Chasing the Tuberculosis Cure in Colorado: National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives (NJH) and the Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society (JCRS) in the Progressive Era

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in America. Due to its high altitude and dry and sunny climate, by the 1880s, Colorado earned a reputation as “The World’s Sanatorium,” and thousands flocked to the state to “chase the cure.” There were no municipal hospitals or sanatoriums at the time to aid the victims of consumption, most of them indigent, and it was left to religious and ethnic groups to come to their rescue. The Denver Jewish community was the first to step forward by founding NJH in 1899 and the JCRS in 1904. Although both institutions were formally non-sectarian and treated all patients free of charge, at least until the 1930s the majority of patients were poor Eastern European immigrants, most of whom had contracted the disease in sweat shops in large urban centers like New York City. The NJH and the JCRS were motivated by Jewish traditions of philanthropy as well as Progressive Era values. Day to day treatment at both institutions was similar, but they also differed radically in how best to provide social and cultural support. The history of these two national institutions, which were based in Denver, reflect wider themes of immigration, urbanization, ethnicity, and access to health care for the working classes, who became the most common victims of tuberculosis.