USA > Washington > Spokane County > An illustrated history of Spokane county, state of Washington > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103
151
HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
young ladies, often of rank, marked talent and wealth, offer their lives; for this work they are specially trained, and to this work they devote themselves untiringly, seeking no earthly recompense, awaiting their reward when death shall find them worn out by lives spent in alleviating the sufferings of others, at the hands of Him who has said: "What- soever you do to the least of these you do to Me."
While in this country and particularly in the Northwest we have not that multiplicity of orders which is to be found in certain coun- tries of Europe, notably in France, still the orders we have are so comprehensive in their aims that they reach the most needy. Here in Spokane we have two great institutions of charity; the Sacred Heart Hospital and St. St. Joseph's Orphanage, meeting the two great needs of every community-the sick, who are helpless by reason of their infirmities; and the orphans, who are helpless by reason of age and condition. I will give a brief account of both of these institutions, thus bringing to a close my article on the Catholic church in Spokane county.
But before speaking of either of these in- stitutions I must at least mention two societies connected with the church of Our Lady of Lourdes : the St. Vincent de Paul Society, composed of gentlemen, and the Catholic Ladies' Benevolent Society, both of which were started at about the time the church was completed, and which are somewhat similar in aim, namely, to help the poor. The mem- bers of these societies, in a simple and un- pretentious way, lend a helping hand to the more needy, distributing the alms contributed by the members of the society and collected in the church for the poor. But as both these societies aim at giving charity without the hand that gives being seen, I do not feel at liberty to do more than mention these excel- lent organizations of charity.
Sacred Heart Hospital .- One of the needs
most keenly felt in the early days of Spokane was a place where the sick and maimed could find the care their condition required. For many of those who first came here were men who had left their families in more settled cities and came west to better their own con- dition, while others were among those who had not yet settled down in life, so that when men of either class became seriously ill, or the victim of some accident, there was no place where they could receive the attention they needed. To meet this pressing want. the Sis- ters of Providence were invited to come here and erect an hospital, and in reply to this in- vitation, on August 30, 1886, Sister Joseph of the Sacred Heart and Sister Joseph of Chri- mathea left Vancouver, Washington, for Spo- kane, where a site was secured. The former supervised the work of constructing the hos- pital; the latter became its first superioress.
They put up for awhile at the California Hotel while a rough shanty was being built as a temporary residence near the ground pur- chased for the hospital. This was quite a rude structure, so much so that the Sisters had to cover themselves with oil-cloth when retiring to rest in rainy weather. Contracts for the new hospital were given out and work commenced. But in the meantime, nay, al- most from the day the Sisters set foot in Spo- kane, they began their mission of charity by visiting the sick and affording what relief they could.
The corner-stone of the new hospital was laid by the late Bishop Junger, assisted by the Catholic clergy of the town. While the build- ing was going up two more Sisters came to Spokane, and shortly after two of the four then here visited the Cœur d'Alene miners to beg some alms for the completion of the work. The miners received the Sisters kindly and gave them liberal alms, for they are the men who appreciate the great work of the Sisters.
Before speaking further of the work on the hospital itself, it will be well to state here
152
HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
that the Sisters of Providence, whom Spo- kane had invited to minister to the sick of the city, are the pioneers in hospital work in the Pacific Northwest. They established their first mission at Vancouver, Washington, in 1856. Since then they have built hospitals and also schools in the leading cities of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and British Columbia. The number of large hos- pitals established by them is seventeen, while the order itself has grown in this part of the country from the five Sisters who landed in Vancouver in 1856 to three hundred Sisters employed in hospital work alone.
To return to our hospital. Work went on nicely, but none too quickly for the pressing needs. In fact, the first patient was admitted while the carpenters were still at work. He was a young man found sick and alone in a shed. The Sisters took him in and cared for him, but all they could do was to smooth the pillow of death, for he expired in four days.
On January 27, 1887. the Sisters took pos- session of the new building, and at once re- ceived seven patients, some from the county and others who had been patiently awaiting the opening of the hospital.
