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Santa Fe Trail marker near Kozlowski's Trading Post at Pecos National Historical Park.
NPS Photo
Trail History
The Santa Fe Trail was a trade route between Missouri and New Mexico that passed close to Pecos Pueblo. At Pecos National Historical Park, present-day Highway 63 follows close to the old trail route.
One interesting remnant of Santa Fe Trail history is the Trading Post, an old adobe building dating to the mid 1800s. It was originally one of several stage stops in the area, managed by Martin Kozlowski and his wife Elena. During the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass, trading posts along the Santa Fe Trail were used by both Union and Confederate troops as encampments, headquarters, and hospitals, and even as the backdrop for one of the most decisive battles of the war. You can still visit this building today.
As the western territories gained independence from Spain and were eventually annexed from Mexico, the Santa Fe Trail became central to the story of expansion and development in the United States. Along the trail, trappers, traders, fortune seekers, adventurers, journalists, naturalists, and everyday travelers headed west into these new territories. This westward movement played an important role in the use, development, and eventual demise of the Santa Fe Trail.
Journeying on the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to New Mexico was long and arduous, but profitable for early merchants and certainly not boring. There were many stops along the way: Boone’s Lick, Switzler Creek, Lost Spring, Point of Rocks to name a few. Here at Pecos National Historical Park, you can step back in time at Kozlowski’s Stage Stop and Trading Post, where weary travelers rested a day’s ride from Santa Fe and explored the remaining walls of the mission church and Pecos Pueblo.
For more about this historical trade route, take a look at the National Park Service Santa Fe Trail page.
