Portal:Pennsylvania

1861 portrait

George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 1862. He was also an engineer, and was chief engineer and vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad, and later president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in 1860.

A West Point graduate, McClellan served with distinction during the Mexican–American War. He was a railway executive and engineer until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Early in the conflict, McClellan was appointed to the rank of major general and played an important role in raising the Army of the Potomac, which served in the Eastern Theater. (Full article...)

White birches in Marion Brooks Natural Area within Quehanna Wild Area

Quehanna Wild Area (/kwəˈhænə/) is a wildlife area within parts of Cameron, Clearfield and Elk counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania; with a total area of 50,000 acres (78 sq mi; 202 km²), it covers parts of Elk and Moshannon State Forests. Founded in the 1950s as a nuclear research center, Quehanna has a legacy of radioactive and toxic waste contamination, while also being the largest state forest wild area in Pennsylvania, with herds of elk. The wild area is bisected by the Quehanna Highway and is home to second growth forest with mixed hardwoods and evergreens. Quehanna has two state forest natural areas: the 1,215-acre (492 ha) M.K. Goddard/Wykoff Run Natural Area, and the 917-acre (371 ha) Marion Brooks Natural Area. The latter has the largest stand of white birch in Pennsylvania and the eastern United States.

The land that became Quehanna Wild Area was home to Native Americans, including the Susquehannock and Iroquois, before it was purchased by the United States in 1784. Settlers soon moved into the region and, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the logging industry cut the virgin forests; clearcutting and forest fires transformed the once verdant land into the "Pennsylvania Desert". Pennsylvania bought this land for its state forests, and in the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps worked to improve them. In 1955 the Curtiss-Wright Corporation bought 80 square miles (210 km²) of state forest to focus on developing nuclear-powered jet engines. They named their facility Quehanna for the nearby West Branch Susquehanna River, itself named for the Susquehannocks. (Full article...)

• ... that unlike most hotels from the same period, the Eagle Hotel (pictured), built in 1826 in Waterford, Pennsylvania, has quoining?
• ... that Anthony Sadowski, after escaping captivity in the Great Northern War in 1704, came to America and helped Daniel Boone's father found Amity Township, Pennsylvania?
• ... that the State of Pennsylvania and its twin sister, the State of Delaware, were both the first steamboats to make a live radio broadcast and to show movies?
• ... that in 2001, James Hedges of Thompson Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania, became the first Prohibition Party member elected in a partisan election since 1959?
• ... that the Sturgeon House in Fairview is a rare example of a saltbox house in northwestern Pennsylvania?

The history of Pittsburgh began with centuries of Native American civilization in the modern Pittsburgh region, known as Jaödeogë’ in the Seneca language. Eventually, European explorers encountered the strategic confluence where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio, which leads to the Mississippi River. The area became a battleground when France and Great Britain fought for control in the 1750s. When the British were victorious, the French ceded control of territories east of the Mississippi.

Following American independence in 1783, the village around Fort Pitt continued to grow. The region saw the short-lived Whiskey Rebellion, when farmers rebelled against federal taxes on whiskey. The War of 1812 cut off the supply of British goods, stimulating American manufacture. By 1815, Pittsburgh was producing large quantities of iron, brass, tin, and glass products. By the 1840s, Pittsburgh had grown to be one of the largest cities west of the Allegheny Mountains. Production of steel began in 1875. During the 1877 railway riots it was the site of the most violence and damage in any city affected by the nationwide strikes of that summer. Workers protested against cuts in wages, burning down buildings at the railyards, including 100 train engines and more than 1,000 cars. Forty men were killed, most of them strikers. By 1911, Pittsburgh was producing half the nation's steel. (Full article...)

The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855 as Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State was named the state's first land-grant university eight years later, in 1863. Its primary campus, known as Penn State University Park, is located in State College and College Township.

In addition to its land-grant designation, the university is a sea-grant, space-grant, and one of only six sun-grant universities. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU). The university has two law schools: Penn State Law on the school's University Park campus and Penn State Dickinson Law in Carlisle. The College of Medicine is in Hershey. The university maintains 19 commonwealth campuses and five special mission campuses located across Pennsylvania. (Full article...)

• November 2: On the campaign trail in the USA, October 2020
• October 29: On the campaign trail in the USA, September 2020
• September 30: On the campaign trail in the USA, August 2020
• August 31: On the campaign trail in the USA, July 2020
• November 21: Slippery business: Materials scientists invent new coating for self-cleaning, water-efficient toilets