Alcott, Louisa May (1832-1888) an author who achieved wide fame in 1868 after publication of her first novel, “Little Women,” one of the most popular books ever written. More Information
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820) a frontiersman who founded the cities of Boonesboro on the Kentucky River and Boone’s Station near what is now Athens, Ky.; later he served as a representative in the Virginia legislature before moving to Missouri, where he was a district magistrate. More Information
Bradley, Ed (1941 - ) television anchorman and broadcast journalist. More Information
Buchanan, James (1791-1868) a lawyer from Lancaster, he was only 23 when he was elected to the House and rose to be Pennsylvania’s only native-born president, serving from 1857 to 1860 as the nation’s 15th president. More Information
Buck, Pearl (1872-1973) an author who won both a Nobel Prize and a Pulitzer Prize, she lived and is buried in Bucks County at Green Hills Farm, now on the Registry of Historic Buildings, which draws some 15,000 visitors each year. More Information
Carnegie, Andrew (1835-1919) a businessman and philanthropist, he was the founder of Carnegie Steel Company, which later became U.S. Steel, he is known for having given away most of his wealth to fund the establishment of many libraries, schools and universities in the United States and worldwide. More Information
Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926) a painter whose works are notable for their simplicity and color, her works are on display in public and private galleries around the United States. More Information
Dallas, George Mifflin (1792-1864) served as Philadelphia mayor, state Deputy Attorney General and U.S. Senator, and was the only vice president from Pennsylvania. More Information
Evans, Oliver (1755-1819) Built the first American steam engine. More Information
Fauset, Crystal Bird (1893-1965) the first African-American woman in the country to be elected a state legislator, she resigned from the House in 1940 to become the assistant director for the Works Progress Committee in Pennsylvania and later served as advisor to both First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. More Information
Fields, W.C. (1880-1946) a well-known comedian and movie actor, he created one of the great comic personas of the first half of the 20th century – a misanthrope who teetered on the edge of buffoonery. More Information
Foster, Stephen (1826-1864) a composer who wrote “Oh Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” “Beautiful Dreamer,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair,” he is honored with a building on the University of Pittsburgh campus. More Information
Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790) first a printer and editor, he became a career politician and was a signer of all three of the major documents of the founding of the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris and the United States Constitution. More Information
Fulton, Robert (1765-1815) an inventor, engineer and painter who designed the first steamship that proved to be commercially successful in American waters. More Information
Gere, Richard (1949 - ) a movie actor whose first major acting role was in the original London stage version of “Grease” in 1973, he went on to star in major films and become the first man ever to appear on the cover of “Vogue” magazine and was named the “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1999 by People magazine. More Information
Grace, Princess of Monaco (1929-1982) born Grace Kelly, the Academy Award-winning film actress married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956 and ended her acting career. More Information
Haig, Alexander (1924 - 2010) secretary of state in 1981-82 and President Nixon’s chief of staff in 1973-74, a four-star general, he had served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s forces from 1974-1979. More Information
Hamilton, Andrew (1676-1741) a noted figure in American history who helped design and personally financed the building of Independence Hall, served as Pennsylvania’s attorney general from 1717 to 1726, served in the Pennsylvania and Delaware assemblies and then spent several years as speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; he and his son, James, were among the founders of Lancaster. More Information
Hershey, Milton (1857-1945) a businessman and philanthropist, he is famous for founding the Hershey Chocolate Company and the “company town” of Hershey, Pa., opening the Hershey Industrial School in 1909 (now called Milton Hershey School), which originally was intended for boys who were orphans or came from broken homes, and endowing the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center with a gift of $50 million and one restriction – that the hospital be built in Hershey. More Information
Irvis, K. Leroy (1919-2006) in 1976, he became the first African-American to attain the rank of speaker of a state house of representatives in the country, in all he served in house leadership posts for 26 years, sponsoring more than 875 bills with a record 264 becoming law; the Irvis Office Building in the Capitol Complex is named in honor of him. More Information
Jackson, Reggie (1946 - ) American League baseball player who played 21 years, most notably with the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees, he hit 563 home runs, winning or sharing four home run titles. More Information
