Editing Benjamin Franklin (section)

== Civic Institutions ==

Franklin's civic contributions to Philadelphia were extraordinary. He founded or helped establish numerous institutions that continue to serve the city today:

=== Library Company of Philadelphia (1731) ===
Recognizing that by pooling resources, members could afford to buy books from England that none could purchase individually, Franklin founded America's first subscription library. The Library Company still operates today as an independent research library.

=== Union Fire Company (1736) ===
Franklin organized Philadelphia's first fire company, establishing the model of volunteer fire departments that would spread throughout colonial America.

=== American Philosophical Society (1743) ===
Franklin founded this learned society to promote scientific inquiry, making it the oldest such organization in the United States. The society still occupies its original home on Independence Square.

=== University of Pennsylvania (1749) ===
Franklin's proposal for an "Academy of Philadelphia" led to the establishment of what would become the [[University of Pennsylvania]], the first institution of higher learning in America to offer a practical curriculum alongside classical studies. Penn remains one of the nation's premier universities and a major Philadelphia employer.<ref name="mountvernon">{{cite web |url=https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/benjamin-franklin |title=Benjamin Franklin |publisher=George Washington's Mount Vernon |access-date=December 22, 2025}}</ref>

=== Pennsylvania Hospital (1751) ===
Working with Dr. Thomas Bond, Franklin helped establish [[Pennsylvania Hospital]], the first hospital in the American colonies. Franklin's fundraising genius—matching private donations with public funds—created a model still used in philanthropy today.

=== Insurance Company ===
Franklin helped establish the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire (1752), the oldest property insurance company in the United States.