Pennsylvania is home to a lot of global and national firsts, inventions, and famous people. Here’s a quick list of things you may not have known are from PA, especially if you aren’t from there yourself.

The Big Mac

“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun!” If you are of a certain age, you’ll never forget that jingle from old-school McDonald’s commercials. The famous sandwich with the unnecessary third piece of bread has been on the menu since 1968. It was developed by Jim Delligatti of Pittsburgh back in 1967 to compete with the burgers offered by by Big Boy Restaurants.

Jeep

Many people credit Willys-Overland with the vehicle that helped win WWII. In fact, most of those era Jeeps were produced by Ford. The truth is, the Jeep was invented in Pennsylvania by the American Bantam Car Company in Butler. Since it was such a small company and couldn’t keep up with the war demand, Willys is more well known and Ford did the heavy lifting. Since then, Jeeps have been manufactured by Kaiser, AMC, Chrysler, Daimler, Fiat, and now Stellantis. In my opinion, such an iconic vehicle should have never left American ownership.

Zippo

Another product that was huge during WWII, Zippo lighters were invented by George G. Blaisdell in Bradford, PA in 1932. Zippo’s have been commonplace at military exchanges for 80 years due to demand from personnel, even though the company never had a contract with the government. A half billion (500,000,000) lighters had been produced by 2012.

Stromboli

One would assume that Stromboli comes from Italy – and one would be incorrect. What is basically a rolled-up pizza first appeared in Essington, PA (just south of Philadelphia) during the 1950’s. The cheesy concoction was named after an Ingrid Bergman movie. If you’ve never had one, they are very similar to a calzone. In my memory, stromboli is one of the top foods my dad ate in the 1980’s.

Suspension Bridges

I am referring to modern suspension bridges, not the things made out of rope you see in the Indiana Jones movies. Also, chain-type bridges were built in Bhutan during the 15th century, but they did not include a suspended deck. Fast-forward to 1801 and the first modern chain suspension bridge was installed over Jacob’s Creek in Westmoreland County, PA.

You may think I’m reaching a bit here, and today’s bridges use wire cables. Well, take a seat, because the first wire-cable suspension bridge was built at Falls of Schuylkill in 1816. The longest modern suspension bridge today is in Japan at a length of 6,532 feet (1991 meters).

Ferris Wheel

The original Ferris Wheel was built in Pittsburgh by the Bethlehem Iron Company. It was invented by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. to compete with the engineering of the Eiffel Tower and debuted at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago during 1893. This first wheel was 264 feet (80.4 meters) high, but the tallest in the world today opened in 2021 at 820 feet (250 meters). Nearly four times the size of the original, the modern record-holder is located in the United Arab Emirates (you know, the place that builds islands shaped like palm trees).