Kresge, S.S. (1867-1966) a merchant, he worked as a traveling salesman before opening the first of his discount retail stores, he incorporated as S.S. Kresge in 1912 with 85 stores, Kresge stores eventually became K Mart Corporation. More Information
Lipinski, Tara (1982 - ) a figure skater who in 1998 was the youngest gold medalist in the history of Olympic Winter Games, where she won in the figure skating competition. More Information
Marshall, George (1880-1959) a career Army officer, he distinguished himself as a staff officer in World War I, as a five-star general he reorganized the military during World War II by coordinating training, planning for rearmament, supplying Great Britain with important material and finally directing the war, he served as special ambassador to China and later was secretary of state for President Truman and fostered the European Recovery Program (called the Marshall Plan) to promote post-war economic recovery in Europe, a program which won him the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize. More Information
Mead, Margaret (1901-1978) an anthropologist, writer and speaker who focused her interests on problems of child rearing, personality and culture primarily carried out among the peoples of Oceania. More Information
Mifflin, Thomas (1744-1800) a politician who served in local posts in Philadelphia, then was elected to the first Continental Congress in 1774, serving as a member of the convention to draft the U.S. Constitution, later served as George Washington’s aide-de-camp and quartermaster of the Continental Army, rising to the rank of major general, he was the first speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who later was elected governor of Pennsylvania. More Information
Michener, James (1907 - 1997) the recipient of the 1981 Governor’s Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist Award is the author of dozens of books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Tales of The South Pacific.” More Information
Paine, Thomas (1737-1809) served as House chief clerk from 1779 to 1780 and became famous as a propagandist and pamphleteer of the Revolution. More Information
Palmer, Arnold (1929 -) a golfer who turned professional after winning the 1954 U.S. amateur championship, winning numerous tournaments, and in 1967, became the first golf professional to have won more than $1 million. More Information
Peary, Robert E. (1856-1920) an explorer who became interested in Artic exploration and made a trip to the interior of Greenland in 1886 and later led expeditions to Greenland for study and exploration, in 1908, he set out on his last quest for the North Pole, which he claimed to have reached on April 6, 1909, on his return, he learned of a prior claim of Dr. Frederick A. Cook; a bitter controversy followed and it remains uncertain as to whether Peary reached the exact location of the North Pole. More Information
Penn, William (1644-1718) founder of Pennsylvania and its first governor, the democratic principles he set forth served as an inspiration for the U.S. Constitution, he chose to acquire lands for his colony through business rather than conquest and paid the Native Americans for their land, he died at his home in Berkshire in England, his family retained ownership of the colony of Pennsylvania until the American Revolution. More Information
Punxsutawney Phil Punxsutawney’s most famous resident is a world-renowned weather-forecasting groundhog whose only responsibility is to appear early in the morning of Feb. 2 each year to predict whether the end of winter is near or whether it will linger on.
Checkout Groundhog.org for fun and games with Phil and his friends!
Ross, Betsy (1752-1836) a seamstress who is known to have made flags during the American Revolution although it is not proven that she designed and made the first American national flag (the Stars and Stripes) as sometimes has been reported. More Information
Ryan, Matthew J. (1932 - 2003) known throughout Pennsylvania as an advocate for welfare reform, tax relief and jobs creation, he served in the House of Representatives for 40 consecutive years, in leadership positions for 32 of those years, he died in office in 2003 and was the first person in the history of the present Capitol building to lie in state in the Capitol’s rotunda, the Ryan Office Building in the Capitol Complex is named in honor of him. More Information
Skinner, B.F. (1904-1990) a psychologist who was the leading exponent of the school of psychology known as behaviorism, which explains the behavior of humans and other animals in terms of the physiological responses of the organism to external stimuli. More Information
Simpson, Wallis Warfield (The Duchess of Windsor) (1896-1986) American-born wife of Edward, Duke of Windsor, who as King Edward VIII, abdicated the British throne in order to marry her; exiled, she and her husband lived in France and became prominent in international circles; she was not officially invited back to Britain until 1967, she attended Edward’s funeral in 1972 and was buried next to him. More Information
Stewart, James “Jimmy” Maitland (1908-1997) movie actor who began his film career in 1935 and soon gained popularity for his lanky good looks, slow drawl and shy, homespun charm, he received the first Governor’s Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist Award in 1980. More Information
Wyeth, Andrew (1917- 2009) a popular and critically acclaimed painter, he mostly paints the places and people of Chadds Ford, Pa., and Cushing, Maine, portraying them in a meticulous, naturalistic style. More Information
