Anna Herr Clise (March 9, 1866 – February 11, 1936) was the founder of the Children's Orthopedic Hospital, now known as

Seattle Children's Hospital Seattle Children's (previously Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center; previously Children's Orthopedic Hospital) is a children's hospital in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The hospital specializes ...

, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington.

Biography

Anna Herr was born in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

on March 9, 1866. She married James W. Clise. James' sister urged Anna and James to relocate to Seattle, and so they did on June 7, 1889. James and Anna lived together on a farm in Redmond, which later became known as

Marymoor Park Marymoor Park, located on the north end of Lake Sammamish in Redmond, Washington, is King County's largest, oldest, and most popular park, with more than 3 million annual visitors coming to roam its . Among recreational activities available ar ...

. One of their children, named Willis, became seriously ill when he was 6 years old. He died on March 19, 1898, from untreatable inflammatory rheumatism. Anna wanted to prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedies, so she thought of establishing a hospital. On January 4, 1907, Anna gathered 16 of her friends to discuss the lack of treatment options for children in local hospitals. They decided that all children should receive care regardless of the family's ability to pay. They all agreed that support for the hospital will have to come from the community. So Anna called 23 of her friends to create a facility to treat crippled and malnourished children. Each of them contributed $20 to launch the hospital. On January 11, 1907, Anna incorporated the Children's Orthopedic Hospital Association. The hospital initially shared space with an adult hospital. This institution became the first pediatric facility in the Northwest and the third on the west coast. Anna needed to raise money to move out of the shared space and build the first children's-only facility on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. She did this in 1908 by raising $50,000 (worth more than $1 million in today's money), which also helped her rent seven beds for about $7 each per week. The rental fee covered bedding, meals, nursing care and operating room charges. This facility remained in Queen Anne until 1953, when it moved to its current location in Seattle's Laurelhurst neighborhood. Anna was not alive to witness that, as she died on February 11, 1936, in Los Angeles, California.

References

* * * * http://www.archives.com/member/Default.aspx?_act=VitalRecordView&info.type=Search%20All%20Records&FirstName=Anna&LastName=Clise&Location=US&DeathYear=1936&ShowSummaryLink=1&prevAct=anynamesearchresult&UniqueId=44634727&RecordTypeOvrd=2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Clise, Anna Herr 1866 births 1936 deaths People from Seattle American women founders American founders