The Denver Ordnance Plant in Lakewood produced ammunition during World War II. The plant was the largest federal project in Colorado history before its conversion into the Federal Center, which today houses dozens of government agencies. Beginnings …

Established east of Denver in 1918, Fitzsimons General Hospital was originally established as an army hospital specializing in treating soldiers infected with tuberculosis during World War I. After struggling with small budgets and the threat of closure,…

The US Army operated Fort Garland in the San Luis Valley for twenty-five years, from 1858 to 1883. The fort was built to protect early settlers from Native American raids in the years before treaties, reservations, and removal made that mission obsolete…

Fort Lewis was a US Army post in southwest Colorado that operated from 1878 to 1891. The post had two locations: the first, Camp Lewis, in Pagosa Springs and the second south of Hesperus. Camp Lewis was founded in 1878 and moved to Hesperus in 1880…

Fort Logan National Cemetery is located at the intersection of South Sheridan Boulevard and West Kenyon Avenue in southwest Denver. It started in 1889 as the small post cemetery at Fort Logan. The fort was closed after World War II, but in 1950 the…

Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette operated the fur-trading post Fort Vasquez from 1835 to 1842. After ruthless competition and changing trade patterns caused the pair to leave the fort, it served as a landmark along the South Platte River Trail before…

The historic fur trade era in the Colorado region, which began in the early nineteenth century, ushered in a period of direct contact between Native Americans and whites. By this time, the hides and robes provided by Colorado’s furbearing animals had…

Built at the height of the Cold War, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) collects all data and information concerning air activity in North America. Currently located near the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport on Peterson Air Force Base…

The Pike Stockade is a reconstruction of a small fortress built by the soldiers of the 1806–7 Zebulon Pike expedition. It is located on the Rio Conejos, a tributary of the Rio Grande, in the San Luis Valley, seventeen miles southeast of Alamosa…

Pueblo Chemical Depot was established in 1942 as the Pueblo Ordnance Depot. The facility’s mission has changed over the years, from starting with receiving, storing, and issuing general supplies of ammunition during World War II, to later handling the…

Built in 1922, the State Armory in Craig was one of many new armories built to house national guard units across the state. The Craig building, based on a design by John James Huddart, served for many decades as a place for military training and…

Colorado’s role in the American Civil War (1861–65) was part of a broader geopolitical contest: control of the American Southwest. The war began in 1861, just two years after the Colorado Gold Rush and mere months after Congress established the Colorado…

Established in April 1954, the United States Air Force Academy occupies 18,000 acres on the north end of Colorado Springs. It serves as an air force base and undergraduate college for officer candidates. The academy currently enrolls 4,000 cadets as…

Built primarily between 1955 and 1959, the US Air Force Academy cadet area near Colorado Springs is the heart of the Air Force Academy campus and home of the school’s 4,000 undergraduates. Occupying a prominent hilltop location, the cadet area hosts most…