Native people The land the facility occupies is the sacred and ancestral territory of the
Pawnee and
Jicarilla Apache peoples. These groups controlled the land in the 1500s.
Founding The facility was founded by the
United States Army during
World War I arising from the need to treat the large number of casualties from
chemical weapons in
Europe. Denver's reputation as a prime location for the treatment of
tuberculosis led local citizens to lobby the Army on behalf of Denver as the site for the new hospital. In February 1918, the War Department recommended to Congress $500,00 be expended on constructions of the Denver hospital.
U.S. Army General Hospital No. 21, as it was first called, had ground breaking in April 1918, was formally dedicated and opened on October 13, 1918, in Aurora, which at the time had a population of less than 1,000. The campus consisted of 86 stucco buildings and capacity for 1,400 patients. The first commander of the hospital was Colonel William P. Harlow, a
Boulder native. He began his term on August 27, 1918, and had been the Dean of the University of Colorado Medical School before World War I.
1920s On July 1, 1920, the facility was formally renamed the
Fitzsimons General Hospital after
Lt. William T. Fitzsimons, the first American medical officer (a surgeon) killed in World War I. On November 2, 1921, the
Bunell, Colorado, post office was renamed Fitzsimons. The
Fitzsimons, Colorado, post office closed on April 30, 1923, and the
Aurora, Colorado, post office began to serve the area. The Army maintained the hospital in the budget for a few years before asking for work-relief funds to rebuild and modernize the facility in 1935. From 1935-1936 several improvement projects were carried out by the
Works Progress Administration (WPA). At the time, it was the largest structure in Colorado and the largest single hospital structure ever built by the Army. At the peak of its development during World War II, the number of hospital beds increased to 3,500 and the hospital contained as many as 5,000 patients at a time. This was accomplished by the hasty construction of many temporary buildings. The hospital campus had also grown to become the largest military hospital in the world with 322 buildings on about 600 acres. In April 1943, a post newspaper "The Stethoscope" was first published and formal publication lasted until the closure of the base. In 1944, the first members of the
Women's Army Corps (WAC) arrived at Fitzsimons. The entirety of the floor was cordoned off from the rest of the hospital, and was referred to as the "Western White House". Flowers lined the hallways of the suite as well wishes sent from people all over the world. Mamie would assist in reading and responding to those that sent messages of good wishes and prayerful concerns to the President. Eisenhower was taken outside to the roof when his health improved and he would occasionally paint scenes of his memories from Colorado. He was motivated to try painting for relaxation after seeing how it had helped
Winston Churchill.
Mamie Eisenhower was provided with her own bedroom so she could be close by and assist in her husband's recovery. Her room was similar to her husband's with the exceptions of having a sofa, chair, television, and telephone. Mamie asked for her pink toilet seat to be shipped from the
White House and installed in her room (Room 8021). The toilet seat is now in Eisenhower's family home in Gettysburg, PA. Another room on the eighth floor was designated for
Secret Service use. Only authorized visitors were allowed to site in this room and wait to meet with the President. President Eisenhower's personal physician, Dr.
Howard McCrum Snyder, also had a room on the eighth floor in order to be available at all times. Also on the eighth floor, the Bushnell Auditorium uses converted from hosting medical conferences to a command post and office for Presidential Aide Colonel Robert Schultz, and a theater for Mamie and others to watch westerns, comedies, and other movies popular at the time. Eisenhower celebrated his 65th birthday, October 14, 1955, while in the Fitzsimons hospital. Of the many gifts he received, he frequently used a set of maroon pajamas embroidered with "Much Better Thanks" on the left pocket given to him by the White House Press Corps. Eisenhower wore these pajamas on his first public appearance on October 25, 1955 on the hospital rooftop, an occasion documented on the cover of
Life Magazine (vol. 39, 1955). The President and Mrs.
Carlos Castillo-Armas of Guatemala visited Eisenhower on November 9, 1955. After his discharge on
Armistice Day, November 11, 1955, Eisenhower spent a few weeks with his family in
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania at his family's
farm. In 2000, work began to restore the suite of rooms on the hospital's eighth floor to appear as they did when Eisenhower was recovering there. This was made possible through a $67,100 SHF grant, a $10,000 donation from
Wells Fargo, and matching funds from the University of Colorado. The restored suite opened in 2003 and features many time period pieces such as nurse-call buttons, glass ashtrays, a
Secret Service sitting room, nurse's station, and a private dining room. This figure represented 10 percent of the orthopedic population at the time.
1970s In 1971, a drug dependency program began for returning Vietnam veterans. In 1977, the tuberculosis ward was closed. In March 1979, a $3.75 million
CT scanner was delivered. The closure was completed in 1999 and the reserve center was relocated to the northeast portion of the site. The projected $5 billion (Economic Contributions of Activities at
Fitzsimons Life Science District and the UC Denver
Anschutz Medical Campus - Sammons/Dutton LLC, 2008) redevelopment of the facility into civilian use currently includes the construction of the
University of Colorado Hospital's $147 million Anschutz Inpatient Pavilion, and the $509-million Children's Hospital. The medical campus also includes University of Colorado Denver medical education and research facilities, including the Ben Nighthorse Campbell Center for Native American Research, named in honor of the
U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado. In 2008, the redeveloped Fitzsimons campus employed 16,000 workers and generated approximately $3.5 billion for Colorado's economy. ==Postal history==