And the answer is…
So as The Legal Genealogist travels the highways and byways westward to Pennsylvania for tomorrow’s Family History Conference of the Centre County Genealogical Society in State College, here’s today’s trivia question of the day:
Why is Pennsylvania called the Keystone State?
Your possible answers:
a. It got the nickname “because it was the middle colony of the original thirteen colonies, and because Pennsylvania has held a key position in the economic, social, and political development of the United States.”1
b. In the Continental Congress vote for independence, “Pennsylvania’s vote … was noted as the keystone vote; the supporting vote for a new government.”2
c. When the Nation’s Capital was moved to Washington, D.C., the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge was built over Rock Creek and “Pennsylvania’s initials were carved into the ‘keystone’ of the arch supporting the bridge.”3
d. Who the heck knows?
e. Who cares?
Well, okay, I won’t go with that last one because, after all, we’re historians and researchers and we care about all this kind of stuff.
The truth is, there are a ton of possible explanations as to how Pennsylvania got that nickname, and most of them revolve around the notion of what a keystone is: “the wedge-shaped piece at the crown of an arch that locks the other pieces in place” or, alternatively, “something on which associated things depend for support.”4
The Old Farmer’s Almanac looked at that specific definition and noted: “A keystone is a wedge-shaped piece at the crown of an arch that locks the other pieces in place; it is a stone on which the associated stones depend for support. Geographically, Pennsylvania’s central location along the arch of the 13 original states calls to mind a keystone. Politically, Pennsylvania played a vital role in holding together the states of the newly formed Union.”5
Wikipedia’s explanation was that Pennsylvania was “a keystone state economically, having both the industry common to the North (making such wares as Conestoga wagons and rifles) and the agriculture common to the South (producing feed, fiber, food, and tobacco).”6
Another online source said Pennsylvania got the nickname “because it was the middle colony of the original thirteen colonies, and because Pennsylvania has held a key position in the economic, social, and political development of the United States.” It even went on to note that Pennsylvania’s state song mentions the state nickname in the second verse: “Birthplace of a mighty nation, Keystone of the land.”7
Now… let’s take care of that one right away. The Pennsylvania State Song is entitled “Pennsylvania,” by Eddie Khoury and Ronnie Bonner, and the lyrics weren’t written until 1990.8 And we know Pennsylvania was being called the Keystone State earlier: “At a Jefferson Republican victory rally in October 1802, Pennsylvania was toasted as ‘the keystone in the federal union,’ and in the newspaper Aurora the following year the state was referred to as ‘the keystone in the democratic arch.’”9
In other words, the nickname came long before the song, and not the other way around.
So… what is the answer to the question?
It looks like it really is answer d: “no one knows the exact reason behind the nicknaming Pennsylvania the Keystone State.”10
If you come up with a better answer than that, let me know.
SOURCES
- “Official State Nickname of Pennsylvania,” StateSymbolsUSA.org (https://statesymbolsusa.org/ : accessed 17 May 2018). ↩
- “The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” NetState.com (http://www.netstate.com/ : accessed 17 May 2018). ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (http://www.m-w.com : accessed 17 May 2018), “keystone.” ↩
- “Why is Pennsylvania called the Keystone State?,” The Old Farmer’s Almanac (https://www.almanac.com/ : accessed 17 May 2018). ↩
- Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), “Pennsylvania,” rev. 17 May 2018. ↩
- “Official State Nickname of Pennsylvania,” StateSymbolsUSA.org (https://statesymbolsusa.org/ : accessed 17 May 2018). ↩
- See generally Daniel Craig, “Did you know Pennsylvania has an official state song?,” PhillyVoice, posted 11 May 2016. For the lyrics, see “Pennsylvania Facts & History: State Song ‘Pennsylvania,’” VisitPa.com (https://visitpa.com/ : accessed 17 May 2018). ↩
- “Pennsylvania: Past and Present Symbols,” Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, via Internet Archive Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/ : accessed 17 May 2018). ↩
- “Why is Pennsylvania Called the Keystone State?,” WiseGeek (http://www.wisegeek.com/ : accessed 17 May 2018). ↩
I’m so excited to be attending the conference tomorrow!
Come up and introduce yourself! 🙂
The Keystone State’s Keystone Division seems to have lived up to itss name during the Battle of the Bulge (WWII). I remember one documentsry a few yeears back explaining that the post they held on the morning the Germans launched their surprise attack was considered by the Allies to be a relatively safe position, so they had been in the habit of assigning the post to units which didn’t have a great deal of combat experience by comparison to the rest of the army. But, unknown to the Germans, it had been decided that the Keystone Division Was in need of a chance to rest and regroup after a campaign of extremely heavy fighting, Thus it was, that instead of a contingent of relatively green troops, it was the battle-hardened men of the Keystone Division, with their vast combat expperience that the Germans met that morning in the Ardennes, and the surprisers were themselves surprised by the unexpectedly tough and effective resistance they encountered.
Of course, there were many other factors at play, as military historians have pointed out, but it does seem as if the men of the Keystone Division deserve credit for stalling the German advance long enough for the Allies to mount a full scale defense.
Graack! This was intended as an independent comment, not a reply concerning the conference (although it would be great to be able to be there and I wish the best for all in attendance).
Judy: You might already know about the 1874 “A History of the Origin of the Appellation Keystone State.” The compiler supports answer b., but doesn’t identify a smoking gun that makes that theory unassailable. He does, however, compile the exhaustive and exhausting arguments that had been researched and published to date. Mainly, it’s a fun reference to show just how long this debate has been around (and how deeply considered).
https://archive.org/details/historyoforigino00mort_0
Thanks, Aaron! And for the record also on Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=A1Q_AQAAMAAJ
Now you can work on “Hoosier.”
Aieeeieeeieeeee! 🙂
Judy, it is possible that there is another explanation for this, but it’s entirely a guess on my part! Late in the 1600’s and going on for approximately 100 years, there was a battle royal between Penn. and Maryland over land, part of which would have been in Penn. if the southern state line continued to be straight at it’s east end. My Hendrix/Hendricks ancestors were involved in this up to their necks, partly because they were asked by Penn. officials to move into that area in an effort to keep that land in Penn. It’s a very long and convoluted story and I’ve never really researched the entire thing, partly because all of my ancestors had left Penn. before a solution was found. There were jailings, gunfire, and court battles, Oh My! If you look at a modern map, just southwest of Philadelphia, the state line is in a circular line much like a keystone shape and represents the final settlement of that long-ago kerfuffle. Today the land south of that line is in Delaware. That circular line must have caused problems for civil engineers for centuries, but it is still there. I really have no idea whether that is involved in the beginning of the nickname or not, but it’s a possibility I think.