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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the second largest city on the East Coast of the United States. The city is h ome to over 1.5 million residents, and growing. While that number is impressive, Philadelphia can accommodate many more people comfortably, and has in the past. In 1950, the city was home to 2.1 million residents. This fact brings the status of Philadelphia in line with many Midwestern cities which have lost population due to industry shifting out of the region. In addition to the decline of industry, which decimated this once and current blue collar city, another fact helped to “kick the city while it was down”; the completion of the New Jersey Turnpike. The highway, completed in November of 1951, meant that travelers to most points along the East Coast, no longer had to drive through Philadelphia. Looking at Roosevelt Blvd. (U.S. 1) and the string of old inns it features, it is clear that this interstate traffic was important to the city. Philadelp hia further had its share of race riots, and drug epidemics past this point, something the city holds in common with countless other urban areas. A fact which unites Philadelphia again to Midwestern cities is its relatively slow pace in recovering from this

slump.