12/20/2025
Pennsylvania has this no-nonsense habit of quietly changing the world, then going right back to work like it didn’t just pull off something huge. One minute it’s a tinkerer in Philly making life easier, the next it’s a backyard-business idea in Western PA becoming an icon, and somewhere in between it’s candy, computers, and comfort-food glory getting born on PA soil. It’s inventive in that practical, stubborn, “fine, I’ll build it myself” kind of way, and honestly, it’s a little wild how much everyday life has PA fingerprints all over it.
8 things invented (or first created) in Pennsylvania:
1. ENIAC (early general-purpose electronic computer), designed and unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
2. Bifocals, credited to Benjamin Franklin (Philadelphia).
3. Big Mac, first sold at Jim Delligatti’s McDonald’s in Uniontown, PA (April 22, 1967).
4. Slinky, invented by Richard T. James and first famously demonstrated at Gimbels in Philadelphia (1945).
5. Banana split, credited to David Strickler in Latrobe, PA (1904).
6. Hershey’s Kisses, introduced in 1907 in Hershey, PA.
7. Peeps, produced by Just Born after acquiring Rodda Candy (Lancaster, PA) in 1953.
8. Zippo lighter, founded and developed in Bradford, PA by George G. Blaisdell (1932).
