Gaston, Joseph. "Portland, Oregon Its History and Builders." Vol. 3. Chicago and Portland, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 547. JOHN J. SELLWOOD, M. D. More than twenty-three years of professional life have brought into prominence Dr. John J. Sellwood, superintendent of the Sellwood Hospital, located on Harney street, between Thirteenth and Fifteenth streets, in Sellwood one of the flourishing suburbs of Portland. The hospital of which he has charge was erected by him and is one of the thoroughly modern institutions, conducted according to most approved principles and provided with all facilities of the best institutions of the kind. Although only recently established, it has met with a response which promises a wide field of usefulness in the years to come. Dr. Sellwood was born in Oregon City, Oregon, March 19, 1867, the son of Rev. John W. and Belle J. (Daly) Sellwood. The father is a well known minister of the Protestant Episcopal church. Rev. John Sellwood, great uncle of Dr. Sellwood, owned as a donation claim all the land on the site of the present town of Sellwood and the suburb was named in his honor. Up to twelve years of age the subject of this sketch made his home at Oregon City, receiving his rudimentary education in the public schools. He then became a student in the Bishop Scott Academy. Being attracted to medicine and surgery as his life work, he secured the funds necessary to meet college expenses by serving as bookkeeper for the firm of Corbett & McClay, Portland. This required three years. He then matriculated in the medical department of Willamette University and was graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D. in 1887. Immediately after leaving college he entered the service of the Canadian Pacific Company as physician and surgeon on vessels of the company plying between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Hong Kong, China. Here he continued for three years, making many trips across the Pacific and gaining much experience that has proven of value in after years. Leaving the service of the Canadian Pacific Company he accepted a position in charge of a large hospital in Tokio, Japan, where he continued for a year, adding materially to the reputation he had already gained in his profession. After practicing for some years in Vancouver, Washington, and Los Angeles, California, he located in Sellwood in 1897, where he has since continued. Owing to increase in patronage and in order to facilitate his work, he opened a hospital in the Bank of Sellwood building in the spring of 1908, and in July, 1909, moved into the present hospital which was erected under his direction and according to his ideas the result of large experience and observation in hospitals in various cities on the coast and elsewhere. The Sellwood Hospital is a surgical and maternity hospital, and accepts no contagious or infectious cases. All such cases are taken care of in a building not directly connected with the hospital proper, thus making the hospital entirely safe from danger of such diseases. It has accommodation for twenty-five patients and has been built so as to admit of enlargement from time to time. It is equipped with all up-to-date instruments and appliances for surgical and maternity cases. The rooms are neatly, but as in all of the better class of hospitals, plainly furnished. Recognizing the effect of color upon persons of different temperaments, each of the rooms is of a different color and patients are at liberty to select according to their taste. The walls are delicately tinted, not papered, and cleanliness, which has been designated as ranking next to Godliness, is here also regarded as one of the highest of virtues. A training school for nurses is one of the important accessories and arrangements are made for eight nurses under charge of Miss E. R. Luther, a trained nurse of much practical experience. Dr. Sellwood was united in marriage October 3, 1891, to Miss Mary Hunder of Vancouver, Washington. He is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias and, being a man of genial qualities, enriched by wide observation and experience, he is the center of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. His success in his profession has been due in an important degree to conscientious application and a discernment which is the gift of the true physician. Years of experience have prepared him for the duties he now discharges, and it is believed that as time passes the Sellwood Hospital will become recognized as one of the leading agencies in the northwest for the alleviation and care of many of the ills of humanity. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in February 2008 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.