As the country celebrates its 250th birthday this summer, America’s first hospital will mark another milestone.
The Pennsylvania Hospital, founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Bond, will commemorate its 275th anniversary by transforming its historic Pine Street Building into a museum, set to open to the public this May.
Exhibits at the new Pennsylvania Hospital Museum (www.PAHospitalMuseum.org) include the preserved historic library and surgical amphitheater, a reconstruction of its original apothecary, and galleries that “feature interactive video and other hands-on activities to illustrate previously untold stories about Pennsylvania Hospital’s role in the history of modern medicine,” per a Penn Medicine release. Each gallery is dedicated to a story central to the hospital’s legacy and how it has evolved into a key component of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and leader in patient care. They include how it was first established to provide psychiatric care to Philadelphia’s poorest residents; how it paved the way for modern obstetrics and gynecology, from establishing the first maternity ward in 1803 to becoming the busiest birthing hospital in Philadelphia; and how it provided care for soldiers during the American Revolution and to Philadelphians during pandemics, from the 1793 Yellow Fever to COVID-19.
