With the college celebrating its one-hundredth year as an educational institution, the Center of Southwest Studies was compelled to create an exhibit honoring the diverse history of Fort Lewis College and the role it served in early, rural education in the West. The exhibit, Frontier Blues: The Legacy of Fort Lewis College, revisits the school’s unique story, fostering a reconnection to local and regional history, and perhaps answering questions about our educational mission.
Visitors walk through different time periods, representative of the various chapters of the institution’s past. Native peoples of the region used the land near what is now Hesperus, Colorado long before the Army established Fort Lewis on the banks of the La Plata River in 1880. Lasting just over a decade, the military marched out of the area in 1891, and the property was turned into Fort Lewis Indian School. The Indian School era ended in 1910 when the boarding school style of Native education fell out of favor. However that same year, the State of Colorado Congress established the property of Fort Lewis School as an institution of learning, and Native students would be admitted free of charge and on the same terms of equality as white pupils. Twenty students were enrolled in the new Fort Lewis High School by the fall of 1911, offering a range of classes to young people of the region. College level courses were added in 1927, and by 1933 Fort Lewis Junior College was fully established. Fort Lewis A&M moved to Durango in 1956 caused a bit of a stir in town, but made more sense financially and helped to recruit students. Fortitude and hard work would become hallmarks of the school’s heritage.
Today we can celebrate the dedication of so many, allowing the school to grow and prosper as an educational institution these past one hundred years. The opening reception for Frontier Blues: The Legacy of Fort Lewis College will be held Friday, March 18, from 4:00pm-6:00pm, at the Center of Southwest Studies Gallery. This event is free and open to the public.
Visitors walk through different time periods, representative of the various chapters of the institution’s past. Native peoples of the region used the land near what is now Hesperus, Colorado long before the Army established Fort Lewis on the banks of the La Plata River in 1880. Lasting just over a decade, the military marched out of the area in 1891, and the property was turned into Fort Lewis Indian School. The Indian School era ended in 1910 when the boarding school style of Native education fell out of favor. However that same year, the State of Colorado Congress established the property of Fort Lewis School as an institution of learning, and Native students would be admitted free of charge and on the same terms of equality as white pupils. Twenty students were enrolled in the new Fort Lewis High School by the fall of 1911, offering a range of classes to young people of the region. College level courses were added in 1927, and by 1933 Fort Lewis Junior College was fully established. Fort Lewis A&M moved to Durango in 1956 caused a bit of a stir in town, but made more sense financially and helped to recruit students. Fortitude and hard work would become hallmarks of the school’s heritage.
Today we can celebrate the dedication of so many, allowing the school to grow and prosper as an educational institution these past one hundred years. The opening reception for Frontier Blues: The Legacy of Fort Lewis College will be held Friday, March 18, from 4:00pm-6:00pm, at the Center of Southwest Studies Gallery. This event is free and open to the public.
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