2 Mass. Hospitals Mark 200-Year Anniversary

State lawmakers are helping Massachusetts General Hospital and its McLean Hospital psychiatric affiliate celebrate an important birthday.

A ceremony was held on Friday to mark the 200-year anniversary of the founding of the hospital by an act of the Legislature. The ceremony took place in the Senate chamber, which in 1811 was where the House of Representatives met.

The 1811 charter created the first public hospital in Boston and the third general hospital in the United States. It also created the psychiatric department which would become McLean Hospital.

Representatives of the two Harvard-affiliated hospitals were on hand for Friday's event, as was an actor playing John Adams. The nation's second president was one of the original trustees of the hospital corporation.