Mr. Maurice O'Donnell, an old Grand Army man, was really the second patient to enter, and has made the hospital his home ever since, and hopes yet to occupy a room in a new and still larger hospital, which every- thing is tending to make a necessity of the near future.
The Sisters had hardly entered their new building than Sister Joseph of the Sacred Heart met with a serious accident by falling into the cellar and breaking several ribs, and had herself to receive the attention she came to bestow upon others.
On the first Friday of February. 1887. mass was said for the first time in the chapel of the hospital. The good work had now begun in earnest, and at the end of the first year, as a summary of the year's work, the
Sisters could point to one hundred and twen- ty-two patients attended to in the hospital and one thousand and forty visits to the poor and sick outside. During each succeeding year the number of patients has almost doubled that of the year previous, so that the first building soon became inadequate and a new wing was added. The Sisters have been im- proving the hospital all along. so that it stands to-day a model institution of its kind. There are seven wards, twenty-seven private rooms. two modern operating rooms and a well-equip- ped room for dressing patients in the surgical department. Besides, there are the offices. re- ception rooms, drug store, chapel. dormitory. community rooms for the Sisters, employees' quarters, dining and culinary departments. In all there are accommodations for over one hundred patients.
The corps of the hospital is composed of seventeen Sisters and fifteen nurses, beside other necessary help. The number of patients treated was, up to a few days ago, 12.799.
The Sisters have of late started in con- nection with the hospital a training school for nurses, which embraces a two years' course. during which the ladies attend lectures on the various subjects belonging to their work. given by different physicians, and receive be- side instruction from a Sister in charge of the school. as also from the several Sisters in charge of the different departments of the hospital. They have all the advantage of daily practice under trained eyes and are at the end of their course very efficient.
It is well nigh impossible for us to rightly estimate the amount of good these Sisters have done and are doing in our midst. Those can tell best who have had to claim the tender care of these devoted women. But that their work is appreciated is manifested by the gen- erosity with which any appeal for aid in their behalf is met, and that it is really worthy of appreciation is best seen from the fact that the medical profession place the greatest conti-
HON. J. M. COMSTOCK SPOKANE
I53
HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
dence in the skill and prudence of those who have charge of the institution.
St. Joseph's Orphanage .- Only the order which I had laid down for myself in this arti- cle has obliged me to speak of St. Joseph's Orphanage last, for it is one of the most bene- ficial institutions ever erected in our city.
Once Spokane emerged from being little more than a hamlet and with rapid strides be- gan to add hundreds yearly to its population, it could only be expected that the number of poor, abandoned or orphan children would in- crease, as in fact it did.
Rev. Charles Mackin, for some years pres- ident of Gonzaga College and pastor of the then only Catholic church in Spokane, was a man keenly sensible to the wants of such as these ; and it was due in great measure to his exertions, backed by the charity of some of our most respected citizens, that an orphan- age became more than a possibility. Rev. Joseph Cathaldo donated land in Sinto addition near the Spokane river, and the united offer- ings of certain of our citizens had a simple frame building put up, which forms one part of the building now in use.
It was the general desire that the Fran- ciscan Sisters should be called to take charge of the institution, as they had met with so much success not only in the East, but in the houses which they had already established in the West.
The mother house of the Sisters of St. Francis is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was founded April 9, 1855. The object of the community is principally the elevation and renovation of family life, especiallly in the lower classes of society. For this purpose several houses have been established, so that the order has houses in almost every state. Besides orphanages and hospitals, these Sis- ters conduct parochial and industrial schools, as well as academies. Their houses, which now number seventy-four, are open to all re- gardless of color. position or religion. The
first house of this Sisterhood established in the West was St. Francis Academy. Baker City, Oregon. Twelve others have since been ad- ded, including houses in Indian Territory and Wyoming, seven of these being devoted ex- clusively to the civilization and Christian edu- cation of the Indians.
The invitation extended by Spokane to these Sisters to come and found an orphanage in our midst was cheerfully accepted. And Sister Barbara, as superioress, and three other Sisters, all from Philadelphia, reached Spo- kane in September, 1890, to commence the noble work of protecting and instructing the orphan and homeless.
