Seattle physician and surgeon Park Weed Willis was born in Umatilla County, Oregon, on July 10, 1867. His parents, William McCellan and Mary Arabella Keyes Willis, moved to Oregon after their marriage in Iowa. After attending the University of Washington in the winter of 1883-1884, Willis transferred to Whitman College in the fall of 1884. It was at Whitman that he decided to study medicine and, following his graduation in 1888, pursued his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania. After earning his M.D. in 1891, Willis returned to the west coast, where he began his practice in Seattle in 1892. Among the many places he worked was the Children’s Orthopedic Hospital, where he performed the first surgical operation at that hospital when it opened in 1907. He was also on the staff of the Seattle General Hospital and the King County Hospital.
Willis was respected for his work both locally and nationally. He was the first president of the Washington State Medical Association, a secretary and president of the King County Medical Society, and a member of the Seattle Surgical Society, the Pacific Northwest Surgical Society, and the Pacific Coast Surgical Association. He was also one of the founders of the American College of Surgeons in 1913, and a fellow of the American Medical Association.
On June 15, 1892, Willis married Georgeanna Clark in Pennsylvania. The couple then immediately headed west, and remained in Walla Walla, Washington, for a few weeks before arriving in Seattle on August 4, 1892. They had two children, Park Weed Willis, Jr. and Cecil D. Willis, and eight grandchildren. Park Weed Willis died at age 91 on October 26, 1958.
Willis was also active in civic affairs and had a wide range of non-professional interests. He was the co-founder and president of the Seattle Community Chest, and a trustee of Whitman College from 1909 to 1949. He enjoyed duck hunting and belonged to the Swinomish Gun Club. In addition, he was the president of the Pioneer Association of Washington and the Monday Club, and was a member of the Rainier Club and the Washington Athletic Club. Willis was also a livestock breeder and bred the largest herd of pure Guernsey cattle in the northwest at his Orchard Hill Farm in Redmond.
The photographs document Willis's family: his parents, siblings, wife Georgia (or Georgiana?), sons Park, Jr. and Cecil. Three photograph albums maintained by Cecil Willis are also included.
The collection is open to the public.
Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.
The photographs were relocated from the Park Weed Willis Papers, Accession No. 4068, in the repository.
These materials form part of the Park Weed Willis Papers, which are
described and indexed in the guide to the
Photographer: "Boyd, 711 Front Street"
Includes one image of University of Washington crew, group of children with hoops, Cecil, hunting dog, dead birds
Photographs: Edward Curtis, Romans Photographic Company
Some prints and proofs are from the Edward Curtis Studio
Includes P.W. Willis's and Dr. Gideon's doctors office in the Burke Building (1893-1895); horse-drawn ambulances; nurses at Pasadena Hospital (1903); medical association photographs
Residences and automobiles; includes houses and farms of the Willis family, neighbors and friends.
The Willis residence was at 1316 Columbia Street; they also had a farm at Orchard Hill.
Small panoramas of Cote d'Azur, France; Nice and environs, Eze/La Turbie, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Roquebrune, Menton
Includes Seattle scenes from First Hill (?), street scene outside of steamship office, government locks, log cabin, BC railroad station, ship in Rotterdam Harbor, Pendleton Roundup in 1910
Includes group events, children's parties, forest outings and picnics, auto excursions, horseback trips, patriotic events, amateur theatricals
22 black and white photographs. Family pictures of the Willis brothers as small children, including carriage rides, examples of Christmas trees
Photos are frequently reproduced elsewhere in the collection. No identification or captions
62 black and white photographs and postcards. Includes family, friends, Willis family farm at Orchard Hill, camping excursions, snow holidays, Sammamish River, fraternity brothers and house, Lake Washington Ship Canal, Puget Sound views, Mt. Rainier, Nisqually Glacier, trip to Long Beach, Lake Cushman, construction of Smith Tower, view of downtown Seattle from First Hill, UW engineering student taking site surveys, Pendleton Roundup, Cascade Mountains, Geology department, camping trip, first airplane flight in Seattle (Curtis biplane) at "The Meadows" with C.K. Hamilton as pilot, Glacier National Park, 1916 snowfall, Second Pendleton Roundup, Sorority women, San Juan Islands, Cecil's radio station
Skiing trips to Snoqualmie and Mt. Rainier, Naval service as radio operator; ship scenes, Panama Canal