Until its closing, Philadelphia General Hospital (PGH) was the oldest institution in the United States in continuous service providing hospitalized care. Established in 1729, the Hospital had a long history dedicated to the care of the medically indigent of the city. In 1834, the institution moved from Center City to Blockley Township in West Philadelphia to the area that is now between 34th Street and University Avenue. At that time, it was renamed the Philadelphia Almshouse and Hospital and became affectionately known as "Old Blockley".

In 1903, the Hospital was officially separated from the Almshouse. The Hospital was officially named the Philadelphia General Hospital in 1919 and its supervision, as well as that of the Philadelphia Hospital for the Insane ("Byberry") and the Municipal Hospital for Contagious Diseases, were placed within the newly created Bureau of Hospitals in the Department of Public Health. The City's Home for the Indigent was opened by the city in 1914 to house all non-medical patients at Philadelphia General Hospital including the aged and infirm. It was administered by the Department of Public Health and Charities until 1919 when it was transferred to the Department of Public Welfare. Today, the facility is called Riverview Home for the Aged and the Department of Public Health provides health care services to its residents.

The Closing of Philadelphia General Hospital

In early 1952, the new City Home Rule Charter placed the control of Philadelphia General Hospital with a Board of Trustees. That same year the multi-million dollar Charles K. Mills Neurological Building opened at the hospital. In late 1952, the Department of Public Health closed the Municipal Hospital for Contagious Disease and the buildings were transferred to the Philadelphia General Hospital. The facility was known as the "Northern Division" of Philadelphia General Hospital until it closed in 1958. Under contracts signed in 1959, medical care at Philadelphia General Hospital became the responsibility of the medical schools of Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania who then subcontracted some of their work to Jefferson Medical College, Women's Medical College and Hahnemann Medical School.

By the early 1970s, Philadelphia General Hospital no longer met modern standards for a hospital. Because of the need for extensive renovation necessary to meet the requirements of new fire and other life safety codes, the decision was made to close Philadelphia General Hospital in 1977 after over two hundred years of service to the city and citizens of Philadelphia.

Prior to the opening of the nursing school in 1885, much of the nursing care at Philadelphia Hospital was provided by inadequately trained persons including residents of the Indigent Home. School director Alice Fisher instructed her students to care not only for a patient's physical comforts but their mental happiness as well. Graduates of the school wore a cap known as "The Double Frill".

During the 1920s and 1930s, Philadelphia General Hospital served over 8,000 patients per year.

Resident physicians of the Philadelphia General Hospital, 1926-27.

The term resident physician at that time referred to the physicians who actually resided at the hospital. It was said that the medical experience gained after one year of service at Philadelphia General Hospital was equal to ten years in private practice.

By the early 1970s, Philadelphia General Hospital had the multiple roles of a hospital, a large nursing home and a home for the indigent.

Home for the Insane

Men's yard at the Home for the Insane, 1927.

The Home for the Insane known as "Byberry" was opened in 1906 in the northeastern part of the city. By transferring to "Byberry" those patients suffering from insanity, Philadelphia Hospital was able to relieve some of its overcrowded conditions. The Home was run by the Department of Public Health from 1919 until 1938, when it was transferred to the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare.