What is the oldest college in Pennsylvania?

Matt Benedetto
·2 min read

(WHTM) – Pennsylvania is home to around 300 colleges, universities, and technical schools, but which one is the oldest in the Keystone State?

The oldest college in Pennsylvania dates back to 1740 when an idea was formed to create a Philadelphia charity school but it wouldn’t be finished for another decade.

This idea and building transformed into another idea made by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, thus creating the University of Pennsylvania. Although the building wouldn’t open until 1751.

  • Locust Walk with students in fall, University of Pennsylvania, University City area, Philadelphia, PA, USA
    Locust Walk with students in fall, University of Pennsylvania, University City area, Philadelphia, PA, USA
  • Center City skyline & Franklin Field, Philadelphia, PA
    Center City skyline & Franklin Field, Philadelphia, PA
  • University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
    University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

According to UPenn, Franklin served as the president from opening until 1755, then he served as a trustee until 1790.

The difference between the University of Pennsylvania and other colonial colleges is that UPenn was created for students to learn business, government, and public service instead of educating students for the Christian ministry.

What is the oldest building in Pennsylvania?

This idea was unique to the times as many saw them as radical and even refused to implement the ideas.

UPenn states that William Smith, Penn’s first provost would return the university to traditional educational ways once taking over for Franklin.

Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston but made his way to Philadelphia to start a printing business.

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According to History, Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence, negotiate the Treaty of Paris, and was a delegate to the convention that created the U.S. Constitution, making him a Founding Father.

Benjamin Franklin’s History states that he was a “scientist, inventor, politician, philanthropist, and businessman.”

UPenn currently has 190 research centers and institutes on campus, 28,201 students, and around 100 majors.

The five oldest colleges in Pennsylvania are:

  1. University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia (1740)

  2. Moravian College – Bethlehem (1742)

  3. Dickinson College – Carlisle (1773)

  4. Washington and Jefferson College – Washington (1781)

  5. Tie – Franklin and Marshall College – Lancaster and University of Pittsburgh (1787)

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