This cache is intended to educate cachers about the history of the
JCRS and AMC Cancer Research Center.
The Jewish Consumptive Relief Society helped the development of
Lakewood along Colfax Avenue. The following is a brief history-
Excerpted from Kevin Flynn - Rocky Mountain News.
Dr. Charles Spivak, who escaped persecution in Russia and
studied medicine in Philadelphia, established a tent colony on the
high ground west of Denver to treat some of the worst tuberculosis
sufferers. The Robinson family daily kept some of its cows grazing
on the site to provide milk for the colony. "My great-grandfather
set up the farm there in 1885", said Dick Robinson. But as Lakewood
and Edgewater started to build up, the cows weren't the most
pleasant of neighbors. So the dairy moved down to the historic
brownstone on lower Colfax that today houses Brooklyn's bar, while
the pastures were sold for development. Now owned by Dean Foods,
the local dairy operation still carries the Robinson name.
Spivak's Jewish Consumptive Relief Society took over the acreage
along Colfax Avenue from Kendal to Pierce streets, and Jewish
organizations across the land contributed to building funds. A
small town grew up there, with a post office, dentist, drugstore,
general store, barbershop and other services. Some maps of the area
have a little dot near Colfax and Kendall that says "Spivak,
Colo."
A synagogue was built for the many Jewish patients and staff.
Funded by Isaac Solomon, whose son Jacob died of TB, the building
later came to bear Isaac's name. Today it is vacant but is being
preserved and restored by the JCRS Isaac Solomon Historical
Synagogue Foundation.
In 1954, after TB declined as a major health threat, the JCRS
changed its mission to cancer research and became the American
Medical Center (AMC). The society sold the frontage along Colfax in
1957 to a developer who built the shopping center. Today its
tenants include, among others, the landmark Casa Bonita restaurant,
a tourist attraction with its waterfall, cliff divers and puppet
shows. The AMC cancer center remains on the site, but most of the
campus was sold in 2002 to the Rocky Mountain College of Art and
Design. Spivak's work with the JCRS attracted other sanitariums to
Lakewood. One, Craig Colony, grew from an impromptu encampment at
Colfax and Ingalls Street established by a transient TB sufferer
named Frank Craig. Others joined him there and soon, Denver's
charitable community pitched in to assist. The institution that
grew there became Craig Hospital, now one of the world's foremost
spinal injury and brain trauma treatment centers. Outgrowing the
site, it moved to Englewood in 1970. Now, a nursing home occupies
the site.
All of this growth helped Colfax become the major transportation
corridor from Denver to Golden and into the mountains beyond. In
the 1960s, though, when Sixth Avenue was converted to a freeway and
Interstate 70 pushed west to Mount Vernon Canyon, Colfax was
gradually bypassed. The tourist motels and auto courts that had
defined West Colfax from the 1920s on fell on hard times. Some
names survived; the White Swan, Lakewood Lodge, Blue Sky and Big
Bunny- originally the Bugs Bunny but sued by Warner Bros. and
forced to change its name. Long gone, however, are the Wigwam, Moon
Glow, Rip Van Winkle and the Y'All Come Inn.
THE PUZZLE:
39 44. ABC 105 04 XYZ A.
On the south side of the Robinson Building there are two signs.
What is the last digit of the year when the building erected
originally by the Denver Ladies Auxiliary? (HINT: 19xx)
B. How many little arches are there above the east entrance to
the Texas Pavilion for Women? (HINT: Only on the second floor
balcony)
C. On the Synagogue, there are three plaques. On the north most
plaque you will find the year that it was "built anew". What is the
third digit of the year? (Check out the tent next to the synagogue.
There used to be hundreds of these tents where patients would live
out their lives.) (HINT: 19xx)
X. The artisan well, the water tower, has a plaque on it. What
is the last digit of the year on the plaque? (HINT: 19xx) (HINT:
It's a number less than 1)
Y. On the Rude (pronounced Rudy) Medical Building there is
writing on the north side of the frieze. What is the 4th number
from the right? (HINT: NOT 19xx)
Z. Same as B. Please look at the historical pictures in the
cache.
There is also a poem written by one of the patients in the
cache-I hope you enjoy! Feel free to check out the Art Gallery.
Golden Hill Cemetery (GCR3QK) is where many of the indigent
patients were buried.
The building to the east was the Men's dormitory; the women's
pavilion is on the west. There is a series of underground tunnels
connecting the two- as well as all the other buildings.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.