Sign In

- Or use -
Forgot Password Create Account
Description

Striking view of the Girard College for Orphans, designed by Thomas Ustick Walter and engraved by A.W. Graham.

Girard College was founded in 1833 and opened on January 1, 1848. Founded by Stephen Girard, the school was intended as a school for poor, orphaned boys who had lost their fathers. As noted in the Wikipedia entry for Girard College:

Girard's vision for the school can best be understood in the context of early 19th-century Philadelphia. The city was at the forefront of creating innovative American institutions designed to solve a specific social challenge, such as the Eastern State Penitentiary (humane incarceration), the Pennsylvania Hospital (mental illness), the Pennsylvania Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb (disabilities), and the Franklin Institute (scientific knowledge). Girard chose to dedicate his immense fortune to help educate Americans for the future.