University of Washington Libraries, Special CollectionsPH1477Wayside Mission Hospital (Seattle, Wash.)Wayside Mission
Hospital Photograph Collectionbetween 1900 and
190917 photographs (1 box)Collection materials are in
English.Photographs of
the Wayside Mission Hospital which was on the decommissioned steamboat IDAHO,
Seattle, WashingtonThe 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."
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.
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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.
Donor: The UW Department of Biomedical History Department, 1985.
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.
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
Soto, Alexander de (Doctor)--PhotographsWayside Mission Hospital (Seattle, Wash.)--ArchivesWayside Mission Hospital (Seattle, Wash.)--PhotographsHospitals--Washington (State)--Seattle--PhotographsPhysicians--Washington (State)--Seattle--PhotographsSteamboats--Washington (State)--Seattle--PhotographsSurgeons--Washington (State)--Seattle--PhotographsHospital ships--Washington (State)--Seattle--PhotographsPhotographsVisual Materials Collections (University of Washington)Medicine and HealthSeattlePhotographs
Portraits of Dr. Alexander de Soto1/11Portrait of Dr. Alexander de Sotocirca 1900Braas, Seattle 1/12Portrait of Dr. Alexander de Sotocirca 1900 1/13Portrait of Dr. Alexander de Sotocirca 1930's Wayside Mission Hospital1/24 Wayside Mission Hospital, housed in the steamboat
IDAHO, on the day of its openingcirca 1900Meyer, Seattle 1/25 Entrance to Wayside Mission Hospital, housed in the
steamboat IDAHOcirca 1900 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.
1/26Wedding on the deck of the Wayside Mission
Hospitalcirca 1900 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.]
1/37Hospital interior with hospital staff and possibly
patients in hallway with telephonecirca 1900 Dr. de Soto is in the back of the hallway in the doorway on the
left.
1/38 Hospital operating room with Dr. de Soto holding hand
of patient while administering anesthesiacirca 1900 Written on verso: Dr. de Soto holding hand of patient while
anesthesia is administered. Note surgical blood catcher on the wall.
1/39 Dr. de Soto performing surgery on a patient with his
assistants watching circa 1900 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.
1/310Hospital interior showing operating room with surgery
tablecirca 1900 Written on verso: Note equipment on table to catch blood.
1/311Hospital interior showing Pharmacy, medicines, and
dental extraction instruments, on table, with Dr. de Soto's quarters, in the
backgroundcirca 1900 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.
1/412Hospital interior showing patient ward with
bedscirca 1900 1/413Hospital interior showing nurse in a patient ward with
patientscirca 1900 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.
1/414Hospital interior showing Dr. de Soto and nurse with
patient and newborn childcirca 1900 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.
1/415Hospital interior showing Dr. Alexander de Soto's
quarterscirca 1900 Written on verso: Dr. de Soto's room aboard the Wayside Mission
Hospital. Note the pencil holder (skull).
1/516 Wayside Mission Hospital at the foot of Jackson
St.circa 1907 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.]
1/517 Decayed hull of Wayside Mission Hospital at the foot of
Jackson St.circa 1909