Bent County Courthouse
The Old Jail
When Bent County was first organized in February 1870, it was 84 miles wide and 108 miles long, encompassing a vast area six times as large as it is today. The legislature designated the rowdy town of Las Animas City (located across the river for Fort Lyon) as the county seat but voters changed the seat to Boggsville that same fall. When West Las Animas (present-day Las Animas) was founded in 1873, residents again voted, this time to move the county seat to the new town.
For more than a decade Bent County had no courthouse. Planning began in 1886. James Jones of the giant J.J. Cattle Company, which controlled over 960,000 acres in southeastern Colorado, sold the county a plot of land in 1887. The price was one dollar, on condition the land be used for a courthouse. The Holmberg Brothers architectural firm, contractors M.F. Reilly and B. Bradley, and furniture makers Andrews & Company were engaged. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1887, by King Solomon Lodge No. 30 of the Masonic order.
On January 10, 1888, the temporary courthouse the county was using burned in the night. Mrs. White, a laundress who lived across street, discovered the fire and ran up and down the streets yelling, “Fire, fire!” to awaken the citizens. Neighbors came running and formed a bucket brigade from a well in the plaza to try to put out the fire. Despite their efforts, the interior lumber and most of the county records were destroyed but the adobe walls stood for several more years. Arson was suspected but never proven.
After the fire, work on the new courthouse went quickly. The new courthouse was a red brick building in the Victorian Institutional style, with Romanesque arches and beige stone trim. The total cost of construction, including furniture, was $62,194. It opened for business on March 12, 1889, with a dedication party celebrated by a huge crowd and dancing in every room.
The Bent County Courthouse and much of the original furniture in the courtroom, jury room and six first-floor offices remain in use today. It houses the county’s courts, its day-to-day functions, complete records back to 1888 and partial records from before the fire.
The county jail opened next to the courthouse in 1912. It was a two-story brick building in the Classical Revival style and included living quarters for the county sheriff on the first floor and jail cells on the second floor. The basement of the building was used to process inmates.
The jail was used for almost the entire twentieth century and was home to many sheriffs. Perhaps its most famous resident was actor Ken Curtis, who as a child lived in the bottom half of the jail with his family. Curtis was best known for his portrayal of Festus on the 1955-1975 TV series Gunsmoke. His father, Sheriff Dan Gates, was elected in 1927. Gates’ wife often cooked for the jail’s inmates and gained a reputation for her good meals. The last sheriff to reside in the jail was Greg Trujillo, who served from 1987 to1995.
By the late 1990s the jail proved unable to meet new federal prison standards, so the county built a new justice center. In 2000 the jail closed after 80 years and the old jail building still stands vacant on Courthouse Square
The Bent County Courthouse and Jail were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The courthouse received the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation in 2010 following a $3.6 million renovation.
The Bent County Courthouse and Jail are located at 725 Bent Avenue, Las Animas, Colorado, 81054. The courthouse is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday – Friday. Private tours can be arranged by appointment. Please give 48 hours’ notice.
719-456-1600 • www.bentcounty.net