The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-10
Work on New Catholic Hospital
This Week.
Building Is to Be Completed by
May 1, 1909.
CALLED ST. FRANCIS.
That Will Be the Name OF the
Institution.
Cost Will Be About Sixty Thou
sand Dollars.

II can now be stated authoritatively
that the work will begin this week on
the st. Francis hospital. to be built in
Topeka by the Sisters of Charity of
Leavenworth.
The site on West Sixth street and
Garfield avenue was surveyed last
week and grades given for the
excavation The dirt will fly this week
sure as men and teams have been
hired to report on the job.
The work on this hospital should
have begun before, as the contract
was let several weeks ago. The
Catholics have been noted for doing
things for the past twenty centuries,
and no organization since the world
was sent spinning has piled up so
many bricks and stones into mag
ntficent edifices as has the Roman
Catholic church. Build! Build homes
for the church and its hundred
branches of pious and philanthroPic
work has been the watchword OF the
Catholic faith since it's conception.
As Father Hayden of the Church of
the Assumption said today: 81 don't
like all this talk about the Catholics
building hospital. 1 want to see the
dirt fly. The contract has been let
and by its terms the building must be
ready for occupancy by May l, 1909,
that date is not very far off and there
is lot of work to be done. The
work of grading should have been
started the first of this week instead
OF the last However, they will be
well on with the grading and excava-
ton by the middle of next week. Not
a day of this fine weather should he
lost for there will be many stormy
days between now and the first of
next May"
John Hollinger of Kansas City has
the general contract of construction,
taken for $4,000. The edifice is to be
built of pressed brick and stone and
will be strictly modern in every
particular. 1t will be four stories
high and have lie foot frontage on
Sixth street and SO foot frontage on
Garfield avenue. The hospital grounds
will embrace the entire block between
Sixth and Fifth streets and Morris
and Garfield avenue. The building
will be located back 125 feet from the
street
The plans of construction consider
the building of wings in the future to
the south from the main building.
The building will have four floors
and a basement The cold storage and
machinery room will be located in the
basement. Three office rooms. the
chapel. nurses dining room, pantry
and kitchens will be located on the,
rooms and maternity department are
on the second floor. The third floor Is
devoted to patients rooms exclusively.
The operating room, cunningly built of
plate glass to get the best light effects,
is located on the fourth floor. This
room is 25x15. The sisters dormitory
is also on this floor. There will be
about sixty rooms in the main build
ing exclusive of bath and toilet rooms
and corridors.
NH
will be separate buildings. The plans
of the main hospital building are very
elaborate and embrace every detail of
comfort and convenience. The oper-
ating room will be ideal from the
standpoint of light and convenience.
largest of the newly built hospitals or
the country have been considered in
drawing the plans for the st. Francis
hospital. Electric elevators will con-
meet the four floors of the building
The umbing and heating contract
was. let to w. F. Shehan of this city
for $4,000 and the electric wiring and
lighting contract alone totaled $1,000.
Two of the sister of charity
from Leavenworth are expected here
in few days to look after the man.
agement and progress of the work.
When the st. Francis hospital Is in
commission Topeka can claim to have
six large hospitals and among them
some of the best and most modern in
the west.
The Name st. Francis.
1t might be of interest in connection
with this new hospital to tell some
thing about why 1t was named after
ST. Francis.
Francis De Sales was born in
Savoy, France, in 1867 of noble pa
rents. but he preferred the Catholic
priesthood to all the honor and glory
of the French court. He was regard
ed as the most eloquent preacher in
the world during the sixteenth CEN