Philadelphia University Philadelphia University was originally known as "Philadelphia Textile School" when it was founded in 1884, and then "Philadelphia Textile Institute" for 20 years (1942–1961), "Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science" for 38 years (1962–1999), and Philadelphia University for 18 years (1999–2017), its final name before merging with Thomas Jefferson University. At the 1876
Centennial Exposition, local
textile manufacturers noticed that Philadelphia's textile industry was falling behind its rivals' capacity, technology, and ability. In 1880, they formed the Philadelphia Association of Manufacturers of Textile Fabrics, with
Theodore C. Search as its president, to fight for higher
tariffs on imported textiles and to educate local textile leaders. Search joined the board of directors of the Philadelphia Museum and School of Industrial Art (now the
Philadelphia Museum of Art and formerly the
University of the Arts which has since dissolved), thinking it the perfect partner for his plans for a school, and began fundraising in 1882. In early 1884, Search himself taught the first classes of the Philadelphia Textile School to five students at 1336 Spring Garden Street. The school was officially opened on November 5, 1884. The school moved to 1303-1307 Buttonwood Street in 1891, then moved again in 1893. Enrollment had been growing steadily and the school was turning away "bright young fellows" for lack of space. The school acquired the former
Philadelphia Institute of the Deaf and Dumb on the corner of Broad and Spruce Streets, which allowed rapid expansion of academic offerings and capacity of students. In 1942, the school was granted the right to award
baccalaureate degrees and changed its name to the Philadelphia Textile Institute (PTI). In 1949, having decided to break its ties with the museum, PTI moved to its present site in the
East Falls section of Philadelphia. In 1961, the school changed its name again, to Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, but was still known as Philadelphia Textile for short. The university's student population doubled between 1954 and 1964, and doubled again by 1978, with programs in the arts, sciences, and business administration being introduced. The college purchased an adjoining property in 1972, doubling the size of its campus. In 1976, it offered its first graduate degree, the
Master of Business Administration. The purchase of additional properties in East Falls in 1980 and 1988 nearly doubled the campus again, adding classrooms, research laboratories, student residences, and athletic facilities. In 1992, the
Paul J. Gutman Library opened. During the 1990s, the college began to offer undergraduate majors in a wider range of fields, resulting in the college being granted university status by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1999. The board of trustees voted to change the college's name to Philadelphia University, on July 13, 1999. The school preferred the longer abbreviation of "PhilaU", rather than the simple two-letter abbreviation of "PU", due to the latter's oft-mocked connection with other "PU"-abbreviated schools as an
onomatopoetic term for
body odor.
Thomas Jefferson University , the first home of the Jefferson Medical College, c. 1824–28 Thomas Jefferson University began as a medical school. During the early 19th century, several attempts to create a second medical school in Philadelphia had been stymied, largely by
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine alumni. In an attempt to circumvent that opposition, a group of Philadelphia physicians led by
George McClellan sent an 1824 letter to the trustees of Jefferson College (now
Washington & Jefferson College) in
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, asking them to establish a medical department in Philadelphia. The trustees agreed, establishing the "Medical Department of Jefferson College in Philadelphia" in 1825. An additional 10 Jefferson College trustees, including
Joel Barlow Sutherland, were appointed to supervise the new facility from Philadelphia, owing to the difficulty of managing a medical department on the other side of the state. Owing to the teaching philosophy of Dr. McClellan, classes focused on clinical practice. At this time, all instructors, including McClellan, were vacated from the school and the trustees hired all new individuals to teach. This has been considered the time at which the school came to be considered a "legitimate" medical school. In 1841, Jefferson Medical College hired what would be dubbed "The Faculty of '41", an influential collection of professors including
Charles Delucena Meigs and
Mütter Museum founder Thomas Dent Mütter. This collection of professors would institute numerous changes to Jefferson—including providing patient beds over a shop at 10th and Sansom Streets in 1844—and the staff would remain unchanged for 15 years. The graduating class of 1849 included a son of college founder
Joel Barlow Sutherland,
Charles Sutherland, who went on to serve as
Surgeon General of the United States Army. In 1882, a
Philadelphia Press newspaper story sparked a sensational trial after a journalist caught
body snatchers stealing corpses and providing them to Jefferson Medical College for use as
cadavers by medical students. Four grave robbers were arrested and sentenced to
Moyamensing Prison for stealing bodies and selling them to Jefferson Medical College at the rate of $8 a body. The renowned surgeon and Jefferson Medical College anatomy professor,
William S. Forbes, was arrested for his role in the grave robbery but was acquitted Due in part to the Lebanon Cemetery grave robbery scandal, the
Pennsylvania Anatomy Act of 1883 was passed which provided for legal means by which medical colleges could obtain cadavers without having to buy them from grave robbers. A 125-bed hospital, one of the first in the nation affiliated with a medical school, opened in 1877, and a school for nurses began in 1891. The Medical College became Thomas Jefferson University on July 1, 1969. As an academic health care center, Jefferson is currently involved in education, medical research, and patient care. Jefferson Medical College is the 9th oldest American medical school that is in existence today. In January 2007, the university sold
Thomas Eakins' painting
The Gross Clinic, which depicts a surgery that took place at the school, for $68 million, to the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in association with the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. A reproduction hangs in its place at Jefferson University. On June 17, 2014,
Sidney Kimmel Foundation donated $110 million to Jefferson Medical College, prompting the announcement that Jefferson Medical College would be renamed Sidney Kimmel Medical College. It was the largest donation received in its history.
Merger In May 2017, Thomas Jefferson University and Philadelphia University announced that they would merge under the name Thomas Jefferson University.
Affiliations Latrobe Hospital, as well as other hospitals, are affiliated with the Jefferson Medical College. ==Academics==