Editing Bradford, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1837<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bradford {{!}} Historic City, Oil Boomtown {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Bradford-Pennsylvania |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the [[Pennsylvania oil rush]] in the late 19th century. The area's Pennsylvania Grade crude oil has superior qualities and is free of asphaltic constituents, contains only trace amounts of sulfur and nitrogen, and has excellent characteristics for refining into lubricants. The [[Bradford and Foster Brook Railway|Bradford & Foster Brook Railway]] was built in 1876 as one of, if not the first, [[monorail]]s in America, when Bradford was a booming oil town.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kilmer |first=Lawrence W. |title=Bradford & Foster Brook, Peg Leg Railroad | pages = 36}}</ref> World-famous Kendall racing oils were produced in Bradford.

Bradford was the site of an important step in the development of personal aviation. In the 1930s, the [[Taylorcraft Aircraft|Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation]] produced an airplane called the Taylor Cub in Bradford. After a fire at the factory, the company was bought by [[William T. Piper]]. After relocating his factory to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, Piper resumed production of a revised design of the airplane first produced in Bradford, which became the world-famous [[Piper J-3 Cub|Piper Cub]].

The population peaked at 19,306 in 1930, but at the 2010 census had dropped to 8,770. Two adjoining townships, home to approximately 9,000 people, make the population of Greater Bradford about 18,000. Famous Bradfordians include the opera singer [[Marilyn Horne]], the Hall of Fame baseball player [[Rube Waddell]] and the five-time All-Star football player [[Stew Barber]]. A famous [[perpetual motion]] machine hoax was created in Bradford in 1897 by J.M. Aldrich. The hoax was exposed in the July 1, 1899, issue of the ''[[Scientific American]]'' magazine. Ultimately, Aldrich was sentenced to four months in the county jail.

The [[Bradford Armory]], [[Bradford Downtown Historic District]], [[Bradford Old City Hall]], and [[Rufus Barrett Stone House]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>