Hope on the Hill ─ The First Century of Seattle Children's Hospital

In the spring of 1898, Anna Clise and her husband, James, a successful businessman, watched in dismay as their third child, 5-year-old Willis, suffered and died from what was called "inflammatory rheumatism." They were told there was no treatment. Indeed, there was no doctor west of Philadelphia who specialized in any childhood ailments. And since there were few social services, poor children who were stricken had even worse prospects than those whose parents were wealthy.

Anna never forgot Willis's suffering. While escorting her daughter to finishing school in 1906, she toured Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the first institution of pediatric medicine in the country. Anna and her husband also visited the Hospital for Women and Children in Syracuse, New York. These institutions affected her profoundly.

Back home in Seattle, Anna Clise set out on a daunting mission: to start, from scratch, an association dedicated to providing surgical and other hospital care to children, regardless of class, race or ability to pay. With 23 other women from Seattle's most influential families, she founded the Children's Orthopedic Hospital Association. At first, it funded seven beds at Seattle General Hospital while raising money for its own facilities on Queen Anne Hill. For its first 98 years, Children's was run by a board consisting entirely of determined women, who proved formidable fundraisers and skillful persuaders.

When the Queen Anne facility became too cramped after World War II, Children's moved to a new campus in Laurelhurst, where it now has 250 beds and consistently is ranked among the top 10 children's hospitals in the nation. Over the years, it also has evolved into a top-flight medical center, serving the four-state Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana area. Today, Children's goal is to become the top children's medical facility in the U.S.---an ambition Anna Clise would have endorsed wholeheartedly.

This book recounts the history of this remarkable institution and its impact on Seattle and the thousands of patients it has served.

Walt Crowley was an award-winning Seattle historian and author of more than a dozen books. He was cofounder, with his wife, Marie McCaffrey, and Paul Dorpat, of HistoryLink. org, the nation's first original encyclopedia of local and state history designed expressly for the Internet. He died in 2007.
David W. Wilma, former History Link.org deputy director, is a freelance writer.