In 1846 Mormon settlers as part of the Mormon Battalion established a temporary settlement about one-half mile east of Pueblo on the south side of the Arkansas River. In total 275 men, women, and children from 4 different detachments made up this settlement.

They might not have known it at the time but this settlement was the first branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Colorado and was the first Anglo settlement of any form in what is now the modern state of Colorado.

On June 2nd and June 3rd 2018, the Fort Vasquez Museum in Platteville Colorado will be hosting a series of formal presentations about the Mormon Colony at Pueblo and the history of the fur trade along the forts of Colorado’s Front Range.  (more…)