Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Wayside Mission Hospital Photograph Collection, between 1900 and 1909
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Wayside Mission Hospital (Seattle, Wash.)
- Title
- Wayside Mission Hospital Photograph Collection
- Dates
- between 1900 and
1909 (inclusive)19001909
- Quantity
- 17 photographs (1 box)
- Collection Number
- PH1477
- Summary
- Photographs of the Wayside Mission Hospital which was on the decommissioned steamboat IDAHO, Seattle, Washington
- Repository
-
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries' Digital Collections website. Permission of Visual Materials Curator is required to view originals. Contact Special Collections for more information.
- Languages
- English
Historical BackgroundReturn to Top
The port and waterfront was home to many of the Seattle's destitute and homeless during the turn-of-the-century. There was little emergency medical care for these people. On April 1, 1899, a group of philanthropic citizens formed the Seattle Benevolent Society, which purchased the de-commissioned side-wheel steamboat IDAHO , and refitted it as an emergency hospital for Seattle's indigent population. The IDAHO was placed on pilings alongside the Pacific Coast Steamship Co.'s, Pier C, at the foot of Jackson Street and was re-opened as the Wayside Mission Hospital. It operated as Seattle's emergency hospital, serving the drug addicted and those who could not afford medical care. In 1907, due to structural failures, the IDAHO was abandoned and hospital activities moved ashore, near 2nd Ave. and Republican St. The hospital ultimately closed, in 1909, when the city opened its own 41-bed emergency hospital in the Public Safety Building. During construction of a sea wall along Seattle's south waterfront, between 1910 to 1920, the IDAHO was moved and buried, as fill, near the foot of Washington St. In 1960, on National Maritime Day, a historical marker was placed at the location of its resting place. The marker reads, "BENEATH YOUR FEET LIES THE WRECKAGE OF THE PIONEER SIDEWHEEL STEAMER "IDAHO", WHICH SERVED FROM 1900 UNTIL 1909 AS DR. ALEXANDER DE SOTO'S FAMOUS WAYSIDE MISSION HOSPITAL. HERE DR. DE SOTO MINISTERED TO THE NEEDS OF SEAFARERS AND THE DESTITUTE, DONATING HIS TIME AND FUNDS TO THEIR CARE."
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Includes portraits of Dr. Alexander de Soto, an orignal trustee of the Seattle Benevolent Society, and manager of the hospital from 1899 until 1904, as well as interior and exterior views of the Wayside Mission Hospital.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Alternative Forms Available
View the digital version of the collection
Restrictions on Use
Status of creator's copyrights is unknown; restrictions may exist on copying, quotation, or publication. Users are responsible for researching copyright status before use.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Custodial History
Around November, 1965, Ruth DeSoto-Herold, daughter of Dr. Alexander de Soto, donated a collection of photographs, news clippings and medical instruments, related to Dr. de Soto and the Wayside Mission Hospital, to the University of Washington Biomedical History Department, via King County Medical Society's Historical Committee.
Acquisition Information
Donor: The UW Department of Biomedical History Department, 1985.
Processing Note
Processed by John Gerhard, 2017.
Four photographs transferred from Seattle Subject File, PH1296, 2017. Thirteen photographs transferred from Charles W. Bodemer Papers, 1824-1984, Accession No. 3379-003, 2017.
Bibliography
The Commonwealth , Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903, Vol 2, No. 11
The Seattle Sunday Times , May 15, 1955, pg 144
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer , Sun. May 22, 1960, pg 2
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Portraits of Dr. Alexander de SotoReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Box/Folder | item | ||
1/1 | 1 |
Portrait of Dr. Alexander de Soto Braas, Seattle (Photographer)
|
circa 1900 |
1/1 | 2 | circa 1900 | |
1/1 | 3 | circa 1930's |
Wayside Mission HospitalReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Box/Folder | item | ||
1/2 | 4 |
Wayside Mission Hospital, housed in the steamboat
IDAHO, on the day of its opening Meyer, Seattle (Photographer)
|
circa 1900 |
1/2 | 5 |
Entrance to Wayside Mission Hospital, housed in the
steamboat IDAHO From the periodical, The
Commonwealth, Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903, Vol 2, No. 11, pg 3: The
Wayside Mission, whose habituation and hospital is the old Sound steamer
“IDAHO” at the foot of Jackson street. This half tone shows the old boat raised
on a “gridiron,” established at a large outlay of money and labor.
