Editing Center City (section)

== History ==

Center City occupies the original core of William Penn's 1682 city plan. Penn designed Philadelphia as a grid between the two rivers, with five public squares and Broad and Market Streets as the primary axes. [[Philadelphia City Hall]] now occupies Centre Square, the central point of Penn's plan.

Through the colonial era and into the 19th century, Center City was the entirety of urban Philadelphia. As the city expanded, Center City became the downtown, with residential neighborhoods developing to the north, south, and west.