Shoenberg Farms Material Culture and Photographs

In 1911, Oscar and Anne Morrison sold a parcel of land in Jefferson County to New Yorker Louis D. Shoenberg. He had red brick buildings built, with plans to donate to the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives (NJH) as a memorial to his son who had died of tuberculosis. In 1912, the Dudley C. Shoenberg Memorial Farm was donated to Denver’s National Jewish Hospital. NJH opened in 1900 to treat tuberculosis patients. Louis Shoenberg began in the clothing business in boom town Leadville, Colorado, and later partnered with David May of May D & F. A “scientific” farmer and graduate of Cornell, W. J. Abbott, was hired to run the farm. Abbott purchased Holsteins in Wisconsin for a dairy and also added 3,000 chickens for a poultry operation. The farm became too expensive to run and in 1912, Jacob Tepper, a Polish immigrant, bought the Schoenberg Farm. The farm continued to serve the dairy and poultry needs of National Jewish Hospital, but was also able to sell to many other institutions and expanded the farm to 787 acres. By 1949, the farm was one of the largest dairy and poultry operations west of the Mississippi. Jacob’s son Edward, turned the dairy operation into a wholesale dairy processing plant. Edward’s son, J. Jerry Tepper, continued the operation until August 2000. A large commercial development was built at the former site of the farm in Westminster, Colorado. Collection contains milk bottles, hay knife, farm records, photocopies of photographs, and photographs related to the Schoenberg Farms.