Last updated: August 5, 2026
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Historical Eras of Bent's Old Fort
Bent’s Old Fort preserves the place and story of a unique crossroads and gathering place that helped move Americans Westward and transformed the United States into a transcontinental nation. While the 16 years that the Bent, St. Vrain and Company operated the site is often a focus of interest, it is only a small part of the story.
In addition to the historic events commemorated here, for more than a century, Bent’s Old Fort has served as a place where Americans remember and interact with our collective past and continue to “commemorate the historic role played by such fort in the opening of the West.”
In addition to the historic events commemorated here, for more than a century, Bent’s Old Fort has served as a place where Americans remember and interact with our collective past and continue to “commemorate the historic role played by such fort in the opening of the West.”
Library of Congress
Bent Period (1833-1849)
The fort was headquarters for Bent, St. Vrain and Company, a trading company with connections as wide as St. Louis and Santa Fe. From the fort's location on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail, the firm dispersed American influence and trade goods over a vast area ranging from the northern part of present-day Colorado into the mountains of central New Mexico. Situated on the international boundary with Mexico, the fort played a prominent role in American expansion to the Southwest. Its location in the heart of the Southern Plains Indian country made it a natural contact point between the whites and several major tribes including the Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche. Disruptions caused by the US-Mexico War in 1846, disease, and family tragedy led to the dissolution of the company and the abandonment of the fort in the summer of 1849. Lt. John C. Fremont stopped over at the fort during his second, third, and fourth expeditions during the 1840s.
The Newberry Library
Interim Period (1849-1860)
Much of the post remained standing after its abandonment. The structure was often unoccupied and began to deteriorate. Travelers stopped at the site and traders operated out of the fort through the winter of 1854-55 and the following spring. Lt. John C. Fremont passed by the abandoned fort during his fifth and final expedition in 1853-54. In 1859, Native Americans briefly occupied the site.
Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum
Stagecoach Period (1861-1872)
Following the 1858 discovery of gold in Colorado, thousands of Americans flocked to the territory. By 1861 the Missouri Stage company had renovated the building for reuse as a stagecoach and mail station. The structure served a home station and general repair shop for the line which ran from Kansas City to Santa Fe. Several spur lines also radiated from the fort. These uses ended in the early 1870s as the Santa Fe railroad moves west. William Bent’s daughter Julia lived at the fort in the early 1870s and sold it to rancher John Prowers in 1872.
NPS photo
Cattle Period (1872-1920)
John W. Prowers, who had worked as a freighter for William Bent in the 1860s, made the fort a fixture of his cattle operations in the 1870s. One old cowboy, Louis Swink, remembered the fort being used as corrals. A Thomas H. Marshall acquired the property form the heirs of Prowers in 1897 (Prowers had died in 1884) and later sold the property to A. E. Reynolds. By the time Reynolds acquired the property, the walls were in places three and four feet high. The remains of the fort deteriorated virtually unchecked and building materials were carried from the site to be placed in the buildings of nearby settlers.Reynolds had a keen interest in western history and made sure that the site of the fort was preserved. In 1912, Reynolds paid for a historical marker erected at the site by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and in 1920 he presented the site of the fort to the DAR’s La Junta Chapter.
NPS photo
DAR Preservation Period (1920-1953)
The DAR movement to protect the few remaining ruins of the fort got off to an inauspicious start. In June of 1921 Arkansas River floodwaters swept over the fort site and erased any remaining aboveground ruins. The DAR efforts to preserve the site were limited by scarcity of funds, and the organization transferred title to the state of Colorado in 1954. An entrance arch and landscaped road to and around the remains of the old fort were the major developments at the site under the stewardship of the DAR.
NPS Photo
State of Colorado Management Period (1954-1963)
In the first year of management by the State Historical Society, Dr. Herbert Dick of Trinidad State Junior College led a preliminary archeological exploration of the fort site. In 1957 the State Historical Society used that archeological data to inform the construction of a low adobe wall which generally marked the outline of the fort’s foundation. The state also added a vault toilet and picnic shelters to the site. Efforts began to add the Fort to the national park system in 1957. As a measure of the enduring allure of the fort, in 1962 Denver area entrepreneur Sam Arnold built a replica of the fort as Western themed restaurant.
NPS Photo
National Park Period (1963-present)
Years of advocacy paid off when by an act of Congress approved June 3, 1960, the establishment of a National Historic Site at Bent's Old Fort was authorized. The National Park Service took over the administration of the National Historic Site on March 15, 1963. Extensive research by NPS historian Dwight E. Stinson, Jr. began to improve our understanding of the site and its history. A three-year archeological dig of the entire fort site led by NPS Archeologist Jackson Moore was also undertaken to document the site. During that same time National Park Service employees debated the best approach to developing the new park. A 1965 study committee was equally divided on the question of reconstructing the fort. In 1967, the National Park Service authorized a reconstruction of Bent’s Old Fort. The replica fort was dedicated in July 1976, coinciding with the United States Bicentennial and Colorado Statehood Centennial. Today, nearly seventy years after its authorization by Congress, the park is an 800 acre preserve protecting two miles of the Arkansas river and its associated prairie and riparian environments.This content is based in part on research conducted by the first park historian, Dwight Stinson, the 2004 Historic Resource Study written by Mark Gardner, and the forthcoming Administrative History by Dr. Laura Miller.