Tuberculosis was an incurable disease, before antibiotics.
Tuberculosis patients flocked to arid climates looking for cures and, if not, at least a good death.
“La Miseria” by Cristobal Rojas (1886).
Rojas was suffering from tuberculosis when he painted this, depicting the sufferings of the debilitating disease.
The city that benefitted the most from this tuberculosis rush was Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs was founded in 1871.
The city has abundant sunshine year-round, averaging more than 250 sunny days per year.
It was the prefect location to heal.
Our air is pure and bracing, and is entirely free from all malarial influences.
Persons suffering from chronic consumption are likely to live longer and more comfortably by residing in Colorado.
Tens of thousands of people went to Colorado Springs every year drawn by the lure of tuberculosis treatment.
The routine was torturous.
Each patient was forced to eat twice as much they wanted.
Some patients were fed laxatives to keep all that food moving.
The idea was to rebuild the frail bodies of the patients wrecked by the disease.
Tuberculosis huts at Modern Woodmen of America sanatorium.
Photo: Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.
Patients pose for a photo at a Colorado Springs tuberculosis sanatorium.
Photo: Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.
Designed by Dr. Charles Fox Gardiner, these tuberculosis huts became a familiar sight at sanatoriums across the region.
After the sanatorium closed in 1947, hundreds of these huts were sold to local residents and businesses.
Dozens of them still survive.
Now they function as tool sheds, artist studios, play houses and even bus stops.
Whether it was Colorado Springss rejuvenating climate or something else, many TB patients actually recovered.
Many of them bought property and stayed behind.
Businessman J. J. Hagerman came to Colorado Springs in 1884 seeking cure.
He eventually built the Colorado Midland Railway.
Novelist Helen Hunt Jackson also spent time at a sanatorium in Colorado Springs.
Artus pottery styles had a significant impact on the Art Nouveau movement.
A couple of preserved tuberculosis huts in Colorado Springs.
Many of the citys landmarks owe their legacy to the tuberculosis industry.
Tuberculosis treatment was our industry.
