Arequipa Sanatorium: Life in California’s Lung Resort for Women

As San Francisco recovered from the earthquake and fire of 1906, dust and ask filled the city’s stuffy factories, stores, and classrooms. Dr. Philip King Brown noticed rising tuberculosis rates among the women who worked there, and he knew there were few places where they could get affordable treatment. In 1911, with the help of wealthy society women like Phoebe Apperson Hearst, and his accomplished wife Helen, Brown opened the Arequipa Sanatorium in Marin County. Together, Brown and his all-female staff gave new life to hundreds of working-class women suffering from tuberculosis in early 20^th century California.

“Downey wished to breathe life into the stories of the many people whose lives intersected at Arequipa. She achieved her goal.” – Journal of Arizona History

Winner of The WILLA Literary Award for Scholarly Nonfiction from Women Writing the West.