A city's answer to need
In the years following the Revolutionary War, medical care in Boston came at a price few could afford, leaving the city's most vulnerable residents with nowhere to turn. In 1796, a group of prominent Bostonians resolved to change that. Through their collective generosity, the Boston Dispensary was born: the first permanent medical institution in New England, and the third in the nation.
The model was straightforward: donor generosity, directly converted into care. By purchasing an annual subscription—$5 to recommend two patients to a district physician, or $50 to do so for life—Bostonians of means could connect their neighbors to the care they needed. More than 100 original donors contributed, raising enough to treat 80 patients in the first year.
From its earliest days, this institution was built not on wealth or prestige, but on the conviction that every person deserved care. Adopting the parable of the Good Samaritan as its mission and logo, the founders embraced the idea that the obligation to care extended to everyone. That conviction was funded, championed and sustained by donors who understood that compassion without resources cannot endure.
Founding fathers, founding donors
Among the original subscribers to the Boston Dispensary were names that had already shaped a nation. Samuel Adams, eulogized as "the Father of the American Revolution," was among the first to invest. Paul Revere, famous for his midnight ride, was a subscriber as well. His receipt from 1812 remains as evidence of a generosity that made an impact for centuries.
Gifts that built a foundation
The spirit of generosity that defined the Dispensary's founding never faded. In the two centuries that followed, a handful of individuals ensured that care remained available to all who needed it. In 1838, inventor Benjamin Dearborn bequeathed $90,000 to the institution. His generosity funded its first permanent building, which housed a surgical clinic that expanded the reach and quality of care.
Nearly a century later, William Bingham II gave more than $7 million to the Dispensary. Throughout the 1930s, he funded multiple new buildings, underwrote clinic deficits and covered staff salaries, ensuring the institution could grow without compromising access to care. Out of his own gratitude, he insisted the new diagnostic hospital he funded be named for Joseph Pratt, the Dispensary’s physician-in-chief who had treated him—a name the clinic still carries today. Bingham's vision extended far beyond Boston: the Bingham Associates Program, which championed regional medical care, helped lay the groundwork for the federal Hill-Burton Act of 1946, which funded the construction of hundreds of hospitals across the country.
Our story, still being written
Today, Tufts Medicine carries forward that same founding spirit. As we mark 230 years of service alongside our nation's 250th anniversary, philanthropy remains central to our mission. It is what empowers us to reimagine how care is delivered, pioneer discovery and educate the next generation of healers, so that every patient, regardless of circumstance, receives the care they deserve.
Be part of what comes next
Your generosity today honors 230 years of compassion and helps define the next chapter of care. Become part of the story that Samuel Adams and Paul Revere helped begin.
