The Fort Restaurant
WHAT: RMGA MEETING – The Fort
WHEN: Monday July 8, 2013. The networking 6:30 – 7:00 pm followed by the program at 7:00 – 8:15 pm with a short business meeting 8:15 – 8:40pm.
WHERE: The Fort, 19192 Highway 8, Morrison, CO 80465
PROGRAM: We will meet at Bent’s Quarters located immediately to your left after you enter the main gate. Holly Arnold Kinney, Proprietress, will provide opening remarks on the history of The Fort at 7:00 pm followed by a tour of The Fort.
The Fort was a dream of Holly’s mother in 1961 and Holly Arnold Kinney and her brother Keith were raised in a replica of Bent’s Old Fort, now the world-famous Fort restaurant built by her father, acclaimed restaurateur Sam Arnold, located in the scenic foothills outside of Denver, Colorado. The Arnold family lived on the second level while the first floor housed the restaurant. The Fort restaurant opened for business in 1963 and Sissy, the famous Canadian black bear, was adopted the same year. The Fort was constructed Taos artists using with over 80,000 mud and straw bricks, weighing 40 pounds each. All of the furniture, gates, doors, and chairs were hand carved by Taos artist in the same style as they were 1833. The Fort's staples have always been buffalo, elk and quail. Today they serve over 80,000 entrees of buffalo annually. You do not want to miss the historical presentation and tour of The Fort.
PARKING: There is a very large parking lot.
Guide Line Review
The Fort Restaurant
The Fort is a historic replica of Bent’s Fort, which was originally built in the 1830s. Old Bent’s Fort was a fur-trading post in southeastern Colorado that operated on the Santa Fe Trail from 1833 to 1849. Old Bent’s Fort traded goods worth $250,000/caravan. In 1845 James Hebert was a civil engineer at Bent’s Fort.
The Fort is the first replica of the old fort and the largest adobe structure in the nation. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The recreation of Bent’s Fort itself, near La Junta, Colorado, is the second replica. Old Bent’s Fort was in ruins and the second replica was built from the plans and measurements taken by Sam Arnold to build The Fort. The National Park Service hired Sam to build the second replica on the site of the original Bent’s Fort.
The US flag had only 27 stars when it flew over Bent’s Fort. In The Fort there are portraits of Charlotte and Tom Green, house slaves of the Bents. When Tom looked for Charlie Bent’s murderer, William was impressed and freed them. The Greens then moved back East. Charlie Bent was at the Sand Creek Massacre – there are portraits of Charlie and William Bent as well as Owl Woman, William Bent’s wife. Their son George married Kiowa woman and there are many descendants. Another portrait is of Susan Shelby Magoffin, wife of a famous trader, who got her husband’s captors drunk and burned his execution orders so he went free. Yale University has Susan’s diary and James Hebert’s. Both Sam Arnold and Holly’s husband went to Yale University and Yale has an interest in the Tesoro Cultural Center which is a Colorado non-profit devoted to protecting the artistic treasures of the American past and making them available to the public.
The Fort, situated off highway 285 just west of Morrison Road and Red Rocks Amphitheatre, overlooks open fields and a great view of Denver. It is owned by Holly Arnold Kinney, daughter of Sam and Elizabeth Arnold, the original owners and builders. The Fort has its own artesian well for water. The rest of the acreage is leased for a horse range. The property consists of 100 acres total; Holly is unable to develop the open acres because of the lack of water and sewer connections. In the 1960s it took over an hour to get to The Fort over Morrison Road from Denver.
Sam Arnold was originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an English major at Yale University and was in advertising. Elizabeth was from Georgia and was a graphic designer. They were married in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1948 and moved to Los Alamos where Sam handled public relations for the Atomic Energy Commission. Among their well-known acquaintances were Robert Oppenheimer, Georgia O’Keeffe and Mabel Dodge Luhan. They also knew many artists from Taos.
Sam was also involved in radio and they built a toy store. Sam and Elizabeth moved to Denver in 1951 and Sam had a major national advertising account with British Motor Corporation (makers of MGs and Jaguar automobiles). Sam and Elizabeth decided to build a home that was historic and something quite different. They consulted Bill Lumpkin, an architect in Santa Fe.
The Fort is an adobe structure built in 1963 with specially made (on site) adobe bricks used in its construction. There are three people on staff who are experts at making adobe bricks and their job is to maintain the adobe exterior of the building. The building is made of over 80,000 hand-made adobe bricks, each weighing 40#. All the furniture is hand-carved, as are the log beams. Holly said that the place became a “money pit” and became a restaurant when Sam and Elizabeth applied for an SBA loan to complete it. The requirements were that it had to contain a business so it was suggested that The Fort become a living history museum. The Arnolds researched diaries to find out what the Indians ate and collected over 3,000 cookbook diaries. Sam’s master’s thesis was on cooking along the Santa Fe Trail. Sam wrote a ten-week ½ hour TV series and approached Channel 6 to present it to the public. KRMA founded the series and cookbook. PBS offered it nationally as “Frying Pans West” and it ran for 15 years nationwide. Over 250,000 of Sam’s accompanying cookbooks were sold. The republished 10-show DVD and cookbook are offered at The Fort Trading Company.
