El Pueblo History Museum

El Pueblo History Museum is a local history museum in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. The museum presents the history of Pueblo, together with the cultural and ethnic groups of the region. The historical site includes an 1840s-style adobe trading post and plaza and the archaeological excavation site of the original 1842 El Pueblo trading post[3] which was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The facility is administered by History Colorado.

El Pueblo History Museum

William G. Buckles Archaeological Pavilion
Established	1990
Location	301 N Union Ave Pueblo, Colorado
Coordinates	38°16′03″N 104°36′35″W
Type	Local history museum
Accreditation	American Alliance of Museums
Director	Dawn DiPrince[1]
Nearest parking	On site (no charge) Covered parking available 300-398 W 3rd St Garage
Website	elpueblohistorymuseum.org
El Pueblo U.S. National Register of Historic Places Colorado State Register of Historic Properties Location Corner of City Center Drive & Union Ave., Pueblo, Colorado Coordinates 38°16′03″N 104°36′35″W Built 1842 NRHP reference No. 96000039 CSRHP No. 5PE.303[2] Added to NRHP February 16, 1996

The museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution,[4] and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).

History

• 1803 The United States makes the Louisiana Purchase and President Thomas Jefferson sends Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their mission of exploration, mapping, trade, science, and sovereignty.
• 1806 James Wilkinson sends Zebulon Pike to explore the Southwestern United States, they establish an outpost near the confluence of the Fountain Creek and the Arkansas River, before attempting to summit Pikes Peak.[5] In 1807 they build the first structure in the area, Pike's Stockade which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.[6][7]
• 1842 construction of El Pueblo as an independent trading post.[8]
• 1848 Business at the fort declines as a result of the Mexican–American War. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the peace treaty ending the war alters the trade dynamics of the region and the simultaneous discovery of gold in California causes the forts population to dwindle.[8]
• 1854 Ute and Jicarilla Apache natives led by Chief Tierra Blanco lead a successful attack on the fort, killing 15 men, and capturing one woman, and two boys. The fort was abandoned following the attack.[9][8]
• 1858 Pike's Peak Gold Rush brings people to the area who will plat Pueblo and Fountain City near the confluence of the Arkansas and Fountain.[8]
• 1860 Pueblo platted taking name from the old trading post.[8] It is replatted in 1870 following its organization.[10] Settlers used some of El Pueblo's adobe bricks to build their own structures and gradually built over the fort, by the 1880s it had disappeared under the new city.[11]
• 1888 Farriss Hotel is built on the site where El Pueblo once stood.[12]
• 1959 The Colorado Historical Society (now History Colorado) open the El Pueblo History Museum, which included a full-scale replica of El Pueblo, at the converted old Pueblo Municipal Airport hangar.[13][14]
• 1980s The University of Southern Colorado begins program to locate El Pueblo. They settle on a possible location under the Fariss Hotel.
• 1989 USC Anthropology professor William G. Buckles initiates a survey of the Fariss Hotel's basement.[12]
• 1991 The city tears down the Fariss Hotel[15] allowing for more extensive archaeological excavations. Signs of El Pueblo's structure are discovered.
• 1992 El Pueblo History Museum relocates to a building on the same block as the excavation.[14]
• 1996 The rediscovered El Pueblo fort is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[16]
• 2003 The new El Pueblo Museum complex is completed.[17] It includes the El Pueblo History Museum, the William G. Buckles Archaeology Pavilion over the excavation site and a reconstruction that resembles the original trading post.[18]

Exhibits

• Seeing Red (Jan 19, 2019 - Apr 30, 2019) examines the history of redlining in Pueblo.[19][20]
• Borderlands of Southern Colorado examines the areas border history. A portion of what is now the city of Pueblo was part of the Louisiana Purchase another section of the city was part of Old Mexico and later claimed by the Republic of Texas.[21][1][22]
• Children of Ludlow examines the Colorado Coalfield War and Ludlow Massacre from the perspective of the children who endured the strike.[23][1][24]
• Museum of Memory examines the histories of Pueblo neighborhoods with community members sharing oral histories.[25][1]
• El Movimiento documenting the Chicano struggle for civil rights in Colorado as part of the Chicano Movement. Originally housed at El Pueblo History Museum, it has been moved to Pueblo Community College.[26][27]
• The Bell Rings (Sept 8, 2017 - Feb 4, 2018) The exhibit examined The Bell Game an annual football contest between two Pueblo high schools, Central High School and Centennial High School. They have been playing each other since 1892 in what is believed to be the oldest ongoing American football rivalry west of the Mississippi River.[28][29]

