By Melissa Trenary
Teller County Hospital as it appeared when it opened in 1902.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, doctors and hospitals were few and far between in the gold camps of Colorado. Most medicine was a combination of guesswork and quackery. The smallest cut or scrape could become deadly. Infant mortality rates were more than 50 percent as most babies were born in less than sanitary conditions and prenatal care was unheard of.
At the turn of the last century, only a handful of doctors and one hospital were available to the 25,000 residents of Cripple Creek. The Teller County Commissioners decided another hospital was desperately needed in the District. They contracted architect C.E. Troutman and builder Edwin Barrett to design and build a new hospital.
They chose a location just outside the city limits at B and Moynahan streets, on the northwest edge of town. The palatial two-story structure featured 14-foot ceilings, spacious hallways and a main staircase wide enough to allow gurneys and stretchers to be carried up. The exterior walls are six bricks thick and extend from the basement to the roofline. A massive exterior staircase was also wide enough to accommodate stretchers.
Two expansive porches were built on the south facing side. The second floor porch was built purposely with a sloping floor to allow for natural drainage. These open-air porches, named the Southwest Wards, were where tuberculosis patients were placed.
The Teller County Hospital was completed in April 1902 with a final cost of $19,520.23. It opened on May 12 under the direction of Dr. Alexander Magruder. A staff of three nurses provided the most modern of care to the patients.
The Hospitality House Hotel and RV Park as it is today.
The hospital’s first patient is listed as Roy Borquinn. The 13 year old had an affinity with dynamite and had blown off both of his hands and put out one of his eyes. He was abandoned to the hospital by his parents and became a ward of the county. Borquinn spent most of his life at the hospital. He was eventually sent to the State Mental Hospital in Pueblo.
“French” Blanche LeCroix was one of the hospitals more notorious patients. Blanche was a “Myers Avenue Girl” who had an affair with her boss and got pregnant. She delivered her baby in 1920 at the Teller County Hospital. Blanche and her baby would return to the hospital several times over the next few years. Baby Katherine was eventually taken by order of the County Commissioners.
Most of the patients during the first years were admitted with common ailments such as broken bones, tuberculosis or pneumonia. Others were diagnosed with funny sounding illnesses like La Grippe (the flu or a bad cold), Bad Blood (syphilis), or brain fever (meningitis). An unusually high number of patients were admitted under the diagnoses of insanity. The county commissioners or the county sheriff recommended many of these people for treatment. Records show that these patients were placed in the “Strong Room” for a short period of time and then dismissed to the county jail or state mental hospital.
During the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 and 1919, the hospital was under strict quarantine. Patients diagnosed with ailments other than the flu were transported to the Teller County Jail for care and treatment.
As the population of the Cripple Creek District declined in the 1920s and ‘30s, the number of patients admitted also declined. Most of these people were indigent and their treatment was listed as “free.” By the mid 1950s, the Teller County Hospital had pretty much become an old age home with an average of 5-6 patients per month and in severe financial trouble. The decision to close the hospital came in 1961 and the remaining patients were either transferred to the new Teller County Nursing Home or sent home. On Aug. 17, the final patient was admitted, when she died at 5:30 p.m., the doors were closed.
The building remained vacant for about two years. During that time, vandals broke in and destroyed or stole many of the antique furnishings. In 1963, Dorothy and Wayne Mackin purchased the building and set about restoring and remodeling the property into a hotel.
New carpet was installed, the original woodwork was carefully brought back to life, and more than 700 roles of wallpaper were hung. Several pieces of hospital equipment like the operating table, a crib, a gurney and several wheelchairs were restored and put on display. The Mackin’s appropriately renamed the property Hospitality House.
Today, Dorothy and Wayne’s son, Steve, along with his wife Bonnie still operate the hotel. Seventeen Victorian appointed rooms, Continental breakfast, a hot tub, playground and RV park are just some of the amenities guests can enjoy.
The Hospitality House is open from mid-May until the first weekend in October.
