Dr. Anna E. Broomall (1847-1931)
Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Obstetrician, teacher, and surgeon, she established the first U.S. prenatal care clinic at Woman's Hospital of Woman's Medical College of Pa. and promoted nursing there. Her work related to episiotomies and cesarean sections reduced birth mortality. She lived near here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
At the turn of the twentieth century, a woman practicing surgery was a rarity, and prenatal care as we know it barely existed. Dr. Anna E. Broomall, trained at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, opened what is recognized as the first prenatal care clinic in the United States at the Woman's Hospital in Philadelphia. Her advances in obstetric surgery helped lower the toll that childbirth then took on mothers and infants. She spent her career teaching the next generation of women physicians.
Why it matters
Broomall helped establish prenatal care as standard medical practice and widened the door for women in American medicine, saving lives well beyond her own patients.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Bridgette Mayer12.4 mi away · 709 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Hill-Physick House12.5 mi away · 321 South 4th Street
- Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial12.5 mi away
- Congress Hall12.5 mi away · Philadelphia, PA
- Independence Hall12.5 mi away · 520 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Philosophical Hall12.6 mi away · PA
Attractions
- Commandant's Quarters9.8 mi away
- American Bandstand10.2 mi away
- Philadelphia Zoo11.5 mi away
- Pennsylvania Railroad, Connecting Railway Bridge11.7 mi away
- Rocky Steps11.8 mi away
- One Liberty Observation Deck11.8 mi away
Food & drink
- Talula's Garden12.3 mi away · 210 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA
- Talula's Daily12.3 mi away · 208 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA
- Fat Salmon12.4 mi away · 719 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Maya's Pizza & Grill12.4 mi away · 716 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Cafe Walnut12.4 mi away · 703 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Munchie’s Cafe12.4 mi away · 728 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places to stay
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Philadelphia Center City11.9 mi away · 237 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown - Center City11.9 mi away · 219 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Fairfield Inn & Suites11.9 mi away · 261 South 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Alexander Inn11.9 mi away · 301 301 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, Philadelphia, PA
- Holiday Inn Express12.0 mi away · 1305-11 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Residence Inn Philadelphia Center City12.1 mi away · 1 East Penn Square, Philadelphia, PA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Anna E. Broomall
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1909-1985)
Lansdowne, PA · est. 2015
From her home on Fairview Avenue in Lansdowne, Tatiana Proskouriakoff transformed the study of the ancient Maya. Her breakthrough paper showed that Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions recorded the histories of real rulers, opening a written past that scholars had thought unreadable. Her achievements earned the 1962 Kidder Award and, in 1984, Guatemala's Order of the Quetzal, its highest honor for a foreigner.
Ruth Plumly Thompson (1891-1976)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2018
When L. Frank Baum died in 1919, the beloved land of Oz might have faded away—except that Ruth Plumly Thompson took up his pen. From her Philadelphia home she wrote nineteen Oz books between 1921 and 1939, more than Baum himself, beginning with The Royal Book of Oz. Her steady output kept Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and their friends alive in children's imaginations right up to the 1939 MGM film that made them immortal.
Fanny M. Jackson Coppin
Thornbury Township, PA · est. 1986
Born into slavery, Fanny Jackson Coppin bought her way toward freedom and learning, graduating from Oberlin College in 1865. For more than three decades she led the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, pioneering industrial arts and formal teacher training for Black students. The school she guided endured and grew, becoming today's Cheyney University.
Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 1992
Laura Wheeler Waring built her career as a portrait painter in an era when few Black women found a place in the American art world. Trained in Philadelphia and in France, she captured the faces of leading African Americans and led the art department at Cheyney State College, shaping generations of students. Her portraits now hang in the National Portrait Gallery and other major collections.