Louis Anfenger and Milton Anfenger
Values Codes I – H – E – L – P
Louis Anfenger (1842-1900) came to America from Bavaria in 1856.
He moved to Denver and started a real estate and insurance business in 1871 that thrived for thirty years.
Louis Anfenger and family
Anfenger quickly became a leader of Denver’s small Jewish community.
He helped to start the Denver B’nai B’rith lodge in 1872 and served as its first secretary.
He also became the first president of Temple Emanuel.
In 1889, group of Denver women decided to build a free-of-charge charity hospital in Denver for victims of tuberculosis.
The hospital opened in 1892, but had to close one year later when the national economy crashed and charitable donations dried up.
In 1894, Louis Anfenger won election to the Colorado senate.
The next year, Louis became president of Denver’s B’nai B’rith lodge and attended the national B’nai B’rith convention in Toledo, Ohio.
He passionately urged the organization to conduct nationwide fundraising to reopen the Denver Jewish charity hospital permanently.
The national convention approved Anfenger’s proposal and four years later the hospital re-opened and continues to flourish to this day.
Louis Anfenger’s son Milton Anfenger (1874-1952) attended Stanford University.
His roommate was future president Herbert Hoover.
Milton became an attorney and life-long civic leader in Denver.
He won a four-year term in the Colorado senate in 1904.
In 1912, Milton and two other Jewish leaders created the Central Jewish Council of Denver to combine fifty communal organizations.
Milton Anfenger led the Denver Council for decades and was also president of Denver’s B’nai B’rith lodge and the district grand lodge.
He started the community’s Denver Jewish News newspaper in 1915; it continues today as the Intermountain Jewish News.
From 1945 to 1952, Milton was president of the National Jewish Hospital his father had rescued half a century earlier.
Source
- Mark Rutzik, Breaking New Ground: The Untold Story of Early America’s Jewish Electoral Pioneers – 1788 to 1920, 2025.
Mark Rutzick is the curator of this Anfenger exhibit.