Seattle had a large number of untreated cases of tuberculosis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the U.S. Office of Public Health called it lax in its efforts to treat the disease in 1908. As a result of this negative publicity (particularly at the time of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition), a group formed to build a sanitorium, led financially by the railroad tycoon and philanthropist, Horace C. Henry (1844-1928), who also donated funds for the art museum on the University of Washington Campus. Henry, whose son died of TB, provided $25,000 and a tract of 34 acres on which to build the sanitorium. This facility opened on 05/11/1911 and operated until it moved to a new location (at 15th Avenue NE and 150th Street) in 1947. It operated originally on a parcel in the Richmond Highlands Tract, 12 miles north of the Seattle, WA, city limits, now part of the City of Shoreline, WA.

The original facility consisted of a group of at least 5 detached cabins, all well-ventilated, as it was thought that copious amounts of fresh air and sunshine proved therapeutic for the treatment of tuberculosis.

PCAD id: 14620