philadelphia Pennsylvania

America's First Road Trip

The Lincoln Highway stretches from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco California. It was one of America's very first cross country roads. It is as American as road trips can get.

The Lincoln Highway Association was founded in 1912/13 and they began the process of connecting rural roads maintained by counties and townships in a disorganized mess together to form a single mostly dirt road that was paved in some places into a road that could theoretically take someone overland from Philadelphia to San Francisco.

Six years later in July of 1919 the US Army sent a convoy across the Lincoln Highway to test the strength and feasibility of our roads. A young Lt. Dwight D. Eisenhower was assigned to the convoy. For two months they traveled across America and reached San Francisco on September 6th 1919. It was considered both a success and failure. A success in the sense that the mission had been accomplished which was no small feet for the new invention at the time the automobile. But failure in the sense that it took a very long time, train travel along the transcontinental railroad could be done in as little as 80 hours and it cost only about $150 and that was in the late 1800's.

If cars were to ever replace horses and trains then the technology would have to improve, the infrastructure would have to be built, and roads needed to be improved dramatically. Only 30 years later that young lieutenant would become President of the United States and pass legislation that did exactly that. He also helped defeat the nazis along the way.

What I like about the Lincoln Highway is that it goes through small towns. Many main streets of towns became the Lincoln Highway, they simply built a country road to connect the main streets of towns together. In California the Lincoln Highway is known as Historic Route 40 and goes through Reno, across Donner Pass, into downtown Roseville and is Capitol Mall in Sacramento, the California Capitol Building is right smack in the middle of the Lincoln Highway, it continues to the Main Streets of Davis CA, Vacaville CA, is Texas street in Fairfield, and Broadway in Vallejo, before it moves across the Carquinez straight to Richmond and then a ferry over to San Francisco and up towards Lincoln Park and stops right at the Legion of Honor Museum.

All of that history began with a convoy leaving the streets of Philadelphia towards Gettysburg and westward.

Many Americans roughly know this route as Interstate 80 which Eisenhower picked to be named after him. Today the entire interstate system is named after President Eisenhower.

Military history

Philadelphia has always kind of been an odd duck when it comes to importance. During the Revolutionary war, the British General William Howe decided to deviate from the British plan of taking two armies to fight in upstate New York and he took his army to take Philadelphia. Philadelphia and the surrounding area was a mix between patriots and loyalists. Howe believed that by taking the Capital of the Continental Congress he would hurt the morale of Washington's army and maybe it would force Washington to lead an attack to try to retake the city.

Washington instead decided to retreat to nearby Valley Forge where he could keep a watchful eye on the British while simultaneously training his ragtag group of unorganized men and women into an organized an efficient fighting force capable of taking one of the best armies on earth at the time, the British.

The Americans were able to successfully control the supply lines in and out of Philadelphia along the Delaware river which led to difficulties for the British to supply themselves with the necessary provisions. In effect the Americans were able to lay a small siege on the British in Philadelphia while also keeping their supply lines free of British assault by camping at Valley Forge.

In effect the importance of losing Philadelphia to the British was a net win for the patriot army. By the time the British left Philadelphia they were in worse shape than when they showed up.

Washington's army became an actual army that was well supplied and properly trained by the time they left Valley Forge.

The battle of Trenton New Jersey was a major turning point in the early days of the American Revolution. For months Americans were fighting the British and their Hessian mercenaries scoring few victories and many defeats.

On December 25 1776, George Washington ordered his army of 2,500 to cross the Delaware river from their camp in Bucks County PA to New Jersey just north of Trenton. The Hessians were camped in Trenton and George Washington knew the only way to defeat them was to use the element of surprise.

Desperation played some kind of role in the decision, a storm was brewing, the river was icy, it was very cold. But the men accomplished the task in one night. Without being detected they crossed the river and defeated the Hessians at Trenton. This was one of the first major victories for Washington's army and gave a new hope to the patriot cause of independence.

