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Dr. Alexander De Soto moved to Seattle in the 1890s to practice medicine. In 1899, he formed the Seattle Benevolent Society, with Captain Amos Benjamin. With Benjamin, he secured for $250 the decommissioned steamship. the S.S. Idaho, and opened the first charity hospital in Seattle. According to an article in the Seattle Star (1937) the Wayside Mission Hospital lasted "...four years when it treated the city's emergency patients." (See "Seattle's First Charity Hospital," Seattle Star, 08/07/1937.) The article was wrong about the length of time that the hospital operated, but was correct about the acclaim the facility received as a free clinic for sailors and the impoverished. The Idaho was moored at the foot of Jackson Street, when it began taking on too much water to pump out in 1906. It was then moved to a site near the Yesler Building, where it was hoisted up on supports to serve for an additional three years. The City of Seattle erected a new charity hospital in 1909, and the Idaho was then taken to a site at South Washington Street and Alaskan Way, where it was buried. A plaque marking its burial location was placed at the Washington Street Boat Landing. (See City of Seattle, Parks and Recreation Department, "Washington Street Boat Landing,"Accessed 02/20/2013.)

PCAD id: 18309