A year of Philadelphia ‘firsts’: Artists will celebrate the city’s ingenuity throughout 2026

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Twenty-five artists in Philadelphia are painting 52 fabricated sculptures in the shape of a number 1, each representing a Philly “first.”

For example, the first circus. Equestrian entrepreneur John Bill Ricketts built America’s first dedicated circus at Sixth and Market streets, which then-President George Washington was known to attend.

“I have in my designs a lot of big top and circus pattern work that feels like you are watching this performance,” artist Roselyn Dooley said. “You’re excited. It’s very colorful. I wanted to set the scene of where you are.”

Sixth and Market is now the location of a Wawa store and the Once Upon a Nation tourist attraction. Dooley’s painted sculpture will be sited at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts in Germantown.

It’s all part of Philadelphia’s celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday. Every week in 2026, a historic innovation born in the city will be celebrated with a little party: a commemoration, a live story performance and a painted sculpture.

Vince Stango, the vice president of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and co-chair of the historic district’s 250th committee, said the sculptures and their accompanying events will appear in every neighborhood in Philadelphia.

“The residents of Philadelphia are absolutely our number one audience for this,” Stango said. “When the world descends on Philadelphia through the summer, we hope those folks will come out, too. But this is really a Philadelphia event.”

All 52 sculptures, each about 5 feet tall, are made of a high-density foam and sealed to withstand the weather, will be placed in their respective locations the first week of January. Then every Saturday for a year, one will be spotlighted with an event, dubbed by Visit Philadelphia as “first-ivals.”

Through Mural Arts Philadelphia, artists were matched with firsts on a master list to design and paint a unique decoration over the sculptures. Alana Saxmone chose to represent the first Ronald McDonald House, opened in Philly in 1974 to house children undergoing major medical treatment with their families; and the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first medical degree program for women that opened in Philadelphia in 1850.

Before looking at the list, Saxmore did not know either of these things were Philly firsts.

“My family are in health care and now I work with children, so I thought it would be fun,” she said. “I can relate to it personally.”

Some of the firsts are fundamental to the nation, such as the first constitution, the first art school and museum, and the first gay rights demonstration.

Others firsts are less well-known: the first pencil with an eraser on the end, the first public screening of a movie and the first ice cream soda, which was made in 1874 during a street fair out of desperation when a vendor ran out of regular cream for cream sodas.

“I’m a little partial to the signing of the Constitution,” said Stango, out of professional due diligence. “But aside from that, the one that I can keep coming back to is the first selfie. I just assumed that selfies started with the iPhone.”

The first selfie predated the iPhone by 168 years. In 1839, Robert Cornelius took a picture of himself with a homemade camera.

One of the more significant items on the list of 52 firsts is the first children’s hospital. In 1855, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia opened. It is a place artist Aaminah Rasheed knows very well, having frequented CHOP as a child.

“I had a severe case of asthma at the time. Was in and out for that,” Rasheed said. “Also treated for pneumonia.”

Rasheed said she wanted her design to be inviting, using bright colors to depict children and their families interacting with doctors in the hospital. The top of the number 1 is sky blue with puffy clouds.

At the bottom, the base of the sculpture is an aerial view of roads and cars, representing a rug pattern that doubles as a play surface.

“This is representative of a nostalgic thing for me. The road map carpet is like a staple of my childhood,” she said. “I’ve seen this in hospitals. I’ve seen it in day cares. I’ve seen it in a dentist office. I wanted that to be the base.”

Each “first-ival” has been scheduled for 2026. Dates and locations are available on Visit Philly’s website.