Editing San Luis, Colorado (section)

==History==
[[File:La casa del senor Don Alberto Forbes, de San Luis, Colo. 1909.jpg|thumb|left|La casa del senor Don Alberto Forbes, San Luis, 1909]]
The Town of San Luis is centuries younger than the [[pueblo]]s and villages of northern [[New Mexico]] because [[Hispanic]] settlers were wary of venturing north of the [[37th parallel north]] for fear of [[Ute people|Ute]] and [[Comanche]] raids. Armed traders traveled the [[Old Spanish Trail (trade route)|Old Spanish Trail]] through the area in the early 19th century. In 1821, the [[Treaty of Córdoba]] recognized the independence of Mexico from the [[Spanish Empire]]. San Luis was in the [[Sangre de Cristo Land Grant]] awarded by the government of New Mexico to the [[Carlos Beaubien]] family in 1843. The [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] annexed northern Mexico to the United States in 1848, and the [[Compromise of 1850]] created the U.S. [[New Mexico Territory|Territory of New Mexico]].

Hispanic settlers from the [[Taos Valley]] established several small villages along the [[Culebra Creek|Rio Culebra]] in the [[San Luis Valley]] and officially took possession of this portion of the [[Charles H. Beaubien#Sangre de Cristo Land Grant|Sangre de Cristo Land Grant]] on April 9, 1851.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.coloradohistory-oahp.org/publications/pubs/614.pdf |title=The Culebra River Villages of Costilla County, Colorado|publisher=[[Colorado Historical Society]]}}<br>- {{cite web | url =http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/blm/co/17/chap5.htm |title=Land of Contrast: A History of Southeast Colorado|publisher=[[U.S. Bureau of Land Management]]}}<br>- {{cite web | url =http://www.sangres.com/colorado/costilla/sanluis.htm |title=San Luis, Colorado|website=Sangres}}<br>- {{cite web | url =http://www.costillacounty-co.gov/townofsanluis.html |title=Town of San Luis|publisher=[[Costilla County, Colorado]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625001820/http://www.costillacounty-co.gov/townofsanluis.html |archivedate=June 25, 2010 }}<br>- {{cite web | url =http://www.sangres.com/colorado/costilla/sanluis.htm |title=San Luis de la Culebra|website=Sangres}}.</ref> The settlers built a church in the central village of ''La Plaza Medio.'' They dedicated it on the [[Louis IX of France|Feast of Saint Louis]], June 21, 1851, renaming the village ''San Luis de la Culebra'' in honor of the saint.

The [[United States Army]] established [[Fort Massachusetts (Colorado)|Fort Massachusetts]] in 1852 and [[Fort Garland]] in 1858 to provide protection for the settlers in the valley. The village of San Luis remained part of the [[Territory of New Mexico]] until 1861 when the [[Territory of Colorado]] was established. San Luis became the [[county seat|seat]] of [[Costilla County, Colorado|Costilla County]] in 1863, and remains so to this day. [[Kit Carson|Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson]], Commander of Fort Garland, negotiated a treaty with the [[Ute people]] in 1867. Colorado became a state in 1876 and the Town of San Luis was incorporated in 1885. Today, San Luis is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the State of Colorado.<ref name="History Colorado" >{{cite web |title=Where is the Oldest Town in Colorado? |url=https://www.historycolorado.org/story/do-you-know-place/2019/10/15/where-oldest-town-colorado |website=History Colorado|date=2019}}</ref>

A ''Pueblo Chieftain'' article dated June 8, 1872, describes the three stores of San Luis as kept by Fred Meyer & Co, [[Auguste Lacome]] and Mazers & Rich in addition to a blacksmith, butcher, beer saloon, carpenter and two hotels.

Today, the town is renowned for its [[Stations of the Cross]] ascending the local mesa. The town celebrates the ''Fiesta de Santiago y Santa Ana'' each July and the San Luis Manito Christmas celebration in December.