Pioneering Spirit: The Sisters of Providence in Alaska

St. Joseph Hospital at Fairbanks
facilities that h ad rem ain ed substantially
unchanged for nearly thirty years. The hospital
needed to expand to meet the needs of both
physicians and patients. Sister Joseph Anselm,
supervising architect for the western missions of
the Sisters of Providence, was called from Seattle
to design an addition and to supervise its construction
during the building season of 1935. The
Sisters dedicated the new twenty-bed facility with
a Mass on the m orning of 27 October, just seventeen
days after celebrating their twenty-fifth
anniversary of service to the people of Fairbanks.
In a long article the News-Miner described the
ceremonies and the hospital itself, em phasizing
the new features of the physical plant and the
m odern furnishings of the new wing's eighteen
additional private rooms. The new spaper congratulated
the Sisters of Providence serving at St.
Joseph's, as well as the physicians and ten lay
nurses, and concluded by recognizing the m any
lodges, groups, and individuals in Fairbanks that
had contributed to help m eet the $100,000 construction
costs for the enlarged and improved
hospital.
Years of Expansion and Progress
From the mid 1930s to the mid 1950s, St. Joseph
Hospital provided some of Alaska's most m odem
medical facilities for the residents of Fairbanks and
a wide outlying territory. In addition to more
beds, the 1935 wing also gave the hospital its first
elevator and other conveniences. The capital
improvement project brought St. Joseph Hospital
up to date, and in 1936 favorably im pressed a
team of U.S. Army physicians that was in Fairbanks
to inspect available facilities for a new
military base. An army physician told the Sisters
that "with such a splendid institution here, so
well equipped, it will be necessary for us to build
a dispensary only for emergency cases, therefore
we will send our m en right h ere."
for it m eant not only taking care of the
local sick, but this hospital became the
mecca of all the Interior of Alaska for the
seriously injured and ill, thus putting a
great deal more work and expense on
the Sisters, until during the last few
years we found that the institution had
not the room or capacity, nor the
facilities, for taking care of all the
patients that were sent here. The Sisters
got busy then and m ade arrangem ents
for the construction of an addition to
their old structure and ycu can see now
w hat they have succeeded in doing.
"This institution is a credit to Fairbanks.
It is a m onum ent to the zeal and
energy p u t forth by the Sisters in the
great cause of humanity. We all know
that here we can receive the same care
and comfort that would be available in
any O utside institution. It is a w onderful
thing for the Town of Fairbanks and
in fact anyplace in the United States that
does not make a specialty of surgery
and medicine, and you will be surprised
at the improvem ents that have been
m ad e."
Judge H arry E. P ratt follow ed Dr.
Suthsrland to the podium . He began his
discourse by characterizing the naive beliefs
of gold-seekers twenty-five years before.
"They thought all you had to do was
to get a shovel and start shoveling gold
from any hill, stream, or street, and put
it in a bag and go O utside to spend it.
The m ain ambition it seem ed was for
m en to come up and gain a fortune
quickly and return O utside to spend it.
From which we can conclude that it is
a great thing for hum anity that all
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