The Fort was sold in 1974 and it was owned by others until 1986 when, during the economic downturn Sam took it back in foreclosure. In 1981 Holly had her own ad agency which she ran for 25 years, representing many international clients, including the Swiss government who hired her to develop Swiss brands. In 1986 she started doing ads for The Fort. In 1996 Holly remarried. In 1997 Sam was not well, his second wife died (he and Elizabeth were divorced in the late 1970s) and Sam asked Holly to take over the restaurant. He sold her 49% of the restaurant, keeping the 51%. Sam died in 2006 and The Fort was approved to be on the National Register of Historic Places because of its authenticity even though it was not yet 50 years old.
During the 1960s The Fort hosted school tours and created the Tesoro Cultural Center to teach Bent’s Fort’s history. In May of each year The Fort hosts an Indian Market, attended by over 5,000 people. In the fall there is a Spanish Market and rendezvous with recreations of the 1830s. Yale University sends doctoral candidates to teach here. Last year over 3,000 4th graders came to visit The Fort. One of the fun events The Fort used to have was Tuffy’s Circus Tent which was in the courtyard. Muzzled bears wrestled and men wrestled Victor – a Canadian black bear. Tuffy also had alligators. Sam obtained a 2-month old baby bear and wanted Tuffy to take it with him but Tuffy declined. Sam obtained a zoo license and Tuffy taught the family how to feed and train the baby bear – named Cissy Bear. Cissy Bear was taught many tricks – there is a photo of Sam and Cissy Bear having a “drink” at the bar. Cissy Bear’s drink was in a bottle with a few holes in the cap so that she could suck on it without getting much liquid. Cissy made friends with one of the six dogs that the Arnolds had then – his name was Lobo and he was a German shepherd. They were inseparable. Lobo died after an attack, many of his wounds were infected and he did not last the night. Cissy Bear moaned and grieved for a long time. Cissy Bear was a mainstay for 19 years.
President Clinton hosted the Summit of 8 (G-8) at The Fort. President Clinton drove by The Fort with Governor Romer and asked what it was. Clinton thought it would show other countries what the pioneer spirit was like. Clinton chose the menu but declined buffalo tongue or Rocky Mountain oysters. So the press corps got the buffalo tongue and Rocky Mountain oysters and The Fort got great press. There were gifts to all the leaders of cowboy hats and boots. The ladies got squash blossom skirts. Helmut Lang came in a German bus and Boris Yeltsin came in a limousine.
The Fort has also hosted the Prince of Jordan who arrived by helicopter with several 4-star generals from the Pentagon after a tour of the 14teeners where the soldiers trained. Holly sat next to the prince to tell stories of Cissy Bear. There are many photos of the family and famous guests in several of the dining rooms. In the Tower Room is artwork done by Sam’s 2nd wife – a very talented artist. She depicts Sam playing the mandolin as well as several Western scenes. A photo here shows Elizabeth dressed as a Navajo with Holly on a backboard as an infant. Some of the other art work shown in various dining rooms depicts Indian women – if the hair is pinned up they are single, if it’s down they are taken.
Elizabeth returned to Georgia, remarried and worked at a living history museum in Tifton, Georgia. She created a rendezvous. Elizabeth was inducted into the Muskogee Indian tribe and she came to The Fort to the pow-wow on Holly’s 50th birthday. Elizabeth died of ovarian cancer and is buried under a pine tree behind The Fort in a special turquoise urn – she had an Episcopal service in Georgia and a Kiowa Indian medicine man burial here. Sam is buried next to her – half of his ashes are here, the other half at his second wife’s family mausoleum in the Pennsylvania. Holly’s brother is also buried under the pine tree – Kiowa medicine man performed the ceremony. Cissy Bear and Lobo are buried under the pines as well. There are plaques for each as well as a commissioned monument by an Indian medicine man to commemorate Sam and Cissy Bear. This monument has a cornstalk symbolizing everlasting life. Each kernel of corn represents a memory. The Argentinian caretakers of The Fort want to be buried under the pine as well – on the other side of the tree from the family.
The seating capacity is 350 total. There is plenty of space in the parking lot for coaches. The Fort is very welcoming and will do anything they can to make your guests comfortable. You can make reservations easily. In general, entrees run from $20-$40. The Fort still has a German-speaking waitress who has been there for 26 years. Many of the employees have been there for 25-26 years. Obviously a great place to work.
The tour ended with a Mountain Man Toast:
Here’s to the childs what’s come afore
Here’s to the pilgrim what comes arter
And may your trails be free of grizzs and your packs filled with plews
And fat buffalo in your peck
Waugh!!!!!!
-- Nancy Brueggeman
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