Tuberculosis treatment in Colorado Springs
The town of Colorado Springs, Colorado, played an important role in the history of tuberculosis in the era before antituberculosis drugs and vaccines. Tuberculosis management before this era was difficult and often of limited effect. In the 19th century, a movement for tuberculosis treatment in hospital-like facilities called sanatoriums became prominent, especially in Europe and North America. Thus people sought tuberculosis treatment in Colorado Springs because of its dry climate and fresh mountain air. Some people stayed in boarding houses, while others sought the hospital-like facilities of sanatoriums. In the 1880s and 1890s, it is estimated that one-third of the people living in Colorado Springs had tuberculosis. The number of sanatoriums and hospitals increased into the twentieth century. During World War II, medicines were developed that successfully treated tuberculosis and by the late 1940s specialized tuberculosis treatment facilities were no longer needed.
Several of the facilities evolved into hospitals or medical facilities: Glockner Tuberculosis Sanatorium evolved into Penrose Hospital. Beth-El Hospital, with the [|National Deaconess Sanitarium], evolved into Memorial Hospital. St. Francis Hospital was a hospital that had a sanatorium in its three building complex. Union Printers Home and the [|Modern Woodmen Tuberculosis Sanatorium], now Mount Saint Francis, are going concerns with skilled nursing care. Today, however, the structure's usages are different. Miramont Castle, which was the site of the Montcalm Sanitarium, is now a museum. [|National Methodist Sanatorium] evolved into a building for the Ent Air Force Base and its site is now part of the United States Olympic Training Center.
Background
People also came to Colorado for the restorative benefits of its "clean air and sunshine." Starting in the 1860s, when tuberculosis was a worldwide problem, physicians in the eastern United States recommended that their patients go to Colorado to regain their health. As a result, the number of people with tuberculosis, called "lungers", in the state grew substantially and without the services or facilities to support their needs. Tuberculosis was called consumption "because its symptoms consumed those who had it."In Denver, not knowing how to manage a population of homeless, ill people, many were taken to jail. In 1878 in Colorado Springs, 25 or more of 73 who were buried at Mount Washington Cemetery had tuberculosis. Of the people that died in the city most of them had come to Colorado Springs so ill that it was not surprising that they died. Because of the number of people with TB flocking to Denver, by the 1880s it was nicknamed the "World's Sanitarium". On March 5, 1888, Dr. Frederick I. Knight, a specialist in lung diseases, spoke before the Boston Society of Medical Observation on the benefits of high altitude and the mountain climate of Colorado for patients with tuberculosis, including patients that experienced hemorrhaging. In the 1880s and 1890s more than a third of the city's residents came to Colorado Springs to improve their health. Houses on the Old North End had large sleeping porches for consumptive boarders. Large houses along North Nevada Avenue were turned into boarding houses for people with tuberculosis. Some stayed in tents and backyard cottages. The area became known as "lungers' row". Some of the famous individuals who came to the area to treat their tuberculosis include novelist Helen Hunt Jackson, railroad executive James J. Hagerman, author Marshall Sprague, and noted potter Artus Van Briggle.
Cynthia Stout, a history scholar, asserted that by 1900 "one-third of Colorado's population were residents of the state because of tuberculosis." In 1905, Dr. B.P. Anderson recommended open-air treatment in dry climates, like Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. The sanatoriums in Colorado Springs adopted a European tuberculosis treatment approach, including rest, open-air, and "disciplined gluttony". People ate twice as much as they would normally eat and might gain up to 50 pounds while in treatment. The Shoshone Spring, one of Manitou Mineral Springs, was taken for its laxative effects and the springs in general for their healing effects. The quality of care depended upon one's ability to pay. The poor might stay in open-air tents, some sanatoriums cost $7 per week, and the luxury accommodations were $50 per week. Sanatoriums claimed that about 60% of their patients were cured from their treatment. But the treatment patients received made the illness regress, it did not cure tuberculosis.
