Welcome to Philadelphia!

Philadelphia firsts:

Philadelphia is a city of awe-inspiring architecture, a wealth of art and culture and the greatest concentration of American history in the country.

Philadelphia was a major center of the independence movement during the American Revolutionary War. The Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were drafted here and signed in the city's Independence Hall. The decade during which Philadelphia served as the capital was a time of "firsts" and precedent-setting decisions, including the inauguration of Washington for his second term, the formal addition of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution, the establishment of the Mint and the First Bank of the United States, and the admission of the first new States (Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee) to the Union. When Philadelphia ceased to be in capital in 1800, it never regained its supremacy as the country's principal city. But the events which took place here made Philadelphia an enduring symbol of the ideas and ideals of this Nation's beginnings. Philadelphia is also known as "The City of Brotherly Love".

The Franklin Institute

The Franklin Institute Science Museum is a popular part of The Franklin Institute. The Institute's mission is in the spirit of inquiry and discovery of Benjamin Franklin: to inspire an understanding of and passion for science and technology learning.