Short answers, pulled from the story.
Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker and advocate of religious freedom. Penn received a charter from Charles II of England in 1681 in partial repayment of a debt and purchased the land from the local Lenape people before establishing the city.
Philadelphia is derived from two Ancient Greek terms: phílos, meaning beloved or dear, and adelphós, meaning brother or brotherly. The name translates as brotherly love, a reflection of William Penn's Quaker values and his vision for a tolerant colony.
Philadelphia hosted both the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress, during which the Declaration of Independence was adopted on the 4th of July 1776. The city was also occupied by British forces for nine months from September 1777 to June 1778, and Independence Hall later served as the site where the U.S. Constitution was ratified on the 17th of September 1787.
The Curse of Billy Penn refers to the 25-year championship drought Philadelphia sports teams endured after the 76ers won the 1983 NBA Finals. The drought was linked to a 1987 decision permitting One Liberty Place to become the first building to surpass the height of the statue of William Penn atop City Hall, installed in 1894. The Phillies ended the drought by winning the 2008 World Series.
Philadelphia claims the nation's first library (1731), first hospital (1751), first medical school (1765), first central bank (1781), first stock exchange (1790), first zoo (1874), and first business school (1881). The city also hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774 and served as the nation's first capital.
In 1985, the Philadelphia Police Department used a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter to bomb the Cobbs Creek neighborhood in order to execute arrest warrants on members of MOVE, a Black liberation movement. The incident killed 11 people, destroyed 61 homes, and displaced 250 residents, marking one of the only times a U.S. city intentionally bombed its own civilians.