If you think Philadelphia is provincial now, you should have seen it in 1853! On its 160th anniversary, Sam Robinson examines the history of the Consolidation Act of 1854, and the reasons it was necessary

A cornucopia, a scroll, a shield with a plough and a ship, a dismembered arm balancing scales, two gals named Peace and Plenty—they’re everywhere you look. Sam Robinson finds that the Seal of Philadelphia as we know it dates to 1908, but its origins date back to the establishment of the modern City government in 1789

From its three-masted ship atop a golden domed cupola, the Provident Mutual Life Insurance Building has watched over its West Philadelphia neighborhood for 85 years. In telling its history, Sam Robinson finds the relationship between building and neighborhood tenuous. As the City makes plans to relocate the Police headquarters and Public Health offices there, the relationship might continue that way

In this old city—especially in Old City—plain old stone and concrete sidewalks are occasionally dotted by iron plates with small, thick pieces of glass. Sam Robinson goes underground to see how vault lights used to provide diffused light to commercial and residential basement spaces

As the city grew, so too did the need to properly document its growth. Sam Robinson takes a look at how the insurance industry shaped mapping technology, and finds out who Hexamer, Bromley, and other familiar historic map names really are

To really find out how power is wielded at Broad & Market, Sam Robinson gets to the bottom—literally, into the basement—of City Hall

The 26′ clocks on City Hall tower—four of them—keep pretty good time, don’t they? Sam Robinson goes inside the clocks to find out how that happens

The City’s founding paper, the Charter signed by William Penn himself, has recoiled from public view. Sam Robinson tracks it down, and finds out where else it’s been along the way