For nearly three centuries, Pennsylvania Hospital has been at the forefront of innovation.
At the time of the hospital's founding in 1751, the mere idea of having a designated place to take care of people in the colonies was groundbreaking. And it has continued to innovate based on the needs of its community, expanding into a large network of clinical and research facilities, providing cancer care, outpatient practices, specialty treatment centers, and more
It's this expansion that Pennsylvania Hospital co-founder Benjamin Franklin would be proud of. After all, he said, "When you're finished changing, you're finished."
But all of this would not be possible without the hospital's historic Pine Building. In 2026, this space is newly reopened as a public museum with exhibits that tell stories of the hospital's past, as part of the celebrations for the hospital's 275th anniversary and the United States' semiquincentennial. Nestled in a modern health care campus, this unwavering Philadelphia fixture is the original structure of the nation's first chartered hospital, and continues to serve as a reminder of its celebrated 275 years of history-and counting-every day.
