PHILADELPHIA — The cornerstone was set in 1755, with “George the Second happily reigning (for he sought the happiness of his people).”
Now the hospital, older than the nation itself and a part of the University of Pennsylvania’s health system, has opened a museum looking back at its history as a pioneer in surgery, education and innovation.
The Pennsylvania Hospital was founded by Dr. Thomas Bond and his friend, one Benjamin Franklin, in 1751. Bond, a physician in private practice, saw many of the city’s poor forced to forego medical care because they couldn’t afford it. He approached friends and fellow doctors, who mostly agreed there was a need — but they balked when Bond asked for money to start a hospital to serve those in need. That’s according to Stacey Peeples, the hospital’s curator and archivist…