Pennsylvania Hospital

Pennsylvania Hospital, America’s first hospital, was founded in 1751 by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin after Bond returned from London having observed newly established hospitals there, and Franklin helped persuade Philadelphia’s leading citizens to support the new institution, helping make the city the nation’s first major medical center. Designed by Samuel Rhoads, the Pine Building was constructed in three sections, beginning with the East Wing in 1756, while the small staff first cared for patients in temporary quarters at Judge Kinsey’s house on High, now Market, Street; the West Wing followed in 1797 and the Center Building in 1804. Considered one of the finest examples of 18th century American colonial architecture, the Pine Building was also the place where Dr. Thomas Bond took students on ward rounds, beginning the clinical study of medicine in America. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a pioneer in treating the mentally ill, practiced there, and Dr. Philip Syng Physick, known as the father of American surgery, operated in the surgical amphitheater. Pennsylvania Hospital still contains that amphitheater and a medical library once regarded as the finest in the colonies, with collections important to the history of medicine, along with artifacts and paintings by Thomas Sully, Benjamin West, and Thomas Keakins.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States