Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
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Bent's Old Fort
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Bent's Old Fort
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| Location | Otero County, Colorado, United States |
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| Nearest city | La Junta, Colorado |
| Coordinates | 38°02′25″N 103°25′47″W / 38.04028°N 103.42972°WCoordinates: 38°02′25″N 103°25′47″W / 38.04028°N 103.42972°W |
| Area | 799 acres (323 ha) |
| Built | 1833 |
| Architect | William Bent; Charles Bent |
| Visitation | 28,131 (2009) |
| Website | Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000254 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | June 3, 1960 |
| Designated NHS | December 19, 1960 |
Bent's Old Fort is an 1833 fort located in Otero County in southeastern Colorado, United States. A company owned by Charles and William Bent and 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 white American permanent settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements. 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 and is open to the public.
The adobe fort quickly became the center of the Bent, St. Vrain Company's expanding trade empire, which included Fort Saint 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.
From 1833 to 1849, the fort was a stopping point along the Santa Fe Trail. It was the only permanent settlement not under the jurisdiction and control of Native Americans or Mexicans. The U.S. Army, explorers, and other travelers stopped at the fort to replenish supplies, such as water and food, and perform needed maintenance to their wagons. The American frontiersman Kit Carson was employed as a hunter by the Bent brothers in 1841, and regularly visited the Fort. Likewise, the explorer John C. Frémont used the Fort as both a staging area and a replenishment junction, for his expeditions. During the Mexican-American War in 1846, the fort became a staging area for Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's "Army of the West".
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