The Rawlings Heritage Center is where Bent County keeps its story indoors

If Boggsville, Fort Lyon, and Bent’s Old Fort tell Bent County’s story out on the land, the Rawlings Heritage Center tells it indoors, where the wind cannot reach.

The John W. Rawlings Heritage Center & Museum sits at 560 Bent Avenue in Las Animas, in a restored brick building the Independent Order of Odd Fellows put up in the late 1800s (the historical society dates it to 1890). Inside, the Bent County Historical Society has gathered the small things that add up to a county’s life. You can look over an early telephone exchange, a technology that reached Bent County around 1888, and the fixtures of the Bent County Bank, which moved into this building and kept its ledgers and safe here. Recreated early-1900s storefronts line up like a town that stepped indoors: a post office, a barber shop, a jewelry store, a candy shop.

The exhibits try to hold the whole story, with room for the Native, Hispanic, and pioneer families who shaped the place. The same building is home to the Bent County Art Guild and an extensive Heritage Library, so research and local art share the address.

Hours are seasonal and shorter in winter, so it is worth a quick phone call before you drive out. For current days, times, and the museum’s own telling of these exhibits, check the Bent County Historical Society.