This summer, thousands of visitors will descend upon Philadelphia, a prominent site in American history, to honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Known as the semiquincentennial, the celebration includes fireworks, walking tours, block parties and a slew of Liberty Bell replicas to honor the city’s past. But the Philadelphia of 1776 was much more than the famous document it produced. It was a growing international trade hub, center of a political movement and just down the river from a noteworthy Revolutionary War battle.
Ahead of the commemoration of the Founding Fathers’ formal announcement of the country’s separation from Great Britain, here’s a history brush-up of what life was like in the country’s informal capital that year.
Colonial Philadelphia
In 1776, Philadelphia was the largest city in the British-occupied portion of North America, larger than Charleston, Boston and New York City with a population just above 30,000 people. Residents primarily resided in small rowhomes – Christ Church was the tallest building at the time – huddled around the Delaware River, says Tyler Putman, a senior manager at the Museum of the American Revolution. The Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, was the western edge of the city save for a few scattered homes around Pennsylvania Hospital, which was built in 1751 at Eighth and Spruce streets…