Pennsylvania

state of the United States of America

60 dated entries naming Pennsylvania, drawn from 43 separate years between 1681 CE and 2024 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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17th century

1681Havertown and Bryn Mawr are founded in Pennsylvania by Welsh Quakers.source
1681March 4 – In order to settle a debt of £16,000, King Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn, for territory west of Delaware River in America between 40° N and 42° N, later to be called Pennsylvania.source
16814 March – William Penn receives a royal charter to establish a sectarian colony in the Americas.source
1682The Richard Wall House, believed to be the longest continuously inhabited residence in the US, is built in Pennsylvania.source
1682October 27 – The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded by William Penn.source

18th century

1711Newtown Square Friends Meeting House is founded by Welsh immigrants in the Great Valley of Pennsylvania.source
1717Welsh-born David Lloyd is appointed Chief Justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania.source
1722May 5 – Pennsylvania colony enacts a statute, requiring all persons importing any person previously convicted of sodomy, to pay £5 for each such incoming person.source
1742October 5 – Pennsylvania's Colonial Governor George Thomas bars citizens from settling in Lancaster County, or west of the Blue Mountains.source
1743July 31 – At a summit in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the British colonies of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania conclude a treaty with the Six Nations, conceding that the member tribes are entitled to the territory west of the Appalachian mountains and north of the Ohio River.source
1751May 11 – The Pennsylvania Hospital, first hospital in the American colonies, is chartered in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania legislature, which grants the right to Benjamin Franklin and to Dr. Thomas Bond.source
1755October 16 – The Penn's Creek massacre is carried out against white settlers who have moved into the Susquehanna Valley in the Pennsylvania colony, in territory also claimed by the Delaware Indians. The Delawares attack the Penn's Creek village, located near what is now Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and kill 25 of the 26 men, women and children living there.source
1758May 21 – Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by members of the Lenape Nation.source
1763Proclamation by King George III bans settlements west of the Appalachians and establishes a protected Indian Country there. White settlers ignore the boundary line – Indian raids in Pennsylvania lead to the Paxton Riots – Peaceful Conestoga Mission Indians are massacred by settlers.source
1763April 19 – Teedyuscung, known as the "King of the Delaware Indians" (the Lenape tribe) is assassinated by arsonists who burn down his home in Pennsylvania while he is sleeping, in an apparent retaliation for signing the Treaty of Easton to relinquish Lenape claims to the Province of New Jersey.source
1763August 5 – Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run – British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run, in the Pennsylvania backcountry.source
17635 August – Pontiac's War: at the Battle of Bushy Run, British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat American Indians in the Pennsylvania backcountry.source
1765April 5 – After completing the portion of the Mason–Dixon line marking the semi-circular boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware, English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin the two-and-a-half-year process of plotting out the 230-mile boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland along the latitude of 39°43′20″ N.source
1767October 9 – Surveying of the "Mason–Dixon line", which will later become the traditional division between the northern and southern states of the United States, is completed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon after four years, initially to settle a boundary dispute between the colonies of Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The survey party is halted at Dunkard Creek when a chief of the Mohawk Indians tells them that they are in Native American territory and that the Mohawks guiding the property "would not proceed one step further Westward"; the line, slightly west the 80th meridian west, is now part of the boundary between Pennsylvania and West Virginia.source
1777September 11 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Brandywine: The British gain a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.source
177711 September – American Revolution: Battle of Brandywine is a major victory for the British in Chester County, Pennsylvania.source
1778February 23 – American Revolutionary War: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and begins to train the American troops.source
17783 July – American Revolutionary War: the Wyoming Valley battle and massacre takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, ending in a defeat of the local colonists.source
1780March 1 – The legislature of Pennsylvania votes, 34 to 21, to approve An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.source
1787February 2 – Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania is chosen as the new President of the Congress of the Confederation.source
1787March 3 – By a vote of 33 to 29, Harrisburg is approved as the new capital of Pennsylvania.source
1787May 14 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin arriving to write a new Constitution for the United States.source
1787May 25 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to convene a Constitutional Convention intended to amend the Articles of Confederation. However, a new Constitution for the United States is eventually produced. George Washington presides over the Convention.source
1787December 12 – Pennsylvania becomes the second U.S. state.source
1789April 6 – At Federal Hall, the United States Senate attains its first quorum, and elects John Langdon of Pennsylvania as its first president pro tempore. Later that day, the Senate and the House of Representatives meet in joint session for the first time, and the electoral votes of the first U.S. presidential election are counted. General George Washington is certified as president-elect, and John Adams is certified as vice-president elect.source
1792The Insurance Company of North America (later Chubb) is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.source
1792George Anschutz constructs the first blast furnace in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.source

