PENNSYLMANIA
Entertaining and informative stories of people and events in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, presented by Mark Smith.
Recent Episodes
William Penn Part 1 (Ep6)
EPISODE 6: WILLIAM PENN, PART 1. The first of a two-part series on the life and legacy of William Penn, the founder of the English colony of Pennsylvania, this episode focuses on his family history and upbringing, his embra...
The Erie Triangle (Ep5)
EPISODE 5: THE ERIE TRIANGLE. Why does Pennsylvania (and not New York) have that little wedge of land atop its Northwest corner? And why has it had such a consequential place in our state’s history, perhaps most notably in...
The Allegheny Portage Railroad (Ep4)
EPISODE 4: THE ALLEGHENY PORTAGE RAILROAD. The successful opening of the Erie Canal in New York State in 1825 gives the rest of the country a case of “canal fever,” and nowhere more so than in Pennsylvania. Desperate to ca...
Welcome to Pithole (Ep3)
EPISODE 3: WELCOME TO PITHOLE. What happens when the wickedest man in the world arrives in the wickedest place in the world? It’s February of 1866, and the oil boom of Northwestern Pennsylvania is in high gear. Ben Hogan, welcome to Pithole, Pennsylvania. The discovery of oil and the birth o…
The Titusville Gusher Part 2 (Ep2)
EPISODE 2: THE TITUSVILLE GUSHER, PART TWO -- IDA TARBELL. Part One ended in about 1880, with John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company crushing the independent oil producers of Northwest Pennsylvania, where oil was first discovered in 1859 and the industry was born. In Part Two, we learn h…
The Titusville Gusher Part 1 (Ep1)
EPISODE 1: THE TITUSVILLE GUSHER, PART ONE. Titusville, Pennsylvania, was where the first oil well was drilled in 1859. Thus began a new industry, which birthed a new economic boom that created several oil boom towns. Some of them still exist today, like Titusville and Oil City, and some became …