Even More Pennsylvania Firsts

1831: The Oxford Provident, the first building and loan association in America, was established at Frankford, Pennsylvania on January 31, 1831.

1831: On April 25, 1831, Matthias Baldwin tested the first locomotive which established the largest locomotive building works in the world.


1834: The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began the first systematic study of meteorology in the aid of agriculture.

Address: The Franklin Institute, 220 North 20th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103; 212-448-1200. Web: http://www.fi.edu.

1835: The city of Philadelphia began laying the first gas pipes in the U.S.

1848: The first regularly published comic paper, the John-Donkey, was published in Philadelphia.



1852: The Female Medical College of Philadelphia (later Woman's Medical College) granted the first medical degree for women in America. In recent years, the college has joined with Drexel University's college of medicine.

"Drexel University College of Medicine ... is the consolidation of two venerable medical schools with rich and intertwined histories: Hahnemann Medical College and Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Established in 1848 and 1850, respectively, they were two of the earliest medical colleges in the United States, and Woman's was the very first medical school for women in the nation."

Address: Drexel University College of Medicine, Queen Lane Medical Campus, 2900 W. Queen Lane, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19129; 215-991-8100. Web: http://www.drexelmed.edu.