The building was not quite finished when the Sisters arrived, but Mrs. James Mona- ghan cared for them till their own building was habitable. They opened this same month with only four children, but it was not long before the orphanage became known, and in 1891 the number of children had already run up to seventy. In 1893 one hundred and fif- teen children found shelter here, this being the highest number yet attained. But the good Sisters found that the smallness of their build- ing would not allow them to take so many. At present they average an attendance of ninety- five.
The orphanage had only been in existence a year when the first building put up was found wholly inadequate for the ever increas- ing number of children brought to these good Sisters to' be cared for. Charitable friends aided the Sisters to have an addition made to their house, and this was finished in August, 1891, and no sooner finished than it was filled. But it was not until November 2, 1891, that the orphanage was formally blessed by the Rev. President of Gonzaga College, in the presence of a numerous company of friends and benefactors of the orphans.
While we all keenly appreciate the work done in our midst by the Sisters of St. Fran- cis in their own quiet. unobtrusive way, I
·
154
HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
think it only a debt of justice to bring this point out somewhat more strikingly by means of a few examples.
Many a sad tale could be told by those in charge of the orphanage. Once the Sister, opening the door early one winter's morning, found a poor little babe wrapped up in rags and left there in a basket. Where it came from there was no means of knowing, but it was received with the tenderest care. No lov- ing solicitude, however, could undo the work of exposure to the cold winter's blast; it died in two days. But if nothing could be done for the body, the soul received the grace of baptism, and was soon enjoying the vision of Him who made it. How often similar things have happened I cannot tell, for the Sisters speak little of their work, yet no mother ever watched with more loving solicitude over her only child than do these Sisters over the poor waifs entrusted to their care. The children cared for range from foundlings a few days old to girls in their teens. Yet the utmost harmony prevails among them; the influence of the Sisters soon being apparent. These children, apart from being given a home, are carefully instructed in the branches of a com- mon school education. Besides, they receive a splendid moral training under the mild yet ever vigilant eye of the Sisters. When I re- flect on the fact that these poor outcasts are housed, fed, clothed, instructed and cared for with no ordinary care, I cannot help invoking a blessing on the good Sisters' self-sacrificing lives. For besides giving sunshine to the lives of these little ones, whom adverse for- tune or crime has cast out on a cold, pitiless world, they turn out upright men and pure women, who otherwise might have been criminals and castaways.
Despite the fact that these Sisters receive but little pecuniary reward, nay, often deprive themselves of the necessaries of life for the sake of their charges, they have often found themselves hampered in their work by lack of
means of accommodation for the numerous applicants for admission. This latter diffi- culty, thanks to the generous charity of friends, will be done away with as soon as the new building, which is now well under way, will be completed. Still the first difficulty will remain, nay, rather will be augmented, both by the debt which will remain on the new building and by the increased expense con- sequent on the increased number of children which will be admitted. The small allowance granted by the county and the mere pittance received from guardians of certain of the or- phans are wholly insufficient for the needs of the institution, and the Sisters will be depend- ent in the future. as in the past. on the charity of friends, of whom I sincerely trust they will always have a host.
I will bring this account of St. Joseph's Orphanage to a close, with a sketch of the new building, which was begun in April, 1899, and will, it is calculated, be finished in Octo- ber, 1900.
The new building is of red pressed brick, with granite trimmings, slate roof with gal- vanized iron cornices. No woodwork will be exposed with the exception of the window sashes. The building faces the west and has a frontage of one hundred and seventy-four feet on Superior street. The depth is one hundred and two feet in the wings; the main part being forty feet wide. It is eighty-three feet from the ground to the cross that will surmount the dome. There are three wings running back from the main part of the build- ing, the middle one, which is twenty-eight by sixty-eight. and twenty-five feet high, being the chapel, and which will have a seating capacity of about two hundred. The Gothic style of architecture has been adopted in mak- ing the plan of the chapel. three arches being included in the slant of the ceiling.
