The War With Nature
1918 Influenza Pandemic
Fighting the Flu
The Sisters of Mercy founded Mercy Hospital, (above, Animas Museum Collection) in 1882. Originally, the hospital shared space with a girls boarding school. When a smallpox outbreak compromised the school, the Sisters built the brick building above. By early October of 1918, the hospital was full of flu victims.
Use of a formaldehyde fumigator such as this one from the Animas Museum's permanent collection was believed to kill germs in the home. Users were instructed to remove plants, close off the room and light the wick. B&B brand fumigator advertisements noted, "The germ-killing gas will then penetrate every crevice, every fabric, harming nothing. You will have an aseptic room." There were different sizes available for different rooms. Housewives were urged to see their pharmacist to purchase them for around a dollar each (approximately $17 today).
Dr. Benjamin Ocshner did not have privileges to practice at Mercy Hospital so he opened his own hospital which moved several times. In 1918 Oschner Hospital was located in this building on East 5th Avenue, now known as the Gable House (above, Animas Museum Collection). It too became full of flu victims.
While the schools were closed, teachers were not paid by the school boards. Most of the teachers in Durango volunteered to provide home nursing care to prove their worth to the community.
By midDecember, the worst seemed to have passed and Christmas was on the way. The city made the decision to open churches for one service a week. Pool halls had become important spots for social gathering since Colorado was already in the throes of Prohibition and saloons were shut down. They were the first public places to be allowed to open. Editor David Day (below, Animas Museum Collection) railed “Why can pool halls be open 24 hours a day but we can only go to church once a week?”
