History Colorado announced it had issued $5,085,026 to 38 historic preservation projects across the state Thursday via the State Historical Fund.

This included roughly $250,000 toward efforts to upgrade the Root Cellar Barn located at The Old Fort in Hesperus. History Colorado oversees the State Historical Fund.

Funding will assist with the remediation of critical deficiencies to make the building more functional for Fort Lewis College's Farmer In Training Program, according to a news release from History Colorado. The barn was built in 1931, when FLC was a two-year agricultural school.

It has served various functions and is a crucial part of the Farmer In Training Program, the news release said.

The building’s underground cellar has recently been used to store crops, while the main floor is used for equipment storage, drying garlic cloves and curing onions.

However, infrastructure inadequacies have led to a pest problem and caused significant damage to crops. Foundation repairs and restoration of the barn’s stone façade are needed for continued use.

This rehabilitation will also allow for early-season potato seeding and onion transplanting, as well as the storage of onions, winter squash and more sensitive crops like blue corn, which can be used by FLC’s Native American Center year round.

The news release says the additional educational and storage capacity will allow the school to create additional opportunities for FLC’s Native American students, as they work to reclaim a space which was historically connected to the assimilation and erasure of Indigenous cultures as part of the U.S. government’s Federal Indian Boarding School program.

“Fort Lewis College has a distinct commitment to provide educational opportunities and pathways for Native American students, and to support each student’s determination and the choices they make for their education and career,” said Beth LaShell, the Old Fort Director at Fort Lewis College, in the news release Thursday. “Recognition of our history and steps toward understanding how the past affects the present and future are part of FLC’s commitment to student success.”

In October 2023, History Colorado released its findings on the atrocities that were committed against students at the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School, located where The Old Fort in Hesperus currently resides.

tbrown@durangoherald.com