Philadelphia gave America its first hospital and, therefore, all its hospital TV dramas

It was around 1750 when physician Thomas Bond decided colonists who couldn’t afford house calls deserved medical treatment.

Born in Maryland and trained in Europe, Bond had been a Philadelphia doctor for decades. In Europe, he had learned about voluntary hospitals that provided free care for the ill. He decided the American colonies needed a similar set up.

He was a well-connected man: a Freemason, founder of the American Philosophical Society, and a trustee at the College of Philadelphia, which would later become the University of Pennsylvania.

When Bond floated his groundbreaking idea to his upper crust friend group, they liked the concept but weren’t ready to push the button on a plan.

Enter Benjamin Franklin. His egalitarian sensibilities had already helped set up the foundation for the volunteer fire department in 1736. He approved Bond’s idea.

On March 11, 1751, Pennsylvania Hospital received its charter and became America’s first hospital.

This monumental first will be honored Saturday on Pennsylvania Hospital’s Pine Lawn as part of the Philadelphia Historic District’s yearlong weekly firstival celebrations, fetes honoring American people, places, and things with Philadelphia roots.

The hospital’s first building was a rented house near Seventh and Market Street, explained Stacey Peeples, curator and lead archivist at Pennsylvania Hospital.

In 1755, Pennsylvania Hospital purchased land on Pine Street between Eighth and Ninth Streets and opened its doors the next year. That building — today’s East Wing — housed men’s and women’s wards.

In 1796 the west wing, a designated mental health facility, opened.

And in 1804, a central administrative structure — the Great Court — joined the two wings.

“The structure, the very bones of the Pennsylvania Hospital building, still stands today,” Peeples said.

Pennsylvania Hospital doctors John Morgan and William Shippen Jr., eager for American physicians to have medical schools like those in Europe, started America’s first medical school in 1765 at Ben Franklin’s College of Philadelphia. The College of Philadelphia merged with Pennsylvania University in 1791 to form the University of Pennsylvania.

Almost 100 years later in 1874, The University of Pennsylvania opened its hospital on Penn’s West Philly campus.

Meanwhile Pennsylvania Hospital operated independently in Center City through the rest of the 18th, all of the 19th, and most of the 20th century.

In 1997, Pennsylvania Hospital merged with the University of Pennsylvania’s Health System (That by now also included the Presbyterian Hospital of Philadelphia.) Today, all three hospitals exist under the Penn Medicine umbrella.

“Pennsylvania Hospital provided the foundation for the development of what we consider modern medicine today,” Peeples said.

This year marks Pennsylvania Hospital’s 275th birthday. That milestone, coupled with America’s Semiquincentennial, led to the May 8 opening of the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum.

In addition to the restoration of its apothecary, visitors can now bear witness to a myriad of other American hospital firsts including the first medical library established in 1762; walk the same halls as America’s first medical school resident did in 1773; and check out the first surgical amphitheater, established in 1804.

“Pennsylvania Hospital sets the stage for not only treating people but teaching people how to treat people,” Peeples said.

Modern medicine has Philadelphia to thank for its innovations but so does American television. Where would we be without medical dramas like Shonda Rhimes’ Grey’s Anatomy or The Pitt?

The Pennsylvania Hospital Museum, 800 Spruce Street, Wed, Thurs, Sat, and Sun from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This week’s Firstival is Saturday, May 16, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Pennsylvania Hospital’s Pine Lawn; 800 Spruce Street.

The Inquirer will highlight a “first” from the Philadelphia Historic District’s 52 Weeks of Firsts program every week. A “52 Weeks of Firsts” podcast, produced by All That’s Good Productions, drops every Tuesday.