National Jewish Health opened in Denver, Colorado in 1899 as the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives to serve victims of consumption who flocked to Denver in the late 19th and early 20th century in search of health. By then, Colorado had earned a nickname as the World's Sanatorium. The primary impetus behind the founding of National Jewish was Frances Wisebart Jacobs, a Jewish women in Denver who became known as Denver's "Mother of Charities" for her pivotal role in philanthropy.