1. The Battle of Brandywine took place on September 16, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War. It was the largest engagement of the war to date and resulted in a British victory. The battle took place in present-day Chester County and Delaware County.

2. In 1893, the Reading Railroad disaster occurred on September 16 in Manchester Township. A train carrying over 900 passengers derailed, killing 24 people and injuring over 100 others. It remains one of the deadliest train accidents in Pennsylvania history.

3. September 16, 1937, marked the beginning of the Johnstown Flood Memorial, which commemorates the devastating flood that occurred in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889. The memorial includes a museum and the remains of the South Fork Dam, which failed and caused the flood.

4. Pennsylvania State University, located in State College, was founded on September 16, 1855, as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania. The school was created to teach agriculture and mechanical arts, and it has grown to become one of the largest universities in the United States.

5. On September 16, 1963, the famous painter Andrew Wyeth was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Wyeth was born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and his most famous painting, "Christina's World," was inspired by a young woman he saw crawling through a field near his home.