John W. Rawlings Heritage Center & Museum

The John Rawlings Heritage Center and Museum is housed in the restored IOOF building. Originally dedicated in 1898 by the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Las Animas Elders Lodge No. 11, the Bent County Historical Society began restoration of the building in 1961. The new museum officially opened and was re-dedicated on May 30, 2012. Its exhibits were entirely created – and continue to be updated and lovingly maintained ­ by an all-volunteer staff from the Bent County Historical Society. Today, it is hailed as one of the best small-town museums to be found.

The museum’s exhibits salute Native Americans, early cattle, sheep and dairy farms, historic businesses and storefronts and the legends and characters that shaped Bent County heritage. Come in and visit the pharmacy and medical offices, complete with early X-ray machines, doctor’s chairs, blood-letting equipment and prescription files. Imagine yourself traveling behind dusty cattle herds in an 1860s chuck wagon, tossing cow chips into the “possum belly” for tonight’s fuel, or perhaps driving a horse-drawn beet puller harvesting sugar beets. Picture yourself in the Olympic Saloon on December 21, 1876, when gunfighter Clay Allison shot down Deputy Charlie Faber. Envision yourself sitting in the barber chair or getting a permanent wave from the curling machine that looks like a prop from the original Frankenstein movie. Learn about Colorado’s first judicial hanging and its last lynching, both of which happened here. Try on a ball and chain and wonder if you would be able to escape. Put yourself in the shoes of explorer Zebulon Pike, who first sighted Pikes Peak from the banks of the Arkansas River in 1806.

The peaceful Kathleen Tomlin Memorial Bell Park is located behind the museum and houses our collection of historic bronze bells that once resonated at schools, churches and rail yards throughout the valley. Park exhibits feature a working blacksmith shop, the one-room North Gageby schoolhouse, an old – and very uncomfortable for inmates – iron jail and an inviting gazebo where you can relax, enjoy a picnic lunch and take shelter from the sun.

Our thanks to family of John W. and Dorothy Hoag Rawlings and to the Robert Hoag Rawlings Foundation for making the John W. Rawlings Heritage Center and Museum possible.

Wander on your own or visit with one of our helpful docents. Take a brief tour of some of our exhibits by clicking the ‘Learn More’ button below.

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John W. Rawlings Heritage Center & Museum is located at 560 Bent Avenue, Las Animas, Colorado, 81054. It is on the corner at the only stop light in town. The Rawlings Center Museum is open Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Wednesday – Friday, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturday, noon to 4:00 p.m. Closed, Sunday and Monday. Private tours can be arranged by appointment. Admission for adults is $5, youths 6-12, $4 and children under 6 free.
719-456-6066 • bentctyheritage@gmail.com