Fort Vasquez

Fort Vasquez
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Colorado State Register of Historic Properties
Location	Platteville, Colorado
Coordinates	40°11′40″N 104°49′13″W / 40.19444°N 104.82028°W / 40.19444; -104.82028Coordinates: 40°11′40″N 104°49′13″W / 40.19444°N 104.82028°W / 40.19444; -104.82028
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1835
Architect	Works Progress Administration (reconstruction)
Architectural style	Other, adobe fort
Governing body	Colorado Historical Society
NRHP Reference #	70000169[1]
CSRHP #	5WL.568[2]
Added to NRHP	September 30, 1970

Fort Vasquez is a former fur trading post 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Denver, Colorado, USA, founded by Luis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette in 1835.^[3] Restored by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, it now lies in a rather incongruous position as U.S. Route 85 splits to run either side of the building. History Colorado (then the Colorado Historical Society) took possession of the property in 1958 and runs it as a museum to display exhibits of the fur-trade era.

History

The present day Fort Vasquez located, literally, on Highway 85, next to Platteville, Colorado is a reconstruction of the adobe trading post established by the trappers Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette. They built the fort in 1835 after obtaining a trading license in St. Louis, Missouri, from William Clark, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs.^[4] They traded with other furriers, trappers, mountain men, and Native American tribes (including the Arapaho and Cheyenne), amidst competition with other trading posts. Unable to turn a profit, they sold Fort Vasquez to Lock and Randolph in 1840 who subsequently went bankrupt and abandoned the structures in 1842. Due to the bankruptcy, Vasquez and Sublette could not collect the sum owed to them for the sale.^[4]

Fort Vasquez

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Weld County, Colorado

References

Other sources

• Lecompte, Janet (1978). Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: Society on the High Plains, 1832–1856. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1723-0. 
• Noel, Thomas J.; Faulkner, Debra B. (2006). Colorado: An Illustrated History of the Highest State. Sun Valley, California: American Historical Press. ISBN 1-892724-52-9. 

• Brotemarkle, Diane (2001). Old Fort St. Vrain. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Printing. ISBN 0-9712372-0-4. 

External links

• Fort Vasquez Museum History Colorado

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