Sidebar by Martha Quillen
History – December 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine
SAN LUIS (formerly known as Culebra and San Luis de Culebra) is generally recognized as Colorado’s oldest town because it was founded — sort of — in 1851. But its history goes back even further than that.
After Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, officials started worrying about the northernmost reaches of their territory, which at that time stretched past the mighty peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the distant banks of the Arkansas River.