Massachusetts General Hospital opens.

It is located at today’s 55 Fruit Street. Incorporated on February, 25, 1811, it is the first general hospital in New England and third in the U.S. (after Philadelphia in 1756 and New York City in 1791). its creation was promoted by physician James Jackson and surgeon John Collins Warren. The building’s cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1818. The first patient is a 30-year old sailor suffering from syphilis (the hospital is careful to note that he contracted the disease in New York) and he dies nine months later, probably from the mercury used to treat him. The hospital becomes a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in 1783.* A new main hospital is built in 1939.* The hospital merges with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1994.*