Charles H. Boissevain, a mathematically trained biochemist and professor of biology at Colorado College, was in 1924 appointed the first chief of research and laboratory director of the newly founded Colorado Foundation for Research in Tuberculosis, later renamed the Webb-Waring Institute. In 1940, four sanatoria remained: Cragmor, Glockner, National Methodist, St. Francis, Sunnyrest, and Modern Woodmen Sanatorium. During World War II, the drug Isoniazid began to be used to effectively treat tuberculosis. Then, sanatoriums began to close and the city shifted from a medical destination to one that developed a military presence.
Locations
Battle Creek Sanitarium
The Battle Creek Sanitarium at 230 North Cascade Avenue was a branch of the Michigan facility that had been at 320 N. Tejon in 1903 and at that time was managed by Frank W. Patterson and K. E. McMillen. Lillian Voorhees was the nurse.Cascade Villas
Cascade Villas was a short-lived home for the treatment of tuberculosis founded in 1874 by Dr. Thomas G. Horn. It was on Colorado Spring's North Cascade Avenue. Horn became the president of the Colorado State Medical Society in 1877.Colorado Springs Sanitarium
There was a Colorado Springs Sanitarium and Hotel in the city in 1892. In 1903, the Colorado Springs Sanitarium and the Horn's Mineral Springs and Sanitarium were located at 1210 Lincoln Avenue and run by Dr. Thomas G. Horn. Colorado Springs Sanitarium was located downtown in a mansion one block from Acacia and Monument Valley Parks and the Carnegie Library in 1905. It was well-appointed, three-story building with modern heating and lighting and wide verandas for fresh-air. The building was originally built as a residence by a wealth contractor. Dr. Charles R. Knox was the superintendent of the facility at 126 North Cascade in 1907, one that's principles were in keeping with the Battle Creek Sanitarium. In 1909, the business manager was W. F. Patterson. It operated in 1912, but by 1916 was the site of the Hallett and Baker Undertaking Company.Cragmor Sanatorium
The Cragmor Sanatorium was founded by leading tuberculosis specialist Dr. Edwin S. Solly in 1906. It was built in the Austin Bluffs, or Cragmor area. General William Jackson Palmer donated funds toward the construction of the facility for 25 patients. It treated tuberculosis and related diseases. He died shortly after it was built and in 1910 a group of local residents bought the sanatorium. Alexius L. Forster as the Physician-in-Charge and Mary L Whitney RN was the Superintendent in 1916.Dr. Frank M. Houck, a House Manager at Cragmor, came to Colorado Springs in 1915 to treat his tuberculosis after receiving his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. He built a trail from Cragmor through Austin Bluffs that was called the "Happy Walk". Cragmor was a place where millionaires, musicians, artists, dancers, and poets came to get well and was known for its luxury, easy rules, parties, and sexual affairs among patients. In 1936, the $500,000 facility was reorganized as a non-profit organization for treatment and research of tuberculosis. The Cragmor Sanatorium complex became the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus and two of its former buildings are Cragmor and Main halls.
Glockner Tuberculosis Sanatorium
As a memorial to her husband, Albert Glockner, the 22-year-old widow Marie Gwynne Glockner opened the Glockner Tuberculosis Sanatorium in 1890. Her husband had died of tuberculosis at 31 years of age. Glockner family members supported the development of the sanatorium. Patients were charged $1 per day. The first superintendent was Dr. Boswell P. Anderson, who was a former Colorado Midland Railway physician. His assistant was Dr. Charles Fox Gardiner and the matron and head nurse was Sarah Callahan, RN. It was located at 2200 N. Tejon in the North End addition.In 1893, Marie Gwynne Glockner gave the sanatorium to the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, who were brought in for their care-giving and professional skills. In 1903, the manager was Sister Xavier Magevney. The Glockner Sanatorium and Training School for Nurses was operated by Sister Rose Alexius, the superioress, in 1916. It had 200 beds by 1921 and was the Glockner Sanatorium and Hospital in 1940.
Glockner evolved over the years into Penrose Hospital. Penrose Hospital won an Excellence in Historic Preservation Stewardship award in 2014 for the fully restored tuberculosis hut, or tent cottage, and its early 20th century furnishings that was used by people who came to the Colorado Springs area to cure their tuberculosis. The hut is located at the corner of Jackson Street and Cascade Avenue.