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What is the history of Pennsylvania, USA?
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Explore Pennsylvania, USA. Discover its history. Learn about the people who lived there through stories, old newspaper articles, pictures and genealogy.
"Pennsylvania, pèn-sil-vă'ne-3 (Fr. Pensylvanie, pën' seel'vă'nee'; Ger. Pennsylvanien, pèn-sil-vă'ne-en), one of the so-called Middle States of the American Union, bounded N. by Lake Erie and New York, E. by New York and New Jersey, S. by Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, and W. by West Virginia and Ohio. Its northern line follows the parallel of 42° N. lat., except in the N.W.; its eastern boundary is washed throughout by the Delaware River; on the S. is “Mason & Dixon's line,” lat. 39° 43' N.; and its western limit is 80°36' W. lon. It is called the Keystone State, because it was the seventh or central one in order of the original thirteen states. Area, 45,215 square miles. Maximum length, E. and W., 315 miles; breadth, 158 miles...
Population.–In 1790, 434,373; in 1800, 602,365; in 1810, 810,091; in 1820, 1,047,507; in 1830, 1,348,233; in 1840, 1,724,033; in 1850, 2,311,786; in 1860, 2,906,215; in 1870, 3,521,951; in 1880, 4,282,891; in 1890, 5,258,014. Besides the original Swedish and English immigrations, the northeastern counties were very largely peopled from Connecticut, and the southeastern and central sections by Swiss and Germans of the Palatinate, whose peculiar and now much modified dialect of the German is still extensively spoken, and is known as “Pennsylvania Dutch.” Many Scotch-Irish Presbyterians also settled here in colonial times; and of late there have been large immigrations of Germans, Irish, and others."
Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ...
Joseph Thomas
January 1, 1895
J.B. Lippincott
Population.–In 1790, 434,373; in 1800, 602,365; in 1810, 810,091; in 1820, 1,047,507; in 1830, 1,348,233; in 1840, 1,724,033; in 1850, 2,311,786; in 1860, 2,906,215; in 1870, 3,521,951; in 1880, 4,282,891; in 1890, 5,258,014. Besides the original Swedish and English immigrations, the northeastern counties were very largely peopled from Connecticut, and the southeastern and central sections by Swiss and Germans of the Palatinate, whose peculiar and now much modified dialect of the German is still extensively spoken, and is known as “Pennsylvania Dutch.” Many Scotch-Irish Presbyterians also settled here in colonial times; and of late there have been large immigrations of Germans, Irish, and others."
Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ...
Joseph Thomas
January 1, 1895
J.B. Lippincott
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- 1643 - Tinicum Island is site of first European settlement in Pennsylvania
The World Almanac of the U.S.A, by Allan Carpenter and Carl Provorse, 1996 - 1718 - Pennsylvania - women are able to own and manage property – if their husbands are incapacitated.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/11/women-rights-money-timeline-history - 1731 - Benjamin Franklin opened first U.S. library
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm 
1737 - September 20 - Runner Edward Marshall completes his journey in the Walking Purchase forcing the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km²) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony
onthisday.com
September 20, 1737- 1738 - May 25 - A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
onthisday.com
May 25, 1738 - 1754 - French and Indian War began; George Washington claimed first victory at Laurel Mountain; Lenape Indians attacked Gnadenhutten Mission, killed 11 white people
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - 1767 - Boundary between Maryland, Pennsylvania established, named Mason-Dixon line
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - December 1777 - June 1778 - The winter at Valley Forge
This Pennsylvania encampment was occupied by the American army from December 1777 to June 1778. The winter was particularly harsh, and the army was...Read MORE... - 1780 - Pennsylvania first state to abolish slavery
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - 1781 - January 1 - Mutiny of unpaid Pennsylvania soldiers
www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/revolutionarywartimeline.htm - 1794 - Whiskey Rebellion occurred - protest against taxes on distilled spirits
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - January 16, 1831 - A great snowstorm raged from Georgia to Maine. Snowfall totals greater than 30 inches were reported from Pennsylvania across southern New England.
WeatherForYou.com - 1863 - July 1–3 – American Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg – Union forces under George G. Meade turn back a Confederate invasion by Robert E. Lee in the largest battle of the war (28,000 Confederate casualties, 23,000 Union).
www.wikipedia.org
July 3, 1863 - 1865 - DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT MEADVILLE - Loss from $75,000 to $100,000
A destructive fire occurred at Meadville on Thursday night, resulting in the destruction of property to the amount of between $75,000 and $100,000....Read MORE... - 1869 - A resident of Dauphin county, Penn., recently, within a week, lost five children by scarlet fever.
St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
July 3, 1869 - 1871 - There has been discovered, in Jefferson County, Pa., a mountain of iron.
