Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com staff:
12:31 a.m.
A crowd of several hundred people gathered on the north side of City Hall tonight to celebrate the historic election of President-elect Barack Obama.
The crowd was largely, but not only, young and African-American, and many were students who had walked south on Broad Street from Temple University and east on Market Street from the campuses of Penn and Drexel. At one point a massive group of students, about 400 strong, crossed the Schuykill River on its way into Center City.
Amid a cacophony of car horns, the celebrants chanted various slogans for Obama and one person played portions of an Obama speech on his car stereo.
Melissa Dribben reports this:
At 12:30, part of the crowd at City Hall decided to march, almost in parade form, south on 15th Street. They held signs, adults carried children on their shoulders. Cheers broke out: “Yes We Can. Yes We Can.”
And this from Mari Schaefer:
The march had a message but no apparent destination. When a group of revelers was asked whether they were marching somewhere, they happily shouted “No!”
Eighteen-year-old Chade Biney, from West Orange New Jersey, was in her Temple dorm room when she found out Obama won. “We went out of our building, on to Broad and just kept running,” Biney said. “I was just so excited. It is such a monumental time for everyone especially African Americans.”
Biney, who is African American, said she feels “proud to be an American.”
“I was relieved,” said Abe Schenck, 24, who was with friends at The Institute Bar when he heard the news. He said he began to cry.
“It is an inspirational thing to see,” he said about the crowds on Broad Street. “”It renews a love for America.”
The Inauguration: Jan. 20 blog brings you coverage of President-elect Barack Obama's transition into office.
It's written by political journalists from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Send us your comments -- and news tips -- at this address.
Thomas Fitzgerald joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2000, and has covered Harrisburg as well as city, state and national politics for the newspaper. He was a “boy on the bus” in the 2004 presidential campaign and during primary contests in 2000 and 1996.
Nathan Gorenstein has covered politics and government in the city, state and nation for the Inquirer. He's worked in the city hall bureau, had a stint on the business desk, and once covered the suburbs. After serving as assistant regional editor, he was named editor of the "Politics" web site.
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