The building is four stories in height. In the basement there will be the furnaces, boil- ers, fuel rooms, bakery, kitchen, pantries and
155
HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
refectories. On the first floor the main part will be used as parlors and Sisters' apart- ments, while the right and left wings will be school rooms for the boys and girls. On the second floor are the infirmary, the gallery of the chapel and the dormitories. The top
floor will be devoted to various uses. There will be three stairways inside, and fire escapes outside, leading out on the porches, which will run around the sides and back of the building. The cost of the building when finished is esti- mated at sixty thousand dollars.
CHAPTER XXII.
RELIGIOU'S WORK IN THE COUNTY.
PROTESTANT CHURCHES.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispen- sable props. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens."-George Washington.
In the midst of the intense activity, in- evitable in the period of rapid material devel- opment of a new country, the people of this city and county have not been unmindful of the moral and religious influences which are necessary to promote the highest welfare. From the time of the earliest white settlers there has been extraordinary religious activ- ity by representatives of the various relig- ious organizations. Much of the early efforts and sacrifices of the pioneer home mission- aries are unrecorded and unrecordable. They were generally brave and blameless prophets of the Most High, and their record is in leaven. They prepared and laid foundation for others to build upon, and we have "en- tered into their labor."
Religious work in a newly settled country has its peculiar difficulties and discouraging features. The struggles incident to the estab- lishment of new homes and the accumulation of wealth are not always promotive of the highest morality or conducive to religious
prosperity. The sturdy "pathfinders" who are ever pushing towards the frontier, while hay- ing sterling qualities that excite our admira- tion, are not always religiously disposed. They leave behind them homes, families, rela- tives and the restraining influences of old set- tled and religious communities, with one object dominating in their minds, the pursuit of wealth. The society into which they are thrown is liable to be positively immoral and skeptical, and they find it difficult to live up to their best convictions amid such environ- ments. Such circumstances need brave, con- secrated and thoroughly equipped ministers, and consistent and devoted church members, and they have not been wanting in Spokane county. There are many, doubtless, who do not know the value of religious denominations in a new country, from a commercial stand- point. The various Protestant missionary societies have expended during the last twen- ty-five years for religious work within this county no less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars exclusive of the contributions of the people residing here.
We shall now give a history of all the churches of the various denominations given as far as possible by competent representa- tives.
.
I56
HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
AFRICAN M. E. CHURCH.
This church was organized in 1890, in the house now occupied as the parsonage at 168 South Stevens street, by Rev. Augustus, who had been sent here by the California conference. It began with ten members. The following persons have served as pastors : Rev. G. W. White, Rev. J. M. Brakton, Rev. A. M. Taylor, Rev. G. C. Clark, Rev. J. Allen Viney, Rev. W. M. Viney. Rev. A. W. Whal- ley, and the present pastor. Rev. S. J. Collins, who came here from Seattle two years ago. The membership has increased to thirty. The place of worship is 516 Second avenue. Through much self sacrifice and the indefati- gable effort of the pastor a lot has been se- cured on Sherman street, near Fifth avenue, where they expect to erect a house of worship in the near future. This church has been and is doing a commendable work among the col- ored population of the city.
ADVENTIST, SEVENTH DAY.
Elder H. W. Decker was the first mis- sionary of the denomination to preach in Spo- kane county. In the winter of 1887 he held meetings in a tent about where the lumber yard of the Spokane & Idaho Lumber Com- pany now is. The first pastor came the same year in the person of L. W. Scoles. The first regular meetings were held in the Pres- byterian church building, where the Spokane- Review building now stands. In the year 1888 the church was organized, and they moved to the north side in Heath's addition, and worshiped in a chapel erected by the Evangelical Association church and the peo- ple, on East Ermina avenue, near Pearl street. A lot was purchased of Mr. S. Heath on the corner of Nora avenue and Astor street in 1889, on which a building about thirty by forty-five wa's erected the following year, being dedicated in 1891, Elders H. W. Decker and D. F. Fero officiating. Services were held at this church for several years.
