Colorado played prominent role in early treatment of TB

State's climate made it 'mecca of consumptives'

John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 31, 2007 at midnight

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Tuberculosis and Colorado have a long history together. In fact, in many ways, the disease helped shape the state's character.

In the 19th century, when fresh air was a major part of the perceived cure for people with "consumption," Denver and Colorado Springs attracted thousands of patients seeking to improve their health. National Jewish is one of several Denver hospitals with histories tied to treatment efforts.

The hospital was founded in the 1890s when Denver's small Jewish community raised funds to open what later became known as National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives.

"At the turn of the century, TB was the greatest cause of death in America," said Jim Havey, a documentary filmmaker whose history of Colfax Avenue included a section on how TB shaped Denver.

"They had no idea how to cure it," Havey said. "Colorado became a mecca for TB patients who were seeking the only cure that anyone knew about: maximum exposure to fresh air and sunshine."

"So these sanitariums spread out all over the state and our population increased enormously," he added.

Public fear of the new arrivals soon followed. The legislature debated and defeated a bill that would have required consumptives to wear a bell around their neck. Classified ads read, "No invalids need apply."

The first hostel for people with TB opened at Wazee and G streets in 1860, a year after Denver was founded.

In 1887, the Denver Chamber of Commerce sought to highlight the state's climate.

"Colorado is the mecca of consumptives, and rightfully," read one ad. "For dry air, equable temperatures and continuous sunshine are as yet the most reliable factors in the cure of the disease."

In their book Colorado - an Illustrated History of the Highest State, authors Tom Noel and Debra Faulkner cite one quote that described the state's atmosphere as "air that only the angels had breathed before."

TB or the "white plague," as it was sometimes called, was much more prevalent in the late 1800s and early 1900s. An estimated 80 percent of Americans born in that period would develop TB by the time they finished their teenage years.

According to Noel and Faulkner, many children were orphaned by parents who came seeking the cure, but never found it. As a result, a group of women philanthropists opened a shelter for such orphans in 1907. One of every four deaths in Colorado was attributed to TB in the 1920s and 1930s, and one of every three Coloradans had an active form of the disease.

The disease began to wane after scientists in the 1940s discovered an antibiotic that could be used to treat it. Today, Colorado State University is a center for TB research, with a $6.35 million federal grant to find ways to control and conquer the disease.

Among the famous

These are among the tuberculosis patients who came to Colorado for their health:

• F.O. Stanley, inventor and founder of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park

• Enos Mills, who pushed for the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park

• Robert W. Speer, mayor who reshaped the city of Denver

• Frederick Pitkin, a Colorado governor

• J.J. Joslin, merchant

• Lawrence Phipps, civic leader

• J.J. Hagerman, railroad magnate

• Doc Holliday, gunslinger and gambler who died of TB in Colorado

ensslinj@RockyMountainNews.com

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