Ex-Patients' Home Synagogue and Library

Synagogue and library of the Ex-patients' Tubercular Home 

The Aid Association for Ex-Patients of Denver Sanatoriums was founded in 1908 by local Jewish businessmen to help provide funds for temporary housing, medical treatment, and moral and financial support for former Jewish tuberculosis patients trying to get back on their feet. Often interest free loans were given to help the recovering consumptives begin modest business so they could ultimately support themselves. The Aid Association of the J.C.R.S. was incorporated in 1911. In 1916, the group bought five acres of land in Aurora at 8000 Montview Boulevard and built a structure to house the ex-patients and provide assistance with vocational training. In the 1920s, it became known as the Ex-Patients’ Tubercular Home, and its goal was “to provide a home and care for patients who have been directed from a tuberculosis hospital or sanatorium, who are in need of further treatment, and to rehabilitate those patients so they will again become self-respecting and self-supporting citizens.” After tuberculosis came under control in the 1950s, the Ex-Patients’ Home became the Mental Health Center of America before the Home closed its doors in the 1960s. The Ex-Patients’ Home Records, B147, and the Jewish Consumptive’s Relief Society, B002, have documents and photographs that reflect the story.