Also not far north of Washington's Crossing is a town called "New Hope" also in Bucks County PA. Check out the band that plays at the Cuban restaurant if you ever go there. In general support local artists and musicians.

Valley Forge

The following winter in 1777-1778 George Washington led his army to camp during winter just outside of Philadelphia at Valley Forge. The events that occurred in these 6 months or so changed the course of American History and Military History forever.

Here are some facts about Valley Forge from the NPS.

1. it could produce over 10,000 loaves of bread per day from 250 ovens.
2. African American soldiers made up 8-10% of the army and Native Americans made up about 3% of the army.
3. There were about 300 women and children at the camp.
4. 12,000 men were at the camp, 10,000 combat troops and 2,000 logistical support.
5. Baron Von Steuben arrived in February with formal letters of recommendation. At the time there were several manuals being used for instruction and drills. He systemized the drills into a single manual taught to everyone. He also mandated some basic hygiene changes like having the latrines separate from the kitchens and set up field hospitals away from the main camp.
6. Valley Forge also is a place where some early forms of vaccinations happened. Washington mandated his troops get inoculated against smallpox, a risky move at the time. However, it paid off and many of his soldiers survived the outbreak that was decimating the army.
7. By the end of the camp the number of solders doubled to almost 20,000.
8. 30% of the population at Valley Forge did not speak English. It was a diverse army made of people of every religion, ethnicity, and creed. None of those differences mattered.
9. At one point at its peak Valley Forge PA was the 4th largest city in the USA by population.

George Washington's personal cook was a woman by the name of Hannah Till who was an enslaved black woman.. She worked with her husband Isaac Till and had a child at Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge. After the army left Valley Forge in October of 1778 her and her husband purchased their freedom from Washington. They baptized their free born child in Philadelphia and Hannah Till continued to be Washington's personal cook as a salaried job for 6 months out of the year. The other 6 months she took on the job of being the cook to Marquis de Lafayette.

Philadelphia is home to a rich history of historic preservation and government scandal and bribery. At times there was bribery going on with historic preservation.

Independence Hall originally was the Pennsylvania state house. The building was loaned to the Continental Congress for use. By 1800 the US Capitol was Philadelphia and Pennsylvania's capital had moved to Lancaster PA. Soon after the US Federal Government moved to Washington D.C. the buildings that were around Independence Hall along with Independence Hall began to fall into disrepair.

By 1812 Independence Hall was in need of renovation and the city of Philadelphia had taken over control of the building. For the next several decades the city restored the building until it was transferred to the National Park Service. In 1979 Independence Hall was a UNESCO World Heritage site.

However, architecture of the city does not begin and stop at Independence Hall. The City Hall of Philadelphia is extraordinary, and Philadelphia has influenced other state houses of historic importance.

The Reichstag of Germany has an interesting history, the nazis set a fire that helped give Hitler emergency powers that he never relinquished. Before that the Reichstag in Berlin was the house of parliament for the Weimar Republic and construction of that building began in 1884.

The architecture model of the Reichstag in Germany actually dates back to the 1876 World Exposition in Philadelphia. The main building of that exposition was known as "Memorial Hall" and it served as an architecture model that was used to help usher in a new era of German democracy.

It took a little over 100 years later the Reichstag to become an important symbol of openness and transparency for the world and an important anchor of liberal democracies around the world. In 1999 the government of Germany reunified once and for all when the Reichstag re opened with a transparent dome symbolizing openness and acceptance towards others. It marked the end of 20th century problems and the beginning of a new century of openness and human rights.

The same ideas that the Founding Fathers began in Philadelphia in 1776. The spark and ember of democracy began on Market Street that summer and raged into an unstoppable roaring fire in the decades that followed.

City Hall in Philadelphia is spectacular. It has 250 sculptures, it takes up an entire city block on 14.5 acres, and has a 37 foot statue of William Penn on top of the building. It took almost 30 years to complete, there are 88 million bricks used in its construction and there are over 700 rooms for government use.

It cost over 24 million dollars to build in money from the late 1800's. Which is roughly 900 million dollars in today's money.

The Constitution