It may well be named the largest iron mountain in the United States. From all accounts, it will furnish and inexhaustible supply of good ore.
St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
June 17, 1871 - 1872 - Found Gold
J. A. Sutter, the California pioneer who made the first discovery of gold, is now living in Litiz, Lancaster County, Pa., poor, and crippled with...Read MORE... - 1887 - An Entire Passenger Train Wrecked By a Double-Header Freight Train
Meadville, Pa Dec 31, - At Eight o'clock this morning train No. 8, from the West, running fifty miles an hour, collided with a double-header freight...Read MORE... - 1887 - February 2 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.
www.wikipedia.org
February 2, 1887 - 1889 - ANOTHER FATAL EXPLOSION.
Pittsburg, Nov. 26. - By an explosion at the Allegheny Bessemer Steel Works at Duquesne this morning WILLIAM MARSHALL, night superintendent of the...Read MORE... - 1889 - FRIGHTFUL WRECKS. Two Freight Trains on the Pennsylvania Railroad Reduced to Debris. A Large Number of Train-Hands and Passengers Killed and Wounded.
PITTSBURGH, PA., June 26. - At 2:20 a.m. today west-bound freight No. 1313 telescoped the extra west-bound freight No. 308 at Monastery Coke-works,...Read MORE... - 1889 - South Fork Dam burst, town of Johnstown (PA) destroyed, over 2000 deaths
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm 
Union Station, PA. R.R. Pittsburgh, Pa.
Fine Special Liquor
Blackstone
A Blend of Straight Whiskey
Jos. S. Finch & Co., Inc.
Schenley, Pa.
Found at The Way It Was Museum, Virginia City, Nevada- 1892 - THE EXPLOSION. ONLY ONE MAN ESCAPED TO TELL THE STORY. THE TERRIBLE CALAMITY AT THE YORK COLLIERY - THE DEAD NOW NUMBER FIFTEEN PEOPLE - A SHOT FROM THE BATTERY CAUSED THE ACCIDENT - A FULL AND COMPLETE LIST OF THE VICTIMS.
Pottsville, Pa., July 25. - The list of victims of Saturday's explosion of gas at York Farm colliery has increased to fifteen dead and one...Read MORE... - 1893 - A MINE HORROR. FIFTEEN PERSONS LOSE THEIR LIVES IN A MINE DISASTER AT SHAMOKIN, PA. A MINER'S LAMP CAUSES AN EXPLOSION OF THE DEADLY FIRE.
Shamokin, Pa., April 1. - A miners lamp caused an explosion in the Noilson shaft operated by Langdon & Co. this morning. Many miners were in the mine ...Read MORE... - 1893 - City Under Eight Feet of Water.
NEW CASTLE, Pa., May 18. — The water is eight feet deep and still rising in a large part of this city. Several planning mills have been washed away,...Read MORE... - 1893 - COWS MILKED BY FISH
A New Hope, Bucks county, dispatch says: The discovery that a German carp drinks milk, has averted what threatened to be wholesale suits for theft....Read MORE... - 1894 - April 5 - 11 strikers killed in riot at Connellsville, Penn
historyorb.com - 1894 - Milton Hershey founded Hershey Foods and town of Hershey
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - 1895 - Deadly Knockout Drops. The Gentle Art of Drugging as Practiced in New York's "Tenderloin."
“The term knockout drops is used to designate a solution of chloral that persons of evil intent place in the liquor or good natured, half drunken men ...Read MORE... - 1896 - NINETY MINERS DEAD. THE ROOF FELL UPON THE MEN WHILE PROPPING IT UP. MANY LEAVE FAMILIES.
ABOUT FORTY OF THE MEN WERE ENGLISH SPEAKING AND THE REST FOREIGNERS - MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF THE VICTIMS WERE MARRIED - THE WATER BOY TELLS A...Read MORE... - 1897 - September 10 – Lattimer Massacre: A sheriff's posse kills 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.
www.wikipedia.org - 1898 - March 24 – Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile when he buys a Winton automobile that had been advertised in Scientific American.
www.wikipedia.org
March 24, 1898 - 1900 - Buildings Wrecked in Pennsylvania
Lockhaven, PA, Nov 22 - A violent windstorm passed over this (Clinton) county yesterday. the building now under construction for the Pennsylvania...Read MORE... - 1900 - Washing and Drying the Hair
Once a month at the very least, the head should be washed. Borax makes the best cleanser. Plenty of warm water is needed after the process of...Read MORE... 
Chestnut Street, West of 11th Street, Philadelphia, Pa.- 1901 - THRILLING DASH FOR LIFE. Twelve Men and a Woman Swim Through Spouting Flames of Gas.
