Culture of Philadelphia

The culture of Philadelphia goes back to 1682 when Philadelphia was established by William Penn, founder of the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia emerged quickly as the largest and most influential city in the Thirteen Colonies.

By the 1750s, Philadelphia was the second-largest city in the British Empire after London, and a center of early American culture, political leadership, intellectual thought, and industry and manufacturing. It served as the capital of both colonial-era British America and then, until 1800, as the first capital of the United States.