During Philadelphia's first century, its population grew rapidly as William Penn's policy of religious tolerance and his city's thriving economic and intellectual life attracted many settlers. Penn's new urban center attracted a variety of ethnic groups including Scots-Irish, Irish, Welsh, and Germans. Its population also contained a diverse mix of religious groups including Quakers, Catholics, Jews, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Baptists, Amish, and Mennonites.
Philadelphia historically prided itself on being known as a city of immigrants, and much of the population increase in the 19th and early 20th centuries came from overseas immigration. Between 1820 and the American Civil War (1861-1865), over 80,000 Irish migrated to Philadelphia and settled throughout the city. Immigrants from Poland moved to industrial sections like Richmond and Manayunk. By the late 19th century the city also contained a large Italian and Russian-Jewish population in South Philadelphia. German bakers and tool and die makers crowded North Philadelphia neighborhoods. While immigration halted in the 1920s, after World War II (1939-1945) thousands of displaced Ukrainians and Lithuanians found refuge in Philadelphia. In the 1970s Vietnamese and Koreans pressed into North Philadelphia making areas such as Olney among the most ethnically diverse in America.
Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Philadelphia Information info
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