Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site - La Junta, Colorado - National Parks (U.S.) on Waymarking.com

Bent's Old Fort is an 1833 fort located in Otero County, Colorado, USA. William and Charles Bent, along with Ceran St. Vrain, built the fort to trade with Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Plains Indians and trappers for buffalo robes. For much of its 16-year history, the fort was the only major permanent white settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements.

The adobe fort quickly became the center of the Bent, St. Vrain Company's expanding trade empire that included Fort St. Vrain to the north and Fort Adobe to the south, along with company stores in New Mexico at Taos and Santa Fe. The primary trade was with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians for buffalo robes.

For much of its 16-year history, the fort was the only major permanent non-hispanic white settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements. The fort provided explorers, adventurers, and the U.S. Army a place to get needed supplies, wagon repairs, livestock, good food, water and company, rest and protection in this vast "Great American Desert". During the Mexican-American War in 1846, the fort became a staging area for Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's "Army of the West"

It was destroyed under mysterious circumstances in 1849.

The area of the fort was designated a National Historic Site under the National Park Service on June 3, 1960. It was further designated a National Historic Landmark later that year on December 19, 1960. The fort was reconstructed in 1976 and is open to the public.

State/States the Park is located...: Colorado Park Designation: Historic Park/Site Times the Visitors Center (or Park) is Open....: From: 8:00 AM To: 5:30 PM Months the Visitors Center/Park is open...: From: 01/02/2012 To: 12/31/2012 Website From the National Parks Service Page of this Waymark...: [Web Link] SECONDARY website.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bent%27s_Old_Fort_National_Historic_Site Are pictures included?: yes

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