishing Company of Pennsylvania, established in 1732 as an angling club, claims to be the oldest social club in the English-speaking world?
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May

Deshler-Morris House

...that the Deshler-Morris House, which was twice the official residence of President George Washington, is called the "Germantown White House"?
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April

The Penn Relays are held at Franklin Field.

...that the Penn Relays, the oldest and largest track and field carnival in the United States, hosted annually since 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania, has been credited with popularizing the running of relay races?
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March

...that the Church of the Advocate was the site in 1974 of the first ordinations of women, known as the "Philadelphia Eleven", as priests in the Episcopal Church?
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February

Frankford Avenue Bridge.

...that the Frankford Avenue Bridge, erected in 1697 in the Holmesburg section of Northeast Philadelphia, over Pennypack Creek, is believed to be the oldest stone bridge in continuous use in the United States?
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January

Church of St. James the Less.

...that the Church of St. James the Less, a National Historic Landmark, is a faithful reproduction of an actual 13th-century Gothic church in Cambridgeshire, England?
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