Pennsylvania |
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| Entered the Union: December 12, 1787 (2) | Capital: Harrisburg | |
| Origin of Name: In honor of Admiral Sir William Penn, father of William Penn. It means “Penn's Woodland.” | ||
| State Nickname: Keystone State | ||
| State Motto: Virtue, liberty, and independence | ||
| State Flower: Mountain Laurel | State Tree: Hemlock | |
| State Animal: White-tailed Deer | State Bird: Ruffed Grouse | |
| State Song: "Pennsylvania" | State Dog: Great Dane | |
| National Forest: 1 • State Forests: 20 • State Parks: 124 • State Game Lands: 294 | ||
| Famous For: Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall | ||
| Famous Pennsylvanians: Louisa May Alcott, Mary Roberts Rinehart, John Updike (novelists), Samuel Barber, Stephen Foster (composers), Daniel Boone (frontiersman), James Buchanan (President), Bill Cosby, Gene Kelly, James Stewart (actors), Jimmy & Tommy Dorsey (band leaders), W.C. Fields (comedian), Robert Fulton (inventor), Grace (princess of Monaco), Reggie Jackson (baseball), Geore McClellan (general), Andrew Mellon (financier), Arnold Palmer (golfer), Robert Peary (explorer), Betsy Ross (flagmaker), Andrew Wyeth (painter) | ||
| Animals and Birds: Click on photos of the animals and birds on this page to find out more about them and to hear the sounds they make. | ||
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| Pennsylvania territory was disputed in the early 1600s among the Dutch, the Swedes, and the English. England acquired the region in 1664 with the capture of New York, and in 1681 Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn, a Quaker, by King Charles II. | ||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia was the seat of the federal government almost continuously from 1776 to 1800. There the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution drawn up in 1787. | ||||||||||||||
| Pennsylvania is full of rolling hills, lush forests and millions of acres of farmland. | ||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia is home to the Liberty Bell. | ||||||||||||||
| The nation's first circulating library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, was founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and others. | ||||||||||||||
| Hershey is considered the Chocolate Capital of the United States. | ||||||||||||||
| The first commercial broadcast station in the world was KDKA in Pittsburgh, which started daily schedule broadcasting on November 2, 1920. | ||||||||||||||
| The first all-motion-picture theater in the world was opened on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh on June 19, 1905. The Warner brothers began their careers in western Pennsylvania. | ||||||||||||||
| The earliest successful experiment of Thomas A. Edison with electric lighting was made in Sunbury. | ||||||||||||||
| The first U.S. zoo opened in Philadelphia in 1874. | ||||||||||||||
| Each year on Christmas day the "Crossing of the Delaware" is reenacted at Washington Crossing. | ||||||||||||||
| In 1940, Pennsylvania opened the first high-speed, multi-lane highway in the nation, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which set the pattern for modern super-highways throughout the nation. | ||||||||||||||
| Pennsylvania leads the nation in rural population, number of licensed hunters, State Game Lands, covered bridges, meat packing plants, mushroom production, potato chip production, pretzel bakeries and sausage production. | ||||||||||||||
| Pennsylvania's nickname, the Keystone State refers to the central stone in an arch which holds all of the other stones together. Pennsylvania was in the center of the original 13 colonies (6 above it and 6 below it), and was also central to much of the economic, social, and political development of the country. | ||||||||||||||
| Indiana County is the Christmas Tree capital of the world. | ||||||||||||||
| In 1909 the first baseball stadium was built in Pittsburgh. | ||||||||||||||
| In 1913 the first automobile service station opened in Pittsburgh. | ||||||||||||||
| In 1946 Philadelphia became home to the first computer. | ||||||||||||||
| The first daily newspaper was published in Philadelphia on Sept. 21, 1784. | ||||||||||||||
| Drake Well Museum in Titusville is on the site where Edwin L. Drake drilled the world's first oil well in 1859 and launched the modern petroleum industry. | ||||||||||||||
| In 1775 in Philadelphia, Johann Behrent built the first piano in America. | ||||||||||||||
| Betsy Ross made the first American flag in Philadelphia. | ||||||||||||||
| The Rockville Bridge in Harrisburg is the longest stone arch bridge in the world. | ||||||||||||||
