Your Dollars At Work

Kozlowski's Trading Post and Stage Stop

NPS Photo/Stan Ford 2016

Trading Post Rehabilitation Project

While Pecos National Historical Park does not collect an entrance fee, fee dollars from other parks across the country are contributing to a recently awarded project at the park. Beginning in February 2019, the project works to rehabilitate the historic Kozlowski's Trading Post along Highway 63 in Pecos, NM and transform the building into a visitor contact station, museum, and employee office space. Weil Construction from Albuquerque, NM, is the General Contractor and is teamed with Avanyu General Contracting of Española and Pat Taylor Historic Preservation of Mesilla, NM, for the rehabilitation phase of the project. No tax dollars are used for the rehabilitation and construction portion of the project, instead the receipts from visitor entrance fees from parks around the country will fund the rehabilitation work. Visit the Your Fee Dollars at Work page for more information about how your entrance fees are at work at other national park service sites.

Trading Post Background

The Trading Post has a storied past. A Polish immigrant named Martin Kozlowski originally constructed the Trading Post along the Santa Fe Trail in 1858. It served as one of the last stage stops before trail-weary travelers arrived in Santa Fe after months on the dusty trail. During the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass, this building served as a Union hospital. In 1925, rodeo-promoter and entrepreneur Tex Austin purchased the building and turned it into ranch headquarters for his famous Forked Lightning Ranch. In the 1940s, E.E. "Buddy" Fogelson bought the ranch and then brought his Hollywood actress wife, Oscar-winning Greer Garson, to the Forked Lightning Ranch. Together, they worked the land as a hobby ranch and entertained many Hollywood guests. In 1990, the National Park Service acquired the ranch and Trading Post and used it as office space, until 2006, when the building was deemed unfit for occupancy.