Stephen Girard

Stephen Girard was a French-born merchant, shipowner and banker who became one of the wealthiest men in the early United States. During the 1793 yellow fever epidemic he volunteered to manage Bush Hill hospital with Peter Helm, improving sanitation, supplies and patient care and appointing Jean Devèze as its principal physician.

Girard’s management of Bush Hill was a major part of Philadelphia’s emergency response to yellow fever, and he later became a nationally important financier and philanthropist. Stephen Girard also worked as Merchant and banker and Manager of Bush Hill hospital.

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever 1793, Separated from family and forced to act for herself, Mattie eventually reaches the Bush Hill hospital reorganised by Stephen Girard and is treated by Jean Devèze.