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Pennsylvania state symbols

Pennsylvania has 21 official state symbols. The oldest is the coat of arms of 1778, with the motto "Virtue, Liberty and Independence"; the newest is the eastern hellbender, a salamander named the state amphibian in 2019. A bill to replace the state fossil, a trilobite, with an early four-legged animal had passed the Senate and, in amended form, the House by October 2026, but was not yet law.

21 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Grouse, hemlock and laurel

Pennsylvania named its first natural symbols in 1931. The ruffed grouse, which settlers relied on for food and called the partridge, became the state game bird, and the eastern hemlock, used by early settlers for log cabins and by the 19th-century tanning industry for the tannin in its bark, the state tree. Governor Gifford Pinchot signed the mountain laurel bill in 1933, a choice linked to his wife, Cornelia Bryce Pinchot, who favored the shrub. The white-tailed deer followed as state animal in 1959; Pennsylvania’s herd is estimated at about 1.5 million.

A dog, a trout and a firefly

The Great Dane became the state dog in 1965. Great Danes served as hunting and working dogs in frontier Pennsylvania, and the law notes Violet Oakley’s painting of William Penn with his Great Dane in the Governor’s Reception Room of the Capitol. The brook trout, the only trout native to Pennsylvania, became the state fish in 1970. In 1974 students at Highland Park Elementary School in Upper Darby won the firefly its place as state insect with petitions and bumper stickers, and a 1988 amendment specified the Pennsylvania firefly species.

Milk and crownvetch

Dairy is one of the state’s leading farm products, and milk became the state beverage in 1982; Pennsylvania produces roughly 10 billion pounds a year. The same year the Legislature named Penngift crownvetch the state beautification and conservation plant, apparently the only such title in the country. The variety traces to a plant found in 1935 on a Pennsylvania farm owned by a Mr. Gift, hence its name, and highway crews planted it widely along roadsides to hold soil against erosion.

Trains, a ship and a plane

Pennsylvania’s industrial history is well represented. In 1987 the Legislature honored three Pennsylvania Railroad locomotives: K4s steam engines No. 1361 and No. 3750, which hauled passenger trains, and the GG1 electric locomotive No. 4859, which pulled freight and troop trains during World War II. The U.S. Brig Niagara, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s flagship at the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812, became the state flagship in 1988; the reconstructed brig is based in Erie and sails as the state’s sailing ambassador.

In 2014 a single law named the Piper J-3 Cub the state aircraft and, by a House amendment, the Pennsylvania long rifle the state firearm. About 20,000 Cubs were built at the Piper plant in Lock Haven between 1937 and 1947, and at the postwar peak one rolled out every 20 minutes.

Fossils and salamanders

The state fossil, adopted in 1988, is Phacops rana, a trilobite from the state’s Devonian rocks whose name means “frog eyes,” after its large, bulging eyes. Students at Bucktail High School started a campaign to replace it with Hynerpeton bassetti, an early four-legged animal; their bill passed the Senate 49-0 in November 2025, and the House passed an amended version on October 21, 2026, sending it back to the Senate. In 2019 the eastern hellbender became the state amphibian, after students in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Student Leadership Council wrote the first draft of the bill. Supporters chose the salamander because it needs clean, cold water, so its presence signals a healthy stream. The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia was honored as the state theatre by a House resolution in 1999.

1 1770s 1 1800s 1830s 1860s 1890s 1 1920s 3 1 1950s 1 2 6 1980s 2 3 2010s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 1980s, with six.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Culture and history

Places and institutions

Questions about Pennsylvania's symbols

What is the Pennsylvania state bird?
The ruffed grouse. The 1931 law names it the state game bird, and state agencies present it as the state bird.
What is the Pennsylvania state dog?
The Great Dane, adopted in 1965. William Penn is said to have owned one, and a painting of Penn with his Great Dane hangs in the Governor's Reception Room of the Capitol.
What is the Pennsylvania state insect?
The Pennsylvania firefly, adopted in 1974 after a campaign by elementary school students in Upper Darby.
What is the Pennsylvania state fossil?
Phacops rana, a trilobite whose name means "frog eyes," adopted in 1988. A 2025 bill to replace it with the early tetrapod Hynerpeton bassetti was still awaiting final action in October 2026.
What is Penngift crownvetch?
Pennsylvania's official beautification and conservation plant, adopted in 1982. It traces to a plant found in 1935 on the farm of a Mr. Gift and was planted widely along highways to hold soil.
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