To the Senate and House of Representatives, of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Memorial of the MANAGERS of the PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL,
RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH,
THAT, in the beginning of the year 1751, a plan was presented to the Assem-
bly, for a Public Hospital, for the benevolent purpose of receiving and accommo-
dating the lunatics and sick poor of Pennsylvania.
THIS plan was approved of by the Legislature, who shewed a good disposition
to carry it into effect, but they had some doubts of encouraging the building for fear
that individual contributions would not be raised in proportion to legislative aids.
A TRIAL however was soon made—the Assembly gave in May following, two
thousand pounds, towards erecting the eastern wing of the Hospital, embracing at
that time the idea of extending it at a future day, whenever the circumstances of
the province should require its enlargement : To this gift they annexed a
condition, that the money should not be paid, until the contributors should raise by
subscription an equal sum for the same use. This was soon done, and in a
short time more was subscribed than the act required. The institution was
then organized, and twelve Managers, a Treasurer, and six Physicians were cho-
sen, who freely undertook the service of the House, for the sake of the sick and suf-
fering poor. A charter was also procured, which provided, that Committees of the
house of Assembly should visit the Hospital, whenever it appeared proper to them,
that the annual accounts should be submitted to the house, that the laws and rules,
for the election of Managers and Physicians should be approved, by the Chief Justice
and Attorney General—and finally, to shew, that every object of the contributors
tended to the public weal, a clause was inserted, by which the Hospital, with all its
property was to escheat to the province, in case the contributors should fail. Thus
in the early settlement of Pennsylvania, the Hospital took its rise, the Legislature
became its patron, and every humane citizen, its friend.
BY a combination of public and private exertions of so many charitably-
disposed people in the province, the Managers were enabled to finish the eastern
apartments ; but the two thousand pounds which the Assembly gave, and the first
contributions that were raised, were expended in the building ; it therefore became
necessary to procure a reimbursement of this money to the capital stock : for which
reason the Managers petitioned the Assembly to replace it. The prayer of this
petition was readily granted, by which eventually, the Legislature had the
exclusive honor, of raising the first asylum of the kind, that was known in the
state, if not in the Union, for the most afflicted and helpless class of people, both in
body and mind. To the humane citizens of Pennsylvania and to many benevolent
persons in England, and in other parts of the world, the credit of endowing the
institution with funds to support it, unquestionably belongs.—Such liberality is
not to be found in the annals of this country, in which a private association of gen-
tlemen, who had no personal emoluments in view, have freely subscribed a pro-
ductive stock of twenty thousand five hundred and eighty-five pounds, ten shillings
and four pence, for the use of the poor. In addition to this sum, they have added
to the Hospital estate, two valuable lots of ground, to be kept open for ever for the
benefit of fresh and wholesome air for the patients. To prove that the con-
tributors have rendered this important service to the country, the Managers can
appeal to the annual accounts which were rendered to your predecessors in the year
1774, all of which they presume are carefully preserved among the archives of the
state.
ABOUT this time the affairs of the Hospital were in a prosperous condition—
when alas ! by events inseparable from the war which occasioned the late revolution,
the contributors lost above ten thousand pounds—this shock in the infancy of
the institution, paralised the active operations of the Managers for several years,but
as the native, benevolent spirit of Pennsylvanians was yet alive to the miseries of
their suffering fellow-citizens, the Managers were encouraged to reassume their la-
bors. And now when peace returned to heal the wounds of a long war, and the lap
of industry was filled with the profits of agriculture and commerce, the Managers
fought for new contributions, which they received from many charitable citizens ;

by these means the capital was partly restored, so that in 1793, it amounted to se-
venteen thousand and sixty-five pounds eleven shillings and ten pence.
AT this time it became indispensably necessary to enlarge the Pennsylvania
Hospital, so as to admit a greater number of lunatics who with other patients were
increased with the growing population of the state, and for whom the old apart-
ments of the house were inconvenient and wholly insufficient.
TO effect this enlargement of the building the Managers submitted a new plan,
nearly resembling the original plan of the Hospital, with an address to the Legis-
lature. They approved thereof,and gave ten thousand pounds towards carrying it
on, to be paid out of the Loan-Office fund of the year 1773.
Of this sum the Managers have received but, - £7696 14 1
In addition to which, on a further application the Legislature,
gave in 1796 - 9375 0 0 
THOSE monies amounting to - £l7071 14 1
are the total amount of all the cash received from the Legislature to this time, for
the above purpose,and they are all expended in carrying on the work.
IN addition to what has been already procured, there will be wanted, agreea-
bly to a report of the building Committee, which is now submitted to the consider-
ation of the House, viz.—
To pay the money that is borrowed - 1811 6 2
To pay unsettled  accounts, - 2000 0 0
And to finish the building, - 4570 5 2
Total required to complete the estimate, is - £8381 11 4
Of this sum the Managers are in hopes to collect the balance re-
maining due of the £10,000 given from the Loan-Office fund,
viz. - 2303 5 11
There will then be wanted, in cash, - £6078 5 5
to  complete  the whole, besides the £2303 5 11, which is to
be applied to the same use when collected.
THE Managers further  represent  to  the  Legislature of the state, that chiefly by
the monies they have given them, the east and western apartments of the Hospital
are closed and  that about fifty-two lunatic patients, besides others, are now
accommodated in them ; but the middle house,which is the proper center of com-
munication with all parts of the family, is open to the roof, the outward walls only
being carried up, so that the valuable work that is already done, with many mate-
rials provided to  carry it on, are exposed to the weather and in danger of being des-
troyed.
CONSIDERING this, and that former Assemblies have thought the institution of so
much importance to the state,as to give towards the whole building, at  different
times, twenty-five thousand pounds of the public money, to raise it to its present
condition, the Managers are unwilling to believe, that the Legislature will desert it in
this imperfect situation, when about six thousand pounds will probably secure
the benefits their predecessors intended their constituents should derive from the
liberal contributions they have already made.
THE Managers therefore, in behalf of the contributors, apply for  six  thou-
sand and seventy-eight pounds,to finish the House. And when they cal your serious
attention to the records of this useful institution, which have been faithfully laid
before the Legislature every year, for more than forty years past. When they re-
mind you that the numerous and various cases which are attended in the Hospital
have been the means of alluring Students from every state in the Union, and there-
by of spreading the reputation of Pennsylvania with medical knowledge, to distant
parts of  the world—and lastly, when you find, (which  is a truth upon record)
that the contributors to this institution have assisted about nine thousand inhabi-
tants of the state whose citizens you now represent, who have been afflicted with
madness, casualties, and almost every disease that affects the mind and bodies of
men, and that they have been the means of preserving several thousand of the
lives of those distressed people, they trust and believe you will not require a more
powerful address to your feelings than this appeal, to induce a cheerful and  rea-
dy compliance with the prayer  of this, their earnest petition.
Signed by order of a Board of Managers,
SAMUEL COATES, Secretary. JOSIAH HEWES, President.
12th Month, 28th, 1797.