Elsner, John (John Leopold), Dr., 1844-1922
Biography
John Elsner was born in Vienna on May 4, 1844. His father, Joseph David Elsner, was a leader in the Hungarian Revolution and the family had to flee from Slovakia after the revolution failed in 1948. Elsner graduated from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and in 1866, he graduated from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York. That same year, he joined a wagon train crossing the plains to Colorado. Dr. John Elsner was one of the early doctors and was Denver’s first Jewish physician. John Elsner married Lena Zalinger in Denver in 1867 and their daughter Rosalinde was born in 1870. Fifteen years later, John and Lena Elsner adopted Edward, the youngest member of a troupe of actors who passed through Denver. John Elsner was appointed Denver County physician and was a prime mover in the establishment of Denver's first general hospital (now Denver Health). He also helped set up Denver’s Gross College of Medicine. He had a busy private practice, which included treating gunshot wounds. His patients included Blacks, Chinese, and Native Americans. Dr. Elsner traveled the Rocky Mountain region as a mohel to perform the traditional Jewish rite of circumcision. In 1871, he and ten other early Denver doctors organized the Denver Medical Society. Dr. Elsner with other Jewish leaders founded the Hebrew Benevolent Association of Denver. Highly active in the Jewish and general community, he served as the president of Denver's B'nai B'rith chapter in 1874. Elsner was an incorporator of National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives in 1890 and served on the hospital's first medical advisory board. John Elsner was a founding member of Congregation Emanuel. John Elsner died in Denver in 1922 and Lena Elsner died in 1929.
Found in 7 Collections and/or Records:
A Legacy of Healing: Early Colorado Jews in Medicine, 2005
Brief biographies of Jewish men and women who contributed to medicine, the Jewish community, and Colorado. Contains historical photographs and interviews with people who knew some of the early key figures.
Blazing the Trail: An Early History of Denver’s Jewish Community, 2009
Brief description of several early Jewish leaders of commerce, philanthropy, religion, and community as well as several Jewish lawyers, doctors, merchants, and politicians in Colorado.
Box 1, 1869-1905
Contains copies of records of circumcisions performed by Dr. John Elsner in the Rocky Mountain region. His travels included Colorado towns of Boulder, Blackhawk and Leadville. He also performed circumcisions in Wyoming and New Mexico. The xerox copies of the records are faint and difficult to read.
Circumcision Records, 1869-1905
Contains records of circumcisions performed by Dr. John Elsner in the Rocky Mountain region. His travels included Colorado towns of Boulder, Blackhawk and Leadville. He also performed circumcisions in Wyoming and New Mexico. Most of xeroxed records are faint and hard to read.
Colorado Pioneer Doctors, 1937
Includes accounts of Colorado doctors and medical practice during the early days of the territory. Each chapter is based on the story of a significant Colorado doctor.
Dr. John Elsner, 1908-1984
File contains biographical information, copies of photographs, an article by Marjorie Hornbein on “Dr. John Elsner, A Colorado Pioneer;” "The Life and Times of Dr. John Elsner and Family" by Caren Caldwell; and “Dr. John Elsner and Dr. Charles D. Spivak: Physicians and Jews, Representatives of Two Communities” by DU student Barbara Thiesen; and “Reminiscences,” a speech delivered by Dr. John Elsner at National Jewish Hospital in 1908.