Pennsylvania Hospital, part of Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine, will soon open a museum to commemorate its 275th anniversary.
The hospital will transform its Pine Building into a museum, which is set to open to the public in May.
The museum will feature eight interactive galleries detailing the hospital’s role in shaping modern medicine. Exhibits will include preserved spaces such as the hospital’s historic library, surgical amphitheater and restored apothecary.
Founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond, an English surgeon, Pennsylvania Hospital was the nation’s first chartered hospital. Over nearly three centuries, the hospital has been intertwined with defining chapters of American history, including providing care to soldiers during the Revolutionary War and responding to the 1918 influenza pandemic.
The hospital was also an early pioneer in psychiatric care and established the nation’s first maternity ward in 1803, laying groundwork for modern obstetrics.
“Pennsylvania Hospital is not only linked to the history of just Philadelphia — but to the history of the United States of America,” Stacey Peeples, lead archivist at Pennsylvania Hospital, said in the news release. “I am thrilled to illuminate the huge contributions of generations of caregivers, patients and staff, so that every visitor can share in the pride we feel in the history of Pennsylvania Hospital.”
Today, the 517-bed hospital is nationally recognized in areas including neurosurgery, obstetrics, neonatology, behavioral health and orthopaedics. In fiscal year 2025, it recorded nearly 20,000 adult admissions, more than 54,000 emergency department visits and 5,100 births.
