Tuberculosis Huts Then & Now

By On March 14, 2011 · 10 Comments · In A Big Something, Health, Local History


(“Transferring the Deed” by A. Newman, 1909. Courtesy of Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. Image Number: 001-4090.)

From 1909 to 1947, a hive of octagonal, green-and-white huts just big enough for one person dotted the grounds of Modern Woodmen of America’s Sanatorium tucked away against the foothills in Woodmen Valley (see YouTube Video of the 1933 promotional film below). The site now belongs to the Sisters of St. Francis who operate a retreat, a hospital and a beautiful modern Catholic church, and only one of the huts remains on site as a tiny museum/monument to the history. The rest of the huts found their ways into the backyards and lots of various homes and businesses in Colorado Springs and Manitou (see the slide show below). They’re fantastic and sturdy little architectural reminders of what was once a huge part of Colorado Springs’ identity and economy. For more on the various Tuberculosis sanitoriums, there’s a good article by R. Scott Rappold HERE.

Thanks again to the Pikes Peak Library District for making so many of these great historical videos available to the public. Thanks also to all the folks on Facebook who helped us locate some of these hidden gems! If anyone knows of others or more history, we’d love to know where they are or see pictures, particularly of the insides. Please leave comments or email us at thebigsomething@krcc.org.

 
Reddit Facebook Twitter Delicious Mixx StumbleUpon Digg

10 Responses to Tuberculosis Huts Then & Now

  1. Dave Hughes says:
    March 14, 2011 at 8:24 am

    A very little known connection between the Tuberculosis Huts of the Woodmen of America and Evergreen and Fairview Cemeteries can be seen in the many grave markers made of wood, concrete, and sometimes metal which look like short trunks of trees with the limbs cut off, the stubs showing. When many woodmen union members being cared for locally died anyway and were buried in Colorado Springs, the Woodmen of America provided the markers. I once asked a meeting of today’s Woodmen Insurance company patrons what the symbolism was.

    The rare and local grave markers in both cemeteries in the stubs of the cut off branches denote a ‘life cut short’ of the Woodmen union member who died in spite of the huts and care given them. Many were destitute when they died, without family, so the Woodmen of America always provided a marker for them. That was it.

    And that ‘insurance’ by union dues metamorphised into the Woodman general Insurance Company today.

    I have such a marker of the same style in front of my house. Except it is in cast iron with a horse bridle tie down ring that came out of the Bock Museum in Colorado City that was closed in the 1930s. Same Woodmen symbolism, different purpose.

    Reply
  2. Nathaniel says:
    March 14, 2011 at 8:49 am

    I saw those huts in Manitou Springs and was not aware that they were once TB Huts. Fascinating information as always.

    Reply
  3. boomer49 says:
    March 14, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    …..would love to insulate one of those and modify it as a little hermatige in the mountains…great design!

    Reply
  4. Marcia says:
    June 9, 2012 at 10:43 am

    This was fascinating! Thanks for posting, I’ve never heard of TB Huts. The video was very interesting, and the pictures are great. These are very cute huts, wish I had one! Would make a great kids playhouse or even a guest bedroom. Nice to see that so many have survived. Thank you, great job! :)

    Reply
  5. Donna Meyer Erickson says:
    August 26, 2012 at 6:51 pm

    My grandfather, Maximillion Meyer, was at one of the Woodman sites near Colorado Springs sometime before 1916. I have a 36 x 12 framed picture of a tent city. It really belongs in a museum. Who can help me? Interesting film!

    Reply
  6. Martha Friend says:
    August 27, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    My grandfather, John S. Whisenant, was also a patient at the Sanitorium at the time of the film. I have a few pictures of him and the hut.

    Reply
  7. Martha Friend says:
    August 28, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    I was mistaken. My grandfather was at the Woodmen site, which is now Mt. St. Francis. I originally thought he was at the Cragmor site, now the home of UCCS. He may also have been at the one at the site of St. Francis hospital on Pikes Peak.

    Reply
  8. Tom says:
    November 12, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    I have one of these huts in my yard that needs to be restored. Anyone interested?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

News

NPR
Advocates Struggle To Reach Growing Ranks Of Suburban Poor
May 20, 2013 | NPR · The number of poor people living in America’s suburbs now surpasses those in cities or rural areas. Long focused on the urban poor, social service agencies are now trying to respond to the basic needs of a much more far-flung population.
 

AP
Is There Really A Second-Term Curse?
May 20, 2013 | NPR · Whether it’s President Richard Nixon’s resignation or President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, presidents tend to have a tough time during the back half of an eight-year presidency.
 

Nate D. Sanders Auction House
Nostalgia For Sale As Captain Kangaroo’s Pals Are Auctioned Off
May 20, 2013 | NPR · A giant lot of Captain Kangaroo memorabilia goes on the auction block this week in Los Angeles. Among the items up for auction are several of the Captain’s signature jackets, Mr. Grean Jeans’ famous jeans and the life-sized costume worn by Dancing Bear.
 

Arts & Life

Decades Later And Across An Ocean, A Novel Gets Its Due
May 19, 2013 | NPR · John Williams’ Stoner sold just 2,000 copies when it was originally published in 1965. It’s now acknowledged as a classic work, is a best-seller across Europe and the No. 1 novel in the Netherlands.
Windows Media | MP3 | NPR Player | Add to NPR Player
 

Getty Images
The Movie Katie Aselton Has ‘Seen A Million Times’
May 19, 2013 | NPR · Actor-director Katie Aselton could watch Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break a million times. “It totally scoops you up and takes you for a ride,” she says.
Windows Media | MP3 | NPR Player | Add to NPR Player
 

iStockphoto.com
Unacceptable Anger From ‘The Woman Upstairs’
May 19, 2013 | NPR · “Women’s anger is very scary to people,” author Claire Messud says. Her new novel, The Woman Upstairs, features a seething main character, a young woman whose anger is unsettling.
Windows Media | MP3 | NPR Player | Add to NPR Player
 

Music

Courtesy of the artist
First Listen: Mount Kimbie, ‘Cold Spring Fault Less Youth’
May 19, 2013 | NPR · The British beat-makers shed their electronics in pursuit of a sound designed to translate live. For their second album, Mount Kimbie’s Dominic Maker and Kai Campos even trot out languid vocal performances and a real live drum kit, while still sounding like themselves in the process.
Windows Media
 

Courtesy of the artist
First Listen: Tricky, ‘False Idols’
May 19, 2013 | NPR · The producer’s best album since the mid-’90s, False Idols is one of 2013′s biggest surprises so far. His signature mix of menace and seduction still sounds contemporary after Tricky’s more than 20 years in (and out of) the spotlight.
Windows Media
 

Courtesy of the artist
First Listen: Laura Marling, ‘Once I Was An Eagle’
May 19, 2013 | NPR · Marling’s songs dig well beyond the everyday, with each sung in a wise, dusky, brooding voice that always seems in control of its surroundings. The U.K. folksinger’s fourth album, Once I Was an Eagle, takes a remarkable journey over the course of 16 hypnotic, subtly inventive songs.
Windows Media
 

Get the KRCC iPhone App

The Writer's Almanac

Radiolab