Pittsburg, Pa., Nov. - Swimming through spouting flames of gas was the experience of 12 men and a woman on the sand boat, Vigilant, which was burned...Read MORE... - 1902 - Over 100,000 miners called strike, closed mines all summer, President Roosevelt intervened, forced mine owners to submit to arbitration
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - 1903 - Cracked by Every Car
By Publisher's Press Direct Wire
Latrobe Pa Feb 11 Charles Henry of Indians, a fireman on the Pennsylvania Railroad attempted to board a rapidly...Read MORE... - 1904 - Major mine explosion in Cheswick, Pennsylvania entombed 179 coal miners
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - 1905 - DEATH IS MET IN MINE EXPLOSION. A TERRIBLE DISASTER OCCURS NEAR DUBOIS, PA. A DOZEN MEN ARE KILLED.
ONLY ONE IS INJURED, BUT HE MAY DIE - OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION WILL BE REQUIRED TO DETERMINE CAUSE.
Dubois, Pa., April 29. - The mine disaster that...Read MORE... - 1906 - FOUR FATALLY BURNED. A SERIOUS GAS EXPLOSION IN NANTICOKE MINE. BOY CRAWLED FROM THE MINE AND SPREAD ALARM - ACCIDENT CAUSED BY GAS AND NAKED LAMP.
Wilkes-Barre, Aug. 6. - An explosion of gas occurred this afternoon in the old No. 1 shaft at Nanticoke, operated by the Susquehanna Coal...Read MORE... - 1907 - December 19 – An explosion in a coal mine in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania kills 239.
www.wikipedia.org
December 19, 1907 - 1907 - Gas explosion in Jacobs Creek (PA) mine kills 239
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - 1908 - Hospital Burned
Fire broke out in the Lock Haven hospital at 12:45 o’clock last Tuesday afternoon and in less than an hour the entire building was in ashes. All of...Read MORE... - 1908 - January 13 – A fire at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., kills 170.
www.wikipedia.org
January 13, 1908 - 1908 - THREE MEN DEAD IN A MINE - Explosion Near Monongahela, Pa., With Fatal Results.
MONONGAHELA, Pa., June 19. - Three miners are dead, two others perhaps fatally burned, and fifteen entombed, many of whom are supposed to be dead...Read MORE... - 1912 - DEATH TOLL IN WRECK IS FIVE; CREW CENSURED. IMPROPER HANDLING BELIEVED CAUSE OF FREIGHT'S WILD RACE. GENERAL MANAGER'S STATEMENT.
Besides Crew, Bodies of Two Others are Found and More May Be Buried Beneath the Debris - Injured Fireman is Dying, Brakeman is Better.
The toll of ...Read MORE... - 1919 - BOMB TEARS GREAT HOLE IN ROOF OF McKEESPORT MILL - Workmen Flee When Explosion Hurls Debris in All Directions - Attempt to Wreck Plant of American Sheet and Tinplate Company Fails
PITTSBURGH, Pa., Oct. 8. - An attempt was made to wreck the plant of American Sheet and Tinplate Company, at McKeesport, early today, when a missile, ...Read MORE... 
Public Square, Allentown, Pennsylvania- 1928 - Firedamp coal mine explosion in Mather killed 195 workers; Walter Diemer invented bubble gum
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - 1936 - SAY DUBOIS MINER DEAD AS RESCUERS WORK IN CAVE-IN.
DUBOIS, PA., Mar. 12. - Rescue workers reported Lee Selner, 32-year-old miner, died today - nearly 18 hours after he had been trapped under tons of...Read MORE... - 1937 - June 14 – Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.
www.wikipedia.org
June 14, 1937 - 1940 - First section of Pennsylvania Turnpike opened, 160 miles long
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - January 8, 1953 - A severe ice storm in the northeastern U.S. produced up to four inches of ice in Pennsylvania, and two to three inches in southeastern New York State.
In southern New England the ice coated a layer of snow up to 20 inches deep. The storm resulted in 31 deaths and 2.5 million dollars damage.
WeatherForYou.com - 1963 - TORNADO IN ST. MARY'S.
St. Mary's, Pa. (UPI) - The two men pulled their car off the highway to watch the storm clouds gather.
"Suddenly we saw the twister," explained...Read MORE... - 1972 - June 30 - The entire state of Pennsylvania was declared a disaster area as a result of the catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes, which claimed 48 lives, and caused 2.1 billion dollars damage.
The Weather Channel
June 30, 1972 - 1976 - Legionnaire's Disease killed 29
www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm - 1979 - Three Mile Island nuclear accident - March 28
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Updated: 5/4/2019 11:28:47 AM
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