In the August 2022 issue of The Pueblo Lore there is an article I wrote about the first eleven patients at the Asylum on the first day it was opened: October 23rd, 1879. The Lore is published by the Pueblo County Historical Society, another one of my volunteering gigs.

In the article, I summarize as much as I could find out about the patients that were here at the Asylum on opening day.

Of course it all started with Patient #1: Moses Milsap. You can see his entry in the Patient Index and see the “a-1” classification after his name. Moses was an epileptic after sustaining a serious head injury back in 1862. In the time between his injury and Day One, Moses made the newspapers several times, having been in trouble in Jamestown and Denver. Unfortunately, Moses only lived for eleven months after being institutionalized. He died on Thursday, September 23rd, 1880. He was probably 50 years old.

Copies of the August 2022 issue can be purchased from the Pueblo County Historical Association.