U. S. National Parks
Factbook

October 2026 edition
A Factbook library volume ↗

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National Historic Sites · Colorado

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Official park website ↗

Introduction

Background: 1

In the 1840s the Arkansas River was the border between territory claimed by the United States and Mexico. Located along the river, Bent's Fort was an adobe trading post on the Santa Fe Trail, where traders, trappers, travelers, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes came together in peaceful terms for trade. Today, a reconstructed fort allows visitors to explore the front line of Westward Expansion.

Geography

Designation: 3

National Historic Site

State or territory: 4

Colorado

1845 Trading Network - Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site: 5

Map of the 1845 trading network for Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site. The United States is shown in beige with the states outlined in gray but not labeled east of modern-day Texas. Green, brown, blue, and purple lines capture waterways, routes, and trails across the country.
1845 Trading Network - Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site · National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center · Official map PDF ↗

Map scope: Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Map of the 1845 trading network for Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site. The United States is shown in beige with the states outlined in gray but not labeled east of modern-day Texas. Green, brown, blue, and purple lines capture waterways, routes, and trails across the country.

History and culture

History & Culture: 6

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site preserves the resources associated with the Bent–St. Vrain trading empire, which radiated from Bent's Old Fort into what is now Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Missouri. The fort solidified one of the most important and last established trading cartels in the Rocky Mountain West.

William and Charles Bent, along with Ceran St. Vrain, built the original adobe fort on this site in 1833 to trade with Plains Indians and trappers. The fort quickly became the center of the expanding holdings of Bent, St. Vrain & Company, including Fort St. Vrain to the north and Fort Adobe to the south, along with company stores in Taos and Santa Fe. The primary trade was with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians for buffalo robes.

For sixteen years, the fort was the only major permanent stop on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements. The fort provided explorers, adventurers, and the U.S. Army a place to get needed supplies, wagon repairs, livestock, good food, water and company, rest and protection. During the war with Mexico in 1846, the fort became a staging area for Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's "Army of the West." Disasters and disease led to the fort's initial abandonment in 1849.

Bent's Old Fort was an important point of commercial, social, military, and cultural contact between Anglo-American, Native American, Hispanic, and other groups on the border of United States Territory. The fort served as a point of exchange for trappers from the southern Rocky Mountains, travelers from Missouri and the east, Hispanic traders from Mexico, and Native Americans, primarily from the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa Tribes.

Today, Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site features a reconstructed version of the 1840s adobe trading post . Archeological excavations and original sketches, paintings, and diaries were used to reconstruct the fort, to coincide with the nation’s bicentennial and Colorado’s centennial in 1976. The reconstructed fort and its setting along the Arkansas River allow visitors to learn about and reflect on the westward expansion of the United States.

Nature

Ecology; Nature: 7

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is situated on a series of low benches along the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado. It is located on the western edge of the Great Plains at an elevation of 4,035 feet. This area is shortgrass prairie, classified as the Kuchler Vegetation Type, as grama and buffalo grasses predominate on the high benches. The river bottoms encompass mixed grasses, riparian, and wetland plant species. The current vegetation is a mixture of native plant communities impacted by exotics and grasslands recovering from agricultural use.

Places to explore

Things to Do: 8

Entry into the reconstructed fort is limited to the central plaza. See the event calendar for hours of operation on scheduled plaza access days . Guided tours provide access into additional areas; see the event calendar for scheduled tours. For your safety respect all closures and restrictions.

719 383-5010 Park rangers are generally available to take your call from 9:00 a. m. - 3:30 p. m. Mountain Time. If no one answers, please leave a message, and someone will return your call as soon as possible.

Visitor information

Physical Address: 9

35110 State Highway 194
La Junta, CO 81050

Mailing Address: 10

35110 State Highway 194
La Junta, CO 81050

Telephone: 11

(719) 383-5010

Visitation

Recreation visits: 12

7,190 (2025)

Sources & field notes

Source records (12)

Select a numbered reference to open a source card. Retrieval dates describe this edition’s source capture, rather than an independent verification or the date of the underlying information.

  1. Background · Official park structured information. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
    Return to field ↑

  2. Front of the fort, spring 1976 · NPS photo. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Source scope
    Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    Public domain:Full Granting Rights
    Rights
    Public domain:Full Granting Rights
    Return to field ↑

  3. Designation · National Park System directory. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
    Return to field ↑

  4. State or territory · National Park System directory. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
    Return to field ↑

  5. 1845 Trading Network - Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site · National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Source scope
    Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
    Download
    Official map PDF ↗
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    Public domain; NPS map
    Rights
    Public domain; NPS map
    Return to field ↑

  6. History & Culture · National Park Service. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party material may have separate rights. No images copied.
    Return to field ↑

  7. Ecology; Nature · Nature — National Park Service. Open source ↗

    Information date
    April 24, 2025
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    NPS webpage text; U.S. government work generally public domain. Third-party material may have separate rights.
    Return to field ↑

  8. Things to Do · National Park Service. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored U.S. government work is generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
    Return to field ↑

  9. Physical Address · Official park structured information. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
    Return to field ↑

  10. Mailing Address · Official park structured information. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
    Return to field ↑

  11. Telephone · Official park structured information. Open source ↗

    Information date
    Not supplied by the source
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
    Return to field ↑

  12. Recreation visits · National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics. Open source ↗

    Information date
    2025
    Retrieved
    2026-10-30
    Methodology
    NPS reporting unit; annual total is the sum of 12 monthly recreation visit estimates.
    Reporting unit
    Bent's Old Fort NHS
    Evidence
    Single source; not independently corroborated.
    Reuse
    Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
    Return to field ↑
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Source information

NPS VISITOR USE STATISTICS

Recreation visits

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