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generously supported and attended by almost two thousand. Non-Catholics contributed equally in raising $5300 through this and other means, with which a site was purchased on Tobin Park. A state charter for the projected institution was granted on April 5, 1900 and ground was broken on November 7. 50 The cornerstone of Seton Infirmary, so called in honor of Mother Elizabeth Seton, American foundress of the order, was laid on March IO, 1901, by Bishop Edward J. Dunne, of Dallas, who reviewed the life of Mother Seton and exalted the spirit and the achievements of the Daugh- ters of St. Vincent de Paul in America, pointing out what they had meant to the growth and development of the country. Eloquently he predicted that the new foundation would in years to come prove a milestone in the progress of the Capitol City greater than suspected by those who were present. 51 Time has borne out the prophecy. The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul assumed full responsi- bility for the cost. A modern and well-equipped hospital was put up, with a forty bed capacity, setting a standard of efficiency that has been main- tained since. In Southern colonial style, it stands today as the nucleus of the larger Seton Hospital. To the people of Austin the new building seemed to be too large in 1901, as they beheld it rise in its grandeur. But to the Sisters then and even today, Seton Hospital remains "the baby of the Community" com- pared to their other foundations. The entire city, it seemed, attended the open house reception held on May 26, 1902, when the finished and fully furnished hospital was opened officially to the public. Few had seen anything as fine. Modern in every respect; spick and span, snow-white beds for the accommodation of all patients alike, the rich and the poor, the white and the colored. Some who had erroneously been told the Sisters were old-fashioned and antiquated, out of harmony with modern progress and science, were amazed and deeply impressed with the appointments of this truly modem hospital, the first of its kind in Austin. No money or pains were spared in getting the best for Seton. Its operating rooms were up-to-date in every respect and throughout the new edifice everything necessary to the more efficient care of the sick was evident. Wide corridors, marble wainscoting for easy cleaning, kitchens and bathrooms on every 50 Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Go/d4,. /ubiu1, 1901-1951 [pp.] 21-22; Shelly, op. cit., 99-1 oo. SISbelly, op. cit., IOI.
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