Former Colorado Boys Ranch Property Purchased for New Western Heritage Education Campus

Description: The former Colorado Boys Ranch property in La Junta has been purchased and will become the Western Heritage Education Campus, offering future youth, adult and community programs...

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Former Colorado Boys Ranch Property Purchased, to Become Western Heritage Education Campus

LA JUNTA, Colo. August 10, 2026— The former Colorado Boys Ranch property has been successfully purchased through a partnership of local and regional entities. Because of the complexity of the transaction, the multi-stage acquisition process required considerable time to complete and was kept confidential until the final closing.

The historical property will be officially renamed the Western Heritage Education Campus. (Western Heritage Education Foundation).

The Campus will be operated by a newly formed not-for-profit corporation, ensuring operational control remains entirely in local hands. This non-profit status will also open up a diverse range of grant and fundraising opportunities to support the campus infrastructure and programs.  The acquisition of the new campus - a former residential facility for troubled youth features dormitories, a library, a dining facility with commercial kitchen, gymnasium, a chapel and equestrian center as well as other facilities for hands-on learning experiences - represents a major undertaking. Establishing the formal corporation is a time-consuming process, legal filing is already underway. The Board has appointed Robert Fowler of LaJunta as Interim Director. He will oversee the restoration of the facility and the reopening of the new campus.

Vision for the Campus

Given the massive scale of the project, development of which will follow a deliberate, step-by-step process. The programs and facilities will be carefully developed in stages. The intent is to create a varied range of  both youth and adult programs centered on creating meaningful life experiences. Program curricula are being developed with initial offerings to potentially include Scouting America, 4-H, FFA, Regional school groups, educational field research and varied community events. Project leaders emphasize that this rebirth represents an exciting milestone with significant long-term economic value for the entire Arkansas Valley. 

As corporate partnerships and fundraising efforts mature, additional project details will be shared. Given the massive scale of the project, development will follow a deliberate, step-by-step process. However, project leaders emphasize that this rebirth represents an exciting milestone and significant long-term economic value for the entire Arkansas Valley.

As corporate partnerships come in, additional programming and curricula will  be developed.. A member of our board, Nancy Finley is a PR professional and as such, will issue news and information to the press as they come to fruition. 

Community Recognition

A number of individuals and organizations have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help move this project forward and have requested to remain anonymous for now.

Campus organizers do wish to publicly express their gratitude to:

• Otero County Commissioners
• Otero County Sheriff's Department
• La Junta Police Department
• Local youth and adult volunteers
• City of La Junta Electric, Water, and Sewer Departments

What's Next

Once initial cleanup of the property is complete, and the Phase 1 structures are brought online, organizers plan to host a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony and public open house at the Campus. The goal is to host this community event within the next several months.

Organizers are actively seeking additional individuals and community groups willing to volunteer, as a campus of this magnitude requires significant upfront labor. They are also issuing a targeted request for former Colorado Boys Ranch employees in the region to come forward and share their operational knowledge of the property's infrastructure. Few schematics or records of the site's original utilities and underground systems survived previous transitions.

"With all of the difficult news lately, we think this is genuinely exciting, positive news for our community," said Robert Fowler, speaking on behalf of the organizing committee. "It has taken a tremendous amount of work to reach this point, and we're confident there's a lot to be excited about as the project moves forward."

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