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In 1749, Benjamin Franklin, a prosperous, civic-minded printer recently retired from active business, turned his attention to a project that he had long envisioned: the creation of a new “academy” in Philadelphia. Franklin himself had humble origins in Boston and very little formal schooling, but he wanted this school to provide for the “compleat education of youth” in the colony. He recruited a group of Philadelphia elites, “some Persons of Leisure and publick Spirit,” to join with him as donors and Trustees of the institution.
Franklin specified “That a House be provided for the Academy, if not in the Town, not many Miles from it” and pointed out that if the school were to be located in Philadelphia, students could make use of “the Town Libraries”: his own Library Company and the scholarly library of James Logan. Thanks to some adept negotiations which he led, the school was able to move into the large “New Building” at 4th and Arch Streets.
The course of study proposed by Franklin was, if not entirely original, certainly innovative, focusing on English-language study, modern letters, oratory, history, mathematics, and practical skills. He and the Trustees recruited a dynamic educator: William Smith, a clergyman in New York. Aged only 27, Smith assumed the role of Provost, the leader of the schools, in 1754 (Penn did not have an additional “President” until 1930).
The school was not “secular” in a modern sense but non-denominational. Unlike other colonial colleges, it did not provide theological training. The major Protestant denominations of the city were carefully balanced: Smith, the Provost, had as Vice Provost Francis Alison, a learned Presbyterian minister of the “Old Side” (less evangelical) faction, and James Logan and later Isaac Norris as Quaker trustees. This non-denominational balance would prove transitory, however. Smith gained influence at the school and in the city, and by the 1750s it was clear to most observers that the school, despite Franklin’s ideals, was under strong Anglican influence. The Anglican hegemony was insured in 1764 when the Trustees mandated an Anglican majority on the Board.
Lamenting the lack of an educational institution in Philadelphia, Franklin anonymously printed and distributed this pamphlet in 1749 at his own expense. In it, he proposed the creation of an academy and detailed his ideas for the school's curriculum. Franklin successfully recruited support for the project, and the newly chartered "Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia" began holding classes in 1751.
Digital print by J. M. Duffin and Nancy L. Hagedorn, 2025. Base map: Plan of the Improved Part of the City, engraved map by Matthew Clarkson and Mary Biddle, after Nicolas Scull, 1762.
This digital project has traced all known owners of properties in colonial Philadelphia, linking to the City’s 1775 Constable Returns to show where people were living. Highlighted in blue are locations relevant to the College of Philadelphia (later the University of Pennsylvania), including its original location at 4th and Arch Streets (Labelled A).