19th century

1808February 11 – Anthracite coal is first burned as fuel by Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; the discovery leads to the use of coal as the key fuel source of America's Industrial Revolution.source
1812October 12 – The capital of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania is permanently moved from Lancaster to Harrisburg.source
1828August 11 – The Working Men's Party is founded in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the 1st 'worker oriented' political party in the United States.source
1848Geneva College (Pennsylvania) is founded as Geneva Hall in Northwood, Logan County, Ohio.source
1851September 15 – Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.source
1856July 17 – The Great Train Wreck (the worst railroad calamity in the world to date) occurs near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.source
1856July 17 – The Great Train Wreck of 1856: Two trains collide near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania killing at least 59 and injuring at least 100.source
1859March 21 – Pennsylvania issues the charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the first organization of its kind in the United States, and founder of the nation's first zoo.source
1859March 21 – The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issues the charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the first organization of its kind in the United States and founder of the nation's first zoo.source
1869Heinz, as predecessor of Kraft Heinz, a worldwide food processing and cheese brand, founded in Pennsylvania, United States.source
1876November 10 – The Centennial Exposition ends in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.source
1889May 31 – Johnstown Flood: The South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania.source
1896June 28 – Twin Shaft Disaster: An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston City, Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 coal miners.source
1897September 10 – Lattimer massacre: A sheriff's posse kills 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.source
1897September 10 – Lattimer Massacre: A sheriff's posse kills more than 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.source
1898October 3 – U.S. Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania is arrested for conspiracy to defraud the People's Bank of Philadelphia.source

20th century

1902June 2 – The coal strike of 1902 begins in the anthracite coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania.source
1911December 24 – Lackawanna Cut-Off railway line opens in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.source
1927May 17 – U.S. Army aviation pioneer Major Harold Geiger dies in the crash of his Airco DH.4 airplane, at Olmsted Field, Pennsylvania.source
1936March 17–18 – Pittsburgh Flood of 1936 ("St. Patrick's Day Flood"): Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suffers the worst flooding in its history.source
1954February 23 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.source
1985May 31 – Forty-four tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, including a rare and powerful F5. In total, the event kills 90 people.source
1991April 4 – U.S. Senator John Heinz and six other people are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.source
1991June 4 – A large solar flare triggers an unusually large aurora as far south as Pennsylvania.source

21st century

2001September 11 – Suicide attacks on the U.S. kill more than 3,000 people and destroy the two towers of the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, using three hijacked passenger airliners as cruise missiles, with a fourth, also hijacked, crashing in a field in Pennsylvania. Early speculation about the source of the attack centered on Saudi-born terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who was living in and working from Afghanistan. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan leaders condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden could be behind them.source
2012October 14 – Arlen Specter, 82, American politician, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1981–2011), complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.source
20161 May – Two missionaries from the United States are found slain in separate areas of rural St. Mary parish. Randy Hentzel and Harold Nichols both worked for a Pennsylvania-based Christian charity called Teams for Medical Missions.source
2024July 13 – While campaigning for the 2024 United States presidential election, former President Donald Trump is shot in the right ear in an assassination attempt at a rally he held near Butler, Pennsylvania.source