Penn landed in his colony in 1682 and laid out Philadelphia that autumn on a neck of land between the Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers. He chose a grid of straight streets and squares, a clean plan rare for the time, and he named the place from the Greek for "brotherly love." The ground was low and green. Penn bought the land from the natives who lived there.
The founding carried a creed. Penn was a Quaker who had been jailed for his faith in England, and he meant the colony to shelter the persecuted and to treat the Lenape fairly through purchase rather than force, so the promise drew settlers who wanted a place to worship and to trade in peace. The town filled fast.
The city thrived. Its port sat near the richest farmland in the colonies, and Philadelphia soon rivaled Boston and New York as a hub of print, science, and trade. The Continental Congress met there, and the Declaration was signed in its hall. The plan became a capital. Delegates met in its brick halls.
Philadelphia stayed a seat of the new nation through the early years, until the capital moved to Washington. The grid Penn drew still orders the center of the city. The name still fits the ideal. The riverfront grew into a metropolis. Ships left its docks for the world.