Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania

Technological progress in the early nineteenth century fostered an interest in the teaching of applied science and engineering. Harvard established the Lawrence Scientific School in 1846, Dartmouth began the Chandler Scientific School in 1852 and Yale began the Sheffield Scientific School in 1846. Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania was founded by Dr. Alfred L. Kennedy, who took specific inspiration from polytechnic schools in Europe, including the Polytechnische Schule of Carlsruhe and the L'Ecole Centrale des Arts of Paris.

Kennedy (1819-1896) studied civil and mining engineering as well as medicine, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1848. He pursued further study in Europe, studying physiology and physiological chemistry in Paris and Leipzig, and geology and botany in Paris. He lectured on medical chemistry at the Philadelphia College of Medicine and was elected professor there in 1849. In 1842, he started the Philadelphia School of Chemistry which became the Polytechnic in 1853 when it received its charter from Pennsylvania. Kennedy was made President and served until near the end of his life. Financial problems forced the school to close in 1890.[2]

The school was located at the corner of Market Street and West Penn Square in Philadelphia.[2]

• Rachel Bodley, Dean, Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania[2]
• John Birkinbine, mining engineer
• Allen Evans, partner of the architect Frank Furness[2]
• Louis Francine, Colonel who fought in the American Civil War in the Battle of Chancellorsville and the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was wounded and subsequently died[2]
• Rudolph Hunter, inventor, engineer and entrepreneur
• Joseph Earlston Thropp, United States Representative from Pennsylvania[2]