The first class was graduated in 1826, receiving their degrees only after the disposition of a lawsuit seeking to close the school.[1] The first classes were held in the Tivoli Theater on Prune Street in Philadelphia, which had the first medical clinic attached to a medical school.[11] Owing to the teaching philosophy of Dr. McClellan, classes focused on clinical practice.[11] In 1828, the Medical Department moved to the Ely Building, which allowed for a large lecture space and the "Pit," a 700-seat amphitheater to allow students to view surgeries.[11] This building had an attached hospital, the second such medical school/hospital arrangement in the nation, servicing 441 inpatients and 4,659 outpatients in its first year of operation.[11] The future founder of gynecology J. Marion Sims studied there from 1834-1835, when he graduated.