Between 1833 and 1849, weary Santa Fe Trail travelers cheered when they saw Bent's Fort - a marketplace like no other. Before Colorado was even a state, Bent's Fort was a hub of activity and a place where goods from around the world could be traded for or purchased.

This site northeast of La Junta once contained Bent’s Old Fort, an important trading post near the Arkansas River along the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail.  Constructed around 1833 by brothers Charles and William Bent and partner Ceran St. Vrain, the fort occupied an area that at that time was the border between the United States and newly independent Mexico. The fort became the focus where Hispano, Euro-American, and the various Plains Indian tribes, including the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Arapaho, Comanche, interacted as well as the Ute. The reconstructed adobe fort on the historic site dates to the mid-1970s.

Map of Colorado Territory, embracing the Central Gold Region. Drawn by F.J. Ebert under direction of the Governor W. Gilpin. Colorado, its resources, parks and prospects as a new field for emigration.

Standards for Bent’s Fort: Colorado’s First Trade Center

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework