Philadelphia
Penn's 1682 Quaker grid became Workshop of the World (Baldwin: 18,000 workers, 2,666 locomotives/year) became healthcare hub. Now reinventing through defense and sports.
Philadelphia was designed before it existed. In 1682, William Penn planned a grid city between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers—a 'City of Brotherly Love' where persecuted Quakers could worship freely. Within four years, 8,000 settlers of different faiths had arrived: Quakers, Anglicans, Dutch Calvinists, German Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Catholics. By 1699, Penn's governor declared Philadelphia already the equal of New York 'in trade and riches.' That diversity wasn't incidental—it was the founding vision.
The city's medical tradition started early and never stopped. Pennsylvania Hospital, chartered in 1751, was the first in British North America. The University of Pennsylvania added America's first medical school in 1765. When the Revolutionary War began, these institutions organized the Continental Army's medical corps. For a decade (1790-1800), Philadelphia served as the nation's capital. The pattern was set: Philadelphia would be where American institutions were invented.
Industrialization turned the city into the 'Workshop of the World.' Baldwin Locomotive Works, founded in 1831, grew to employ 18,000 workers and produced 2,666 steam locomotives in 1906 alone—more than any factory on Earth. Textiles, clothing, shoes, tools, and machine parts flowed out on the Reading Railroad. But Baldwin's directors failed to adapt when diesel replaced steam; the company declared bankruptcy in 1938 and ceased production in 1956. The industrial base that made Philadelphia the second-largest US city began its long decline.
Today, Philadelphia has rebuilt around its oldest asset: medicine. The metropolitan area generates $557.6 billion in gross product, ranking eleventh nationally. Healthcare and education employ three in ten workers. Comcast, the city's largest private employer, chose to headquarter here. The port complex remains the largest freshwater shipping operation on the East Coast. AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck maintain major facilities in the region.
By 2026, Philadelphia will test a new theory of reinvention. The Navy Yard is receiving $100 million for submarine manufacturing. FIFA World Cup matches are projected to generate $770 million. The question: can a city that invented American institutions invent a post-industrial identity?