The War With Nature
1918 Influenza Pandemic
Flu in Durango
1918 Influenza Pandemic
Flu in Durango
This picture from the National Archives was taken in Boston but similar scenes occurred in Durango. The Red Cross set up workrooms around town to make items needed by soldiers overseas. Graden's Mercantile hosted a "gauze room" to make bandages and masks. The Animas City School (today's Animas Museum) had a sock workroom. When the flu broke out, the workrooms were closed for fear of spreading the virus but people could pick up supplies to work at home.
1918 was an election year. Ethel Jemison Porter, a Durango woman who had been very active supporting the Red Cross making masks and other necessities, ran for the office of County Clerk. She won but before she could be sworn in, she died of the flu.
The Century Building on the southeast corner of 9th Street and Main Avenue (above, Animas Museum Collection), was home to the Durango Exchange, forerunner of the Chamber of Commerce. Red Cross workrooms were located here. When the other hospitals filled up with flu cases, the building was turned into an emergency hospital by the Red Cross.