Programs

When Pueblo City Schools switched to four-and-a-half school days and then to four days, "Hands on History" was organized by the museum to help working parents give their children a place to go on Friday afternoons after school was out. The program then expanded to a full day on Fridays and also now has a summer program.[30] The successful program has expanded to other Colorado cities as well, including Trinidad, Fort Garland, Platteville and Montrose.[1][31]

See also

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

Further reading

• Buckles, William G. (2006). The Search for El Pueblo: Through Pueblo to El Pueblo. Colorado Historical Society. ISBN 9780942576481.
• History of El Pueblo (Television production). C-SPAN. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2019.

References

1. Spence, Mike (24 March 2019). "El Pueblo History Museum's Dawn DiPrince leaving to take on bigger role with History Colorado". The Pueblo Chieftain. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
2. "Pueblo County: Pueblo". National and State Register Listed Properties. History Colorado. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
3. "El Pueblo History Museum". historycolorado.org/museums. History Colorado. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
4. "El Pueblo History Museum". Smithsonian (magazine). Retrieved 26 March 2019.
5. "Zebulon Pike". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
6. Jessen, Kenneth (3 May 2014). "Replica of El Pueblo remains". ReporterHerald.com. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
7. Quillen, Ed (22 December 2005). "Colorado's first Christmas". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
8. Smiley, Jerome Constant (1913). Semi-centennial History of the State of Colorado, Volume 1. Brookhaven Press. pp. 175, 178, 220, 241, 291–292. ISBN 9781403500458. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
9. "Pueblo County, Colorado Fort El Pueblo". kmitch.com. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
10. "History of Pueblo". Pueblo.org. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
11. "El Pueblo". ColoradoEncyclopedia.org. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
12. Spence, Mike (11 March 2017). "Study of El Pueblo, the site where the city was born, is being reopened". The Pueblo Chieftain. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
13. "History of El Pueblo". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012.
14. Porter, Mary Jean (21 November 2011). "City's first airport was bustling, had major carriers". The Pueblo Chieftain. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
15. "Fariss Hotel Pueblo County, Colorado". HenryTrost.org. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
16. "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form". npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
17. "History Colorado's El Pueblo History Museum named a finalist for 2019 IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Service". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
18. "El Pueblo". ColoradoEncyclopedia.org. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
19. "Seeing Red". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
20. DiPrince, Dawn (20 January 2019). "Seeing red: The unethical practice of redlining in Pueblo". The Pueblo Chieftain. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
21. "Borderlands of Southern Colorado". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
22. Spence, Mike (5 May 2018). "El Pueblo museum celebrates Pueblo's many borders". The Pueblo Chieftain. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
23. "Children of Ludlow". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
24. "American History TV in Pueblo, Colorado". C-SPAN. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
25. "Museum of Memory Exhibit". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
26. "El Movimiento at Pueblo Community College". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
27. Espinosa, Juan (25 March 2018). "Chicano Movement exhibit finds permanent home at Pueblo Community College". The Pueblo Chieftain. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
28. Spence, Mike (6 September 2017). "Exhibit BELL GAME Pueblo museum rings in football tradition". The Pueblo Chieftain. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019.
29. Lewis, Shanna (15 September 2017). "Exhibit Honors Pueblo's Bell Game, Possibly The Oldest Football Rivalry In The West". KRCC. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
30. "Hands-On History: All Day Fridays!". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
31. "Hands-On History". History Colorado. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.

External links

• El Pueblo History Museum History Colorado
• El Pueblo History Museum Sangres.com
• El Pueblo History Museum Colorado Tourism Office