Was a time in the early history of the United States when Etienne Girard was the richest man in…read moreAmerica. A Frenchman who first visited just before the Revolution, he settled in Philadelphia to conduct his extremely profitable businesses in shipping and banking. Changing his name to Stephen Girard he was a key to the economic and social life of the Pennsylvania Colony and then the Commonwealth and the new nation. When the charter of the First National Bank of the United States was not renewed, it was Girard who purchased the bank and its assets, and became a multimillionaire making loans to both government and businesses throughout the Original 13 and beyond.
He was also a philanthropist of the first order. In his spare time he donated to many charities and set up many others to help the poor and unfortunate. But, more unfortunately, Girard was also a product of his social melieu in the 18th Century, and decided to keep slaves in his Philadelphia home, farm and other holdings throughout the city. Too, in his very elaborate will, he directed the founding of a school for white male orphans only, to be named Girard College.
The institution exists to this day, funded by his huge endowment. Its 43 acres just off the avenue that bears his name in Sharswood, remained faithful to his bequest until the passage of the 14th Amendment. Lengthy litigation followed, and ultimately liberated the institution from its untoward beginnings, allowing it to become open to boys and girls regardless of race, as long as they were in need and came from broken homes. Sadly, the board of directors was the last to abandon Girard's wishes, justifying their behavior as loyalty to their benefactor's voice from the grave.
Today, the student body is majority minority. Full tuition, room and board are provided to all. The original sins of Stephen Girard have been quieted, but can never be forgotten. The beautiful campus of neo classical Greek Revivalist architecture, old trees and deeply shaded walkways across green lawns and gardens, now witnesses excellent education provided through the auspices of the founder who, for all his wealth, never imagined that it would and should be used for this exceptional American purpose - the learning of all deserving children, regardless of who they were, nor from which strata of society they came.
