A Philadelphia Story. Lori Litchman

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      ■Friends Hospital is the oldest private psychiatric hospital in the nation. Quakers founded it in 1813 to provide dignity and support for those suffering from mental illness. It still operates today in northeast Philadelphia.

      End of an Era, Beginning of a Legacy

      IN HIS PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING BIOGRAPHY, Benjamin Franklin, author Carl Van Doren wrote, “No other town burying its great man, ever buried more of itself than Philadelphia with Franklin.” Franklin had had problems with his lungs for years when an abscess there finally burst, causing his death on April 17, 1790. He was buried four days later when an estimated 20,000 people (half of the city) attended his funeral. The nation mourned his loss. He is buried at Christ Church, where tourists can regularly visit his final resting place and toss pennies on his tombstone in the hopes that Franklin’s spirit will give them good luck. Christ Church also plays its own role in the founding of the nation, as men as prestigious as Franklin worshiped there in the nation’s infant years. It was founded in 1695, was the first Church of England parish in the colonies, and was the birthplace of the American Episcopal Church.