The former headquarters of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company is now the state's 26th National Historic Landmark, joining locations such as Bent's Old Fort, the Cripple Creek Historic District and the Ludlow Tent Colony Site.
The designation recognizes the role CF&I played in American economic and labor history.
CF&I’s 2.6-acre administrative complex lies on the west side of Interstate 25 on Canal Street in south Pueblo. It was the center for the vast steel making and mining operation that employed tens of thousands of workers in its heyday.
The Steelworks Center of the West Museum is located in one of the landmark buildings, the CF&I Medical Dispensary, built in 1901. Museum curator Victoria Miller said the company once operated dozens of coal mines in different states and was the West’s only steel mill until 1942.
“The volume of steel that was produced here in Pueblo reached all over the country,” she said.
Miller also said this was the site for one of the country’s first corporate attempts to address workers’ concerns.
“This was in 1915 following the events that happened at Ludlow and that employee representation plan, of course, had nationwide effect.”
The site joins some 2,600 other places nationwide with the National Historic Landmark designation including The White House, Alcatraz and the Apollo Mission Control Center.