| The Philadelphia Zoo, chartered in 1859 and opened in 1874, was the first true zoo in the United States. | ||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh is famous for manufacturing steel. Its NFL football team is the Pittsburgh Steelers. | ||||||||||||||
| Since 1833, Nazareth has been the home of Martin guitars. | ||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia was once the United States' capital city. | ||||||||||||||
| Pennsylvania's Ethnic Roots: German 27.66%, Irish 17.66%, Italian 12.82%, English 8.89%, Polish 7.2% | ||||||||||||||
| Religion in Pennsylvania: 93.45% Christian (53.45% Catholic, 40% Protestant), 3.98% Jewish, 1% Muslim, 0.44% LDS | ||||||||||||||
| Pennsylvania has the highest concentration of Amish in the U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| The Borough of Kane is known as the Black Cherry Capital of the World. | ||||||||||||||
| Kennett Square is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World. |
At a Glance
Pennsylvania Quick Facts
| Entered the Union | December 12, 1787 (2) |
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| Capital | Harrisburg |
| Nickname | Keystone State |
| State Bird | Ruffed Grouse |
| State Flower | Mountain Laurel |
| State Tree | Hemlock |
New for 2026
More Pennsylvania Facts & Photos
Groundhog Day has been observed at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney since February 2, 1887, when a local newspaper editor persuaded a club of businessmen to consult a groundhog about the length of winter. Punxsutawney Phil has been forecasting ever since.
Williamsport hosted the first Little League World Series in 1947, and the championship has been decided in the area every summer since. Little League itself was founded in Williamsport in 1939 by Carl Stotz.
Fallingwater, the house Frank Lloyd Wright perched over a waterfall at Mill Run in 1937, joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019 along with seven other Wright buildings, the first works of modern American architecture so honored.
Pine Creek Gorge, known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, winds 47 miles through the Allegheny Plateau and drops more than 1,000 feet at its deepest.
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary on the Kittatinny Ridge became the world's first refuge for birds of prey in 1934. Its annual raptor count is the longest-running in the world.
Pennsylvania schoolchildren campaigned to make the firefly the official state insect, and the legislature agreed in 1974. Fittingly, the species chosen was Photuris pensylvanica.
Common Questions
Pennsylvania: Questions & Answers
Why is Pennsylvania a commonwealth instead of a state?
Legally the word changes nothing: a commonwealth is an old English term for a political community founded for the common good. Pennsylvania has carried the title since its first constitution in 1776, and three other states use it too: Virginia, Massachusetts, and Kentucky.
What was William Penn's "holy experiment"?
It was Penn's plan for a colony built on religious freedom. Charles II granted Pennsylvania to the Quaker leader in 1681, partly to settle a 16,000 pound debt owed to Penn's late father, and Penn guaranteed settlers freedom of worship. Persecuted groups, from Mennonites to Huguenots, poured in, making Pennsylvania the most diverse of the thirteen colonies.
Why are the Pennsylvania Dutch called Dutch when they are German?
The name preserves an old habit of English. Their ancestors were German speakers who arrived in the 1700s from the Rhineland, Switzerland, and elsewhere, and English speakers of the day called such settlers Dutch, an echo of Deutsch, the German word for German. Scholars often say Pennsylvania German, but the community has long kept Dutch.
Why did Pennsylvania choose the ruffed grouse as its state bird?
The General Assembly chose the grouse on June 22, 1931, and it fits: a year-round native of Pennsylvania's brushy young forests that once helped feed early settlers. The male claims his territory by "drumming," standing on a log and beating the air with his wings until the woods thrum.
Voices of America
In Their Own Words
Daniel Boone
"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks."
Frontiersman
Bill Cosby
"Nothing I've ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children."
Comedian
Fisher Ames
“Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples, captivating and noble. In no book is there so good English, so pure and so elegant; and by teaching all the same book, they will speak alike, and the Bible will justly remain the standard of language as well as of faith.”
Author of First Amendment
Patrick Henry
"It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains."
Patriot
Benjamin Franklin
"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"
Founding Father
Charles Carroll
"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."
Signer of Declaration of Independence
Last updated: July 2026