Everett Archives: Providence Hospital
Photo courtesy of Everett Public Library.
The story of Everett hospitals begins in Quebec, Canada with a Catholic woman named Mother Joseph. Her real name wasn’t Mother Joseph, of course. It was Esther Pariseau. Before she joined a convent she was a rural farm girl.
Esther was raised in the wilds of Quebec in the early 1800s. Her father made coaches and taught her craftsmanship and woodworking, as well as old-timey handiwork like sewing, weaving, and carding wool. Esther’s pioneer-like prowess would prove to be most important when she eventually moved to the forested frontier of the United States.
In the year 1856, Mother Joseph and four sisters of Providence moved from Canada to Fort Vancouver in what had just been established as the Washington Territory (Washington’s statehood wouldn’t come until 1889). Their goal was to create a missionary outpost that could help provide medical care for pioneers.
Esther died in the early 1900s. On her deathbed, she exhorted the sisters to carry on her legacy of caring for the sick and needy people of the Pacific Northwest.
A few decades later, the Sisters of Providence moved north to the young city of Everett (which was established in 1893). They purchased the first Monte Cristo Hotel in 1905 and turned it into a hospital with 75 beds. 400 patients were treated at the Monte Cristo during their first year of the hospital’s operation.
Located on a hill above Port Gardner Bay, the first Monte Cristo was treated by proud mill town residents as a sort of showcase, a way of attracting investors to the nascent lumber-based community.
In 1923 the Sisters of Providence borrowed $200,000 to build a new 126-bed hospital just east of the Monte Cristo site. This is where the Providence Pacific Campus sits today.
In 1962 the Pacific Hospital added a new wing for radiology, obstetrics, and dietary services. In 2002 they added the Women’s and Children’s Pavilion that overlooks Forgotten Creek to the west and Port Gardner to the north.
In 1975 Providence Medical Center, North Campus (also known as the General Hospital) was established further up the peninsula of North Everett. Today the Cymbaluk Tower at Providence in North Everett is a beacon that can be seen from distant places like Interstate 5, Lake Stevens, and the Waterfront.
Today
The growth of the Providence hospitals has kept pace with Everett itself, which has seen a huge influx of population since its early days as an outpost on the watery edge of the Washington Territory.
And Mother Joseph — the young farm girl from Quebec? You can still see her at the Providence Medical Center, North Campus, standing near the steps that lead from the main floor to the Emergency Room.
Her bronze likeness is shrouded in a robe as she still extends a baguette of bread to those in need.
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