Then and Now: Shriners Hospital bought for housing

The fez-wearing Shriners began as a fun-loving offshoot of the Masons, the ancient fraternity known for arcane rituals and hierarchy, in the 1870s. Using a Middle Eastern theme, the founders created a new set of rituals and traditions, including the signature red fez with a black tassel.

In addition to their ubiquitous presence in local parades, they’re best known for the network of hospitals offering free medical care to children. The first Shriners hospital began in New Orleans in 1922, and Spokane’s El Katif Shriners operation started in 1924. It included a small medical staff and a handful of beds in St. Luke’s Hospital, which had just opened on Summit Boulevard. Polio, bone deformities and tuberculosis were common among children in those days.

Annual fees paid by Shriners and money from their many fundraisers, usually circuses, rodeos or football games, covered the operating costs. Many left money for the hospital in their wills. Members even collected tin foil to raise money in the 1930s.

The Great Depression postponed a building program, but a new hospital finally opened in 1939, right next to St. Luke’s. For more than 50 years the facility was used to treat children at no cost to the families. A wing and a second floor were added in 1951. St. Luke’s moved to the lower South Hill and the old building was razed in 1971.

In 1991, Shriners opened a new five-story hospital, with the latest technology, in the shadow of Deaconess Hospital on the lower South Hill. The old hospital, with its distinctive domed roof, was purchased by Catholic Charities and converted into low-income apartments.