Pioneering Spirit: The Sisters of Providence in Alaska

St. Joseph Hospital at Fairbanks
enterprise. At the end of a few weeks, we received
the pretty sum of $2,456. "
The influenza pandem ic of 1918-19 created
widespread chaos in all parts of the United States,
and threatened social order in m any communities.
Although the Spanish flu erupted in
The Colorful Father Monroe
A significant period of history in Fairbanks
came to an end in 1924 w hen Father Monroe
was transferred from Immaculate Conception
Church in Fairbanks to the parish in
Wrangell, Alaska. Father M onroe was a
spirited and capable French bom Jesuit who
alternately generated controversy, wrath,
and admiration with his decisive actions and
frank opinions. He m ade m any friends and
some enemies as well; assessm ents of him
were divided even w ithin his ow n Society
of Jesus. But he found a steadfast ally in
Father Joseph R. Crimont, S.J., Prefect
Apostolic in Alaska beginning in 1904, and
later first Bishop of Alaska from 1917 to 1945.
Father M onroe designed and built St.
Joseph Hospital, and managed it during the
four years prior to the arrival of the Sisters
of Providence. He always m aintained a proprietary
interest in the institution that was
manifested in a num ber of ways.
The lines that separated parish from
hospital property caused a recurrent problem
between Father M onroe and the Sisters
of Providence. Father Crim ont had purchased
ground for the hospital in 1906 on
Garden Island, facing the early center of
Fairbanks. W hen title to the hospital was
fully conveyed to the Sisters in 1911, a deed
for land owned by the parish was accidentally
included in the bundle. As a result, the
Sisters obtained legal title to land intended
for the parish. Father M onroe imm ediately
1918 in nearby communities, Fairbanks itself was
spared. Two years later a return of the flu took
Fairbanks "by storm ," and incapacitated many
Sisters. The people of Fairbanks rose to the occasion
by volunteering to cook, nurse, and clean at
the hospital. O n 8 May 1920 Father M onroe
recognized the error, and reached an agreem
ent in 1912 w ith Sister M onaldi to divide
the land, and to leave a straight line of
separation between church and hospital
property. In return he asked only that the
Sisters agree never to build a structure on
the portion of church property that he conceded
to her.
During late sum m er 1923, one year before
his departure for Wrangell, Father M onroe
returned to find the Sister Superior and a
carpenter laying out plans for a hothouse on
the land coverec by the agreem ent of 1912.
W hen he objected, Sister Robert expressed
doubt that her predecessor had actually
committed the Sisters not to build on the
land in question. The exchange grew tense,
and prom pted Father M onroe to write:
"That I felt a few times obliged to oppose
their views or ways, I do not deny; but I
think that I can say positively that it was
always in view of som e greater good. I have
a few times show n a too quick temper, but
truly I do not think that I have the monopoly
of it."
The entire dispute ended w ith a "friendly
agreement" that confirired the existence of
a prior arrangement between Father M onroe
and Sister M onaldi. The chronicles of the
Sisters of Providence were more laconic,
noting simply that 15 October 1923 m arked
the beginning of construction of a new'
hothouse that w ould furnish vegetables
before the m aturity of those raised in the
garden.
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