Union Printers Home album

The Union Printers Home opened in 1892 in Colorado Springs. It served as a place of rest and recovery for those in the International Typographical Union (ITU), a trade union for printers. The International Typographical Union (ITU) was formed in 1852 by printers frustrated by their working conditions. Printers suffered from lung conditions – like tuberculosis and "printer's lung," a form of black lung stemming from the fumes of the carbon-based inks used in printing. The average life expectancy among printers was approximately 40 years. At the first meeting of ITU, members proposed creating a place to recover from their medical issues; however, it wasn't until 1890 that the concept was approved. It took donations from George W. Childs, a Philadelphia newspaper publisher, and Anthony J. Drexel, a philanthropist, to make the Home a reality. The Home opened in 1892, originally called the Childs-Drexel Home for Union Printers. The building, impressive and known as "the castle," was a monument to printers. The complex was 300 acres and self-sustaining at its height, with a working dairy and its own post office. The Union Printers Home housed 25,000 printers under the direction of the ITU. In 1986, the ITU merged with Communication Workers of America and sold the building where it was used as retirement community. In 2021, local residents, known as the UPH Partners, purchased the property to create a mixed-use neighborhood while restoring and maintaining the building's most significant historic features.

Sources

Beckman, Abigail. "Local Investors Are Hoping to Reinvigorate the Union Printers Home in Colorado Springs, but They've Got a Lot of Work to Do," KRCC Colorado Public Radio, last modified June 30, 2022, accessed July 22, 2023, https://www.cpr.org/2022/06/30/union-printers-home-redevelopment-colorado-springs/.

Grief, Jodie, Northern Arizona University. "Childs-Drexel Home for Union Printers (Union Printers Home)." Intermountain Histories. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/332.

Hinkle, Ellie. "A Place of Rest, Healing, and Recovery." Union Printers Home Masterplan, May 15, 2023. https://unionprintershome.com/a-place-of-rest-healing-and-recovery/.