And the West is History: Fort Lewis College – 1963

Fort Lewis College moved to its present location on the mesa east of downtown in 1956 on the site of the former Durango Municipal Airport. Its previous location, south of Hesperus along the La Plata River, was home to the Army’s original Fort Lewis post from 1880 to 1891. It then transitioned to an Indian Boarding School under the Department of the Interior until 1910. In 1911, it was given to the state of Colorado and for the next 22 years operated as a state high school of Agricultural and Teacher Training. College courses were first offered in 1927. By 1933, high school classes were ended and it became a two-year junior college offering vocational training under the State Board of Agriculture. Starting in 1949, it was known as Fort Lewis A&M College. After the move to Durango, it began granting bachelor’s degrees the year this aerial photo was taken, 1963. – Ed Horvat for Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum.org (Catalog Number: 87.16.6 from the La Plata County Historical Society Photo Collections)