627 Arch Street, Philadelphia

Prior ­to 1850, women practiced medicine in their communities and worked as nurses and midwives, but had no opportunities to formally train, and be recognized, as physicians. Many thought that it was improper for women to study medical subjects and anatomy alongside men, if at all, and were opposed to women entering medicine as professionals. Others thought it was more appropriate for a female physician, instead of a male physician, to treat female patients. It was in this time that a small group of Philadelphia Quakers began to imagine a future where women were professional physicians, appropriately educated with a medical degree, and serving their communities equally with their male counterparts.  In 1850, they founded the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first medical school in the nation and the world to train women as physicians.

Female Medical College was the first medical school in the United States to train women as physicians and grant them medical degrees. The College allowed women to be recognized, as men were, for the study and practice of medicine and gave women the opportunity to follow a professional career path.