Mercy Hospital and School for Nurses of Philadelphia charter

Item

Identifier: MSS 6/002

Scope and Contents

Charter listing purpose and objects of Mercy Hospital and School for Nurses of Philadelphia and names and function of corporators and directors. Seals detached.

Manuscript copy available at City of Philadelphia Department of Records.

Dates

1906

Creator

Mercy Hospital and School for Nurses (Philadelphia, Pa.) (Organization)

Biographical / Historical

The Mercy Hospital and School for Nurses of Philadelphia was founded in 1906 by Dr. Eugene Hinson and a group of other physicians from the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital who were unsatisfied with Dr. Mossell’s leadership. Mercy Hospital opened in 1907 at 17th and Fitzwater Streets and was the second hospital in Philadelphia led by Black doctors treating Black patients. By 1919 the hospital had expanded and moved to the building at 50th and Woodlawn. Mercy Hospital maintained funding and a good reputation throughout the 1920s, but the Great Depression brought financial struggles from which it never fully recovered. In 1947, a joint committee conducted a survey and concluded that neither institution could survive on its own. In 1948, the two hospitals merged to establish the Mercy-Douglass Hospital in West Philadelphia. The training school recessed from 1957-to 1958, reopened in 1959, and graduated its last class in 1960. The Mercy-Douglass Hospital closed in 1973.

Extent

1 folder : 1 oversize folder

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Physical Location

Flat file case 1, drawer 1

Contents: 1 charter

Bibliography

Locklear, Jessica Markey. “Mercy-Douglass Hospital School of Nursing | Exhibits - Explore the Story of Women’s Activism through Documents & Images.” In Her Own Right, PACSCL, inherownright.org/spotlight/featured-exhibits/feature/mercy-douglass-hospital-school-of-nursing. Accessed 23 June 2026.

Schauffler, Moyra. “The Rise and Decline of African-American Hospitals in Philadelphia.” Hidden City, hiddencityphila.org/2020/10/the-rise-and-decline-of-african-american-hospitals-in-philadelphia/. Accessed 23 June 2026.