|
circa 1900 |
1/2 | 6 |
Wedding on the deck of the Wayside Mission
Hospital From the periodical, The
Commonwealth, Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903, Vol 2, No. 11, pg 3: The
bride in this scene has been one of the inmates of the hospital, and latterly a
nurse in its service. The groom is one of Seattle’s most industrious and most
promising young citizens. Several wedding scenes of this kind have brightened
the tragic life of the Wayside Mission. [ Dr. Alexander de Soto is pictured
near the right of the group with his arms around two boys.]
|
circa 1900 |
1/3 | 7 |
Hospital interior with hospital staff and possibly
patients in hallway with telephone Dr. de Soto is in the back of the hallway in the doorway on the
left.
|
circa 1900 |
1/3 | 8 |
Hospital operating room with Dr. de Soto holding hand
of patient while administering anesthesia Written on verso: Dr. de Soto holding hand of patient while
anesthesia is administered. Note surgical blood catcher on the wall.
|
circa 1900 |
1/3 | 9 |
Dr. de Soto performing surgery on a patient with his
assistants watching From the periodical, The
Commonwealth, Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903, Vol 2, No. 11, pg 3:
Surgical ward of the Wayside Mission Hospital, where almost every day the
frequent accidents of the industrial waterfront are treated and where emergency
cases receive quick and expert care. This is one of the special advantages of
this location.
|
circa 1900 |
1/3 | 10 |
Hospital interior showing operating room with surgery
table Written on verso: Note equipment on table to catch blood.
|
circa 1900 |
1/3 | 11 |
Hospital interior showing Pharmacy, medicines, and
dental extraction instruments, on table, with Dr. de Soto's quarters, in the
background From the periodical, The
Commonwealth, Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903, Vol 2, No. 11, pg 3: Section
of the Wayside Mission Hospital, showing the free dispensary, where
prescriptions are filled and all needed medicines supplied without prying into
the deserving or undeserving character of the sick and poor.
|
circa 1900 |
1/4 | 12 | circa 1900 | |
1/4 | 13 |
Hospital interior showing nurse in a patient ward with
patients From the periodical, The
Commonwealth, Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903, Vol 2, No. 11, pg 3: The
ward room of the Wayside Mission Hospital ship. Here the kindly humanitarianism
of the founder has provided a place, enviable indeed, for the pain-racked or
fever-burned unfortunate.
|
circa 1900 |
1/4 | 14 |
Hospital interior showing Dr. de Soto and nurse with
patient and newborn child From the periodical, The
Commonwealth, Seattle, Wash., May 23, 1903, Vol 2, No. 11, pg 3: Mother
and child, inmates of the Wayside Mission Hospital, where the child was born.
The physician in the picture is Dr. de Soto, the founder of the Mission, and
always in close association with its work and in sympathy with its sorrows and
joys.
|
circa 1900 |
1/4 | 15 |
Hospital interior showing Dr. Alexander de Soto's
quarters Written on verso: Dr. de Soto's room aboard the Wayside Mission
Hospital. Note the pencil holder (skull).
|
circa 1900 |
1/5 | 16 |
Wayside Mission Hospital at the foot of Jackson
St. Written on verso: Wayside Mission Hospital. Seattle's first
established hospital built 1891 on the hull of the old steamship,
Idaho, by Dr. Alexander de Soto, son of a Spanish
General, and Capt. Amos O. Benjamin, pioneer shipmaster. It was moored at the
foot of Jackson St. and was supported by citizens who banded together under the
name of the Seattle Benevolent Society. [The text on verso is incorrect. It was
not the 'first established hospital,' it was the first emergency hospital. It
was not built in 1891, it was built in 1899.]
|
circa 1907 |
1/5 | 17 | circa 1909 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Hospital ships--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
- Hospitals--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
- Physicians--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
- Steamboats--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
- Surgeons--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
Personal Names
- Soto, Alexander de (Doctor)--Photographs
Corporate Names
- Wayside Mission Hospital (Seattle, Wash.)--Archives
- Wayside Mission Hospital (Seattle, Wash.)--Photographs
Form or Genre Terms
- Photographs
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)