Apishapa Valley Heritage Center opens for summer season in Aguilar

José Ramón Aguilar’s name still carries through the town that was founded for him, and this summer the Apishapa Valley Heritage Center is once again putting that history on display at 132 E. Main St. in Aguilar.

The museum opened for the 2026 summer season on Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with live presentations and new historical displays as part of the kickoff. The Apishapa Valley Historical Society says the center will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or by appointment during the season.

That matters in a town where the past is still visible in the names on the map and the stories on Main Street. The Town of Aguilar says it was founded in 1894 by cattleman and pioneer José Ramón Aguilar and was named for him in 1888. Its history is tied to the Aguilar branch of the Colorado & Southern Railroad and the opening of the Peerless Coalmine, while the town’s official account also says the area was first settled by Spaniards who called it “The New Spain.”

The heritage center has been built to hold those layers in one place. The Apishapa Valley Historical Society describes it as a hub for local history with historic photos, documents and treasures from the area, along with an attached blacksmith shop. Earlier preservation planning began in the fall of 2003, when the Aguilar Historic Preservation Committee developed a plan to preserve the history of Aguilar and the Apishapa Valley.

For Las Animas County, the museum fits into a much larger story of extraction, railroads and migration. The county was established in 1866 and is the largest in Colorado. Local history accounts note that coal mining drew workers from Europe, Asia and Latin America, a mix of families whose labor shaped communities across the region and left behind records that can be hard to preserve without a place like this one.

That is why the summer opening is more than a routine seasonal note for Aguilar. The museum’s exhibits help connect early settlers, the Aguilar family and the broader Apishapa Valley to the county’s coal and railroad era, giving residents a place to see old newspapers, published family histories, a diorama and early photographs that tell the town’s story in concrete terms. For travelers along the I-25 corridor between Trinidad and Walsenburg, it also gives one more reason to stop in Aguilar and see what has been saved.

A 2025 opening followed a similar pattern, with live presentations and a summer kickoff at the same Main Street site. This year’s reopening keeps that rhythm going, with new displays aimed at keeping Aguilar’s history visible as another summer begins at the foot of the Twin Spanish Peaks.