Aberdeen’s Model Hospital Nears Completion
A state-of-the-art facility is set to open, bringing modern medical care to the booming mill and lumber town.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Through the philanthropic and energetic efforts of Rev. Father Deichmann, Aberdeen is indebted for the erection of a needful and humane institution, St. Joseph's hospital. Situated where there are lumbering camps and manufactories, accidents occur frequently and a good hospital is most useful and necessary. The new St. Joseph's hospital is in every way designed to meet all requirements. Occupying a choice location on G street with an elevation overlooking the city, the main structure is 100x40 feet. Inside, broad oak stairways lead from one floor to another, and the walls are filled in to ensure quiet for patients. The women's wards are on the lower floor, with the upstairs divided into rooms for men and surgical cases. The hospital will have its own surgical instruments and drug store, heated by a hot water system, and wired for electricity. It is the intention of the facility to lay out and beautify the grounds. Dr. Stapp is the attending physician, though others have the privilege of treating their own patients. Father Deichmann expects to have the building ready for occupancy by February.
“The new St. Joseph's hospital... will be a model of architectural style. Inside it is the intention to make the hospital one of the best appointed on the coast.”
St. Joseph's Hospital eventually became a cornerstone of Aberdeen's medical infrastructure. While the original building is long gone, its establishment reflects the desperate need for specialized care in a town built on the high-risk labor of the timber industry, a reality that persists in the modern Pacific Northwest’s approach to industrial medicine.
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