Thinking for the ages

I make my living preserving the historic places that shape our communities and our lives. Although you might think that archaeologists and historians live in the past, we are actually constantly thinking for the ages---looking to the future and working to identify what legacies are important to leave for our children.

Our inquiry into the past is really a light to the future.

I got to see this theory in action while working with Fort Lewis College on documenting their historical beginnings. Here is a picture of one of the old Fort buildings that was later remodeled into a dairy. While the college is now a modern establishment in Durango, Colorado, it actually started out in 1880 as a military fort that was turned into an Indian School and then remodeled into a vocational school. The college had barely evolved from a junior college into a four year institution when it left the original fort site along the banks of the La Plata River and moved to Durango in 1956.

Only a few of the original fort buildings remain on the site, but they give us a clear understanding of the days when the buffalo soldiers and other companies were encamped there. The Indian School buildings also left a legacy.

I was hired to document that legacy through a  historic building survey of 21 surviving historic structures. The College used this information along with other data to develop a plan to revive the old quadrangle.

The old fort has a great website at http://oldfort.fortlewis.edu/index.htm  The Fort Lewis Center of Southwest Studies has just opened a new exhibit celebrating the 100 years since the property was turned over to the State of Colorado. Stop by and see it if you are in the Durango.