Academy and College of Philadelphia

The College of Philadelphia was founded in 1755, when the academy's charter was amended to allow the granting of advanced academic degrees.

Benjamin Franklin was the first president of the board of trustees and authored the constitution for the academy, which was notable for its emphasis on modern languages and science in place of Latin and Greek.

The building that housed the academy had originally been set up in 1740 as a charity school supporting the ministry of George Whitefield with a hall for him to preach in, although Franklin, who had a hand in it, made sure its use was wider: Both house and ground were vested in trustees, expressly for the use of any preacher of any religious persuasion who might desire to say something to the people at Philadelphia; the design in building not being to accommodate any particular sect, but the inhabitants in general; so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.

Twenty-one members of the Continental Congress were graduates of the school, and nine signers of the Declaration of Independence were either alumni or trustees of the university.

Thomas Coombe, Jr., who had been a valedictorian, fled to England once the British army arrived in the colonies.

Academy and College of Philadelphia , a c. 1780 sketch by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere when the new building (left) was erected in 1740; the dormitory (right) was erected 25 years later, in 1765.