  How to Use the Maps   Inquiry Question  Historical Context
Map 1     Table of  Locating the Site  Map 2: Plan of the city
and environs of Philadelphia, 1777.[Map 2] with link to larger
version of map. (Courtesy Independence National Historical Park)
William Penn founded Philadelphia in 1682 as the capital of
Pennsylvania. By 1710, this simple Quaker town had grown into
the largest city in the colonies. By the time of the
Revolutionary War, the city was among the largest in the entire
British Empire as well as the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan
city in North America. Furthermore, Philadelphia was the biggest
port on the coast and located approximately in the middle of the
colonies.  The city boasted 6,000 houses, 33 churches, 10
newspapers, and 300 shops laid out in an orderly grid pattern
along the banks of the Delaware River.1 While typical colonial
streets were made of dirt, many of Philadelphia's streets were
made of cobblestone or brick and lined with street lamps to
light the city at night. The Sta