Fort Vasquez Museum

Name: Fort Vasquez Museum
Address: 13412 US Highway 85, Platteville, CO, 80651, US
Telephone: +19707852832
Price range: $

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Fort Vasquez Museum

A Community Museum of History Colorado, Fort Vasquez depicts the Fur Trade Era of 1835 to 1859. It is located at 13412 US Highway 85 in Platteville.

The Fort Vasquez Museum is the site of an 1835 fur trading post founded on the South Platte River by Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette. The site was reconstructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1937 and History Colorado took possession of the site in 1958. Fort Vasquez is currently closed.

07/14/2021

Fort Vasquez is currently closed for renovation and repairs to the facility. There is not an opening date set. To stay connected, follow History Colorado.

07/06/2021

Following an almost 10 year stint at History Colorado, Dawn DiPrince has been selected as our new Executive Director ⭐️

Only the third woman to hold the position, DiPrince is committed to the continued diversification of HC’s storytelling and serving the greater Colorado community as a whole.

"I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to lead History Colorado into the future, serving both an organization and a state that I love so much,” she said. “We will continue to grow History Colorado's service to communities across the state and expand how we think about the role of history in our lives and who it includes. Every Coloradan should see themselves in our collections and stories.”

DiPrince will officially assume the role on September 1, 2021, following the retirement of current and beloved ED, Steve Turner.

📸 by Adrienne Thomas courtesy History Colorado

06/30/2021

We know that sugar beets and their farmers play an essential role in our local economy, but did you know how they came about?

In the mid-1700s, a German Chemist named Andreas Margraff discovered that the sucrose found in beetroot, red or white, was practically identical to cane sugar.

He saw the sugar beet as a potential way for temperate climates to enter the sugar industry and reduce their reliance on sugarcane imports from the Caribbean.

Although it took another century for Margraff's vision to be realized on a massive scale, the sugar beet industry he created shifted global trade, the economy, and modern diets.

In the 19th century, local sugar production and market competition made the product more affordable and accessible across Europe.

By the early 1850s, following the fall of the Caribbean slave trade, European sugar markets had become more competitive than the tropics.

Around the same time, American pioneers brought the plant out west to gain financial independence.

Today, sugar beets account for almost 60% of all sugar produced in the U.S. (not including high fructose corn syrup).

📷: Allison, Jack, photographer. "Loading wagon with sugar beets." Colorado, 1938.
Library of Congress.
Item Number: 2017769442

06/20/2021

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to days all over the world, especially the ones right here in Colorado. We hope you have a wonderful day!

📷 Man, boy & girl seated on tree roots by river. Lillybridge, Charles, circa 1910-1920. Outdoor portrait of a father, son, and daughter near the South Platte River. History Colorado, 90.152.1953.

06/19/2021

Every year on June 19th, we celebrate Juneteenth in honor of the complete emancipation of slaves in the USA.

On June 19, 1865, General Order No. 3 was read aloud in Galveston, Texas, emancipating all slaves. Texas was the last state to read this order aloud, meaning that every slave in the USA was free on June 19th, 1865. June 19th became known as Juneteenth, Liberation Day, Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, and of course Emancipation Day.

After emancipation, many former slaves moved out West to places like Colorado. Some tried their hand at gold panning, others became miners in mountain towns, and a few settled in Eastern Colorado in settlements like Dearfield. The Dearfield settlement is about an hour drive northeast of Fort Vasquez. It is easy to forget how many layers of history our communities have.

Today we celebrate the day that ended such profound cruelty and injustice. We remember that the fight to end systemic racism is ongoing.

📷 Images found in Wikimedia Commons.

06/10/2021

“Research suggests there were 30 million to 60 million bison in North America in the 1500s. Four hundred years later, roughly 1,000 bison remained, a result of government policies that encouraged killing off the animals, largely to help defeat Indigenous inhabitants and force them onto reservations.” - Louise Johns

Could bringing back the buffalo help save the environment?

For an interesting read, go to
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-bison-return-will-their-habitat-rebound-180977898/

06/05/2021

Louis Vasquez traveled almost 900 miles from St. Louis, MO to Platteville, CO.

How far have you gone?

05/27/2021

Did you know that beavers, like this guy, have played a prominent role in shaping the known history of Colorado? The furs of beavers, among other native species, were a central commodity in early American commerce. Their pelts were traded among Native Americans for centuries before the Europeans arrived, as beaver skin was valued for its soft texture, warmth, and durability. The furs had value in everyday use as well as for costume and decorative purposes.

Once Europeans landed in North America, the fur trade remained a driving force in relations between Native peoples and everyone from the French to the English to the Dutch. It attracted a cosmopolitan mix of people across ethnicities and cultures looking for economic independence in the west. Traders founded settlements, including Fort Vasquez, as hubs of commerce. They exported beaver pelts to the eastern colonies and Europe, where they were primarily used to make hats.

It’s worth noting that the fur trade had its downsides. It was a harsh business, and many laborers were overworked and underpaid. The elements were brutal, and the thousand-mile trek claimed many lives. Commerce between Native Americans and Europeans contributed to the spread of disease, which killed millions of indigenous people. Additionally, many Europeans used the fur trade as an excuse to seize native lands and conduct horrific acts of violence against its inhabitants. The American beaver population was severely depleted as a result of the fur trade, and it has never fully recovered.

Nevertheless, the beaver’s impact on modern Colorado and America as a whole is undeniable. The world would look very different without them.

📷 Wikimedia Commons

05/25/2021

This week in Colorado history, President William Howard Taft established the Colorado National monument on May 24th, 1911.

The site is located west of Grand Junction, near the northern rim of the Uncompahgre Plateau, and is home to six distinct canyons defined by their unique sandstone monoliths and cliffs.

The monument has evolved over the years, growing in both accessibility and its structures including trails, roads, and buildings. Due to the monument’s geographical isolation and rough terrain, accessing these sites remained pretty unreachable in the decades that followed its founding. To combat this, much of the internal construction developed under Depression-era public relief agencies, including the Works Progress Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Public Works Administration.

Today, the Colorado National Monument remains a marvel of nature that we can’t wait to visit this summer. Will you be there? Let us know in the comments.

📷 National Park Service

04/24/2021

ON THIS DAY in 1859, the Boulder Post Office was founded. It is the oldest post office in Colorado - so much so that it was founded while it was still the Nebraska territory! Colorado as a territory was established two years later in 1861.

💡 Fun fact: Before the post office was established, Boulder was actually called Boulder City.

For these initial settlements in the West, a post office was a priority to establish. The 1860s later brought the telegraph and the railroad to the West, making communication across the country easier, but they were following in the footsteps that the post had already tread. It provided settlers a way to keep in touch with the outside world. 📫

📷: Post Office in Boulder, Colorado. Postcard. Circa 1907-1930. History Colorado. 2019.13.131.

Address

13412 US Highway 85
Platteville, CO
80651

Telephone

+19707852832

Website

http://www.fortvasquezmuseum.org/

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