Desiring the advantages of a more central loca- tion, the church property was sold, and a build- ing on Washington street, between Third and Fourth avenues, was rented and has since been used as a place of worship for over five years. The church has made substantial growth, having at present a membership of one hundred and forty. Elders Scoles. Stew- art, Oliver and Davis have served as pastors before the present one, who is Elder A. G. Christensen. This church has inaugurated and is conducting successfully a philanthropic or social movement. Three years ago four young men, moved by a desire to help their fellow men. opened on the corner of Main avenue and Brown street a "Workingman's Home." They were Warren Latham. L. L. Dye. E. W. Gould and Mr. Warnell. They provided lodging for ten cents a night and meals for the lowest possible sum. In No- vember, 1898. it came under the auspices of the Upper Columbia Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists, taking the name "Helping Hand Mission." The present manager is L. R. Foos : assistant. W. M. Fee; secretary. I. C. Colcord. Its mission, as expressed by the manager. is to "help lift up the fallen. help the needy regardless of race, nationality and color, and the end is to preach the gospel to the people." Beds are still but ten cents a night and one cent dishes are served. There are one hundred and six beds, which are full nearly every night, and as high as thirty-three thousand dishes have been served in a month. 'There is a reading-room connected with it and also a chapel with preaching every night ex- cept Saturday. The church has also rented the Francis H. Cook mansion on the hill to be used as a sanitarium on the plan of the Battle Creek, Michigan, sanitarium. It was but re- cently opened and has eight patients, but will doubtless grow in favor and have increased patronage. A church of this faith was or- ganized a few months ago at Medical Lake with promise of growth.
1
157
HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
BAPTIST WORK IN SPOKANE COUNTY.
BY A. M. ALLYN, SPOKANE.
So far as we can learn the first Baptist work in Spokane county was in the winter of 1879 and '80, when Rev. S. E. Stearnes, of pioneer fame both in Idaho and in Washing- ton, better known as "Father Stearnes," came from Colfax up to Spangle, sought out the scattered Baptists there and began regular preaching. On the 13th of March, 1880, he organized the First Baptist Church of Span- gle, whose twentieth anniversary was cele- brated by appropriate services Sunday, March 11, 1900.
A movement for the erection of a house of worship was subsequently inaugurated and in the fall of 1885 the church dedicated the first meeting house built in the town. The cost of the building was about three thousand dollars. The house was well built and was well cared for. It is a neat, substantial build- ing still. The church has had some reverses, and seldom having a pastor for more than half time has been of slow and unsteady growth. It now has a membership of about fifty, and sustains a good Sunday-school. One of its early pastors, Rev. George Campbell, has been for many years an honored and successful missionary in China.
Besides Mr. Campbell, its pastors have been Rev. S. E. Stearnes, W. H. Carmichael, G. N. Ames, E. G. O. Groat, A. H. Hause and E. C. Scott, the two latter being ordained upon the field.
Cheney Baptist Church .- The second Bap- tist Church constituted in the county was at Cheney. This church was organized through the efforts of Rev. D. W. C. Britt, in May, 1881, with seven charter members. The church erected a house of worship, main- tained a good Sunday-school, and had an en- couraging growth for several years. But busi- ness reverses caused by the removal of the county seat, and the partial destruction of the
town by fire led to discouragement from which the church has never recovered, and for several years its efforts have been spasmodic and of little permanent value. Just now there is hope that a brighter day is dawning for our cause there. Our pastors have been Rev. D. W. C. Britt, W. H. Carmichael, J. H. Teal, E. W. Lloyd, T. L. Lewis, E. G. O. Groat, E. F. Jerard and W. E. Sawyer.
First Baptist Church, Spokane .- The third church which appeared was gathered at the small but picturesque village of Spokane. The first efforts toward a church seem to have been made by Rev. D. J. Pierce and Rev. S. E. Stearnes, who selected and purchased a lot for the future Baptist church, and is said to have paid for it out of his scanty salary of three hundred dollars. The church was or- anized by D. W. C. Britt, with seven members, December 8, 1881.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.