12/23/2025
On this day, 249 years ago, Philadelphia held its breath. On the night of December 23, 1776, while our city sat cold, anxious, and convinced the Revolution might collapse before it truly began, George Washington was out there in the freezing dark pushing his army across the Delaware.
The ice was thick, the river was violent, and the wind cut like a Broad Street gust in January. But that crossing, the one every Philly kid learns about in school changed everything. Philadelphians woke in the days after to news of a stunning victory at Trenton. Morale flipped. The city that had been preparing for defeat suddenly believed again. And right here, in the same streets we walk today, people felt the Revolution spark back to life.
Two hundred and forty nine years later, we still look at that moment the way we look at our own heroes. Gritty, stubborn, cold-weather tough, and ready to fight through anything.
Only in Philadelphia do we carry that kind of history like it’s still happening just across the river.
