Fort Lyon is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and U.S. Post Office in

Bent County, Colorado Bent County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 5,650. The county seat and only Colorado municipalities, incorporated municipality is Las Animas, Colorado, Las ...

, United States.

History

A post office called Fort Lyon was established in 1862. The Fort Lyon Post Office had the ZIP Code 81038, though the zip code for nearby Las Animas (81054) is also used. The community was named after

Nathaniel Lyon Nathaniel Lyon (July 14, 1818 – August 10, 1861) was a United States Army officer who was the first Union Army, Union General officer, general to be killed in the American Civil War. He is noted for his actions in Missouri in 1861, at the beginn ...

, an officer in the American Civil War. The ghost town of Sheridan, in Logan County, Kansas, became a railhead for westbound freight to the Santa Fe Trail on a wagon road to the area. Some German prisoners of war were buried at Fort Lyon and built furniture and worked on local roads.

Geography

Fort Lyon is located at (38.096741,-103.152008).

Climate

According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Fort Lyon has a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

Notable people

* Eugene Davis, a doctor who managed a Veterans Administration facility in Fort Lyon. * Farmer Ray, former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player, was born in Fort Lyon. * Edward W. Wynkoop, a post commander at Fort Lyon. * Samuel F. Tappan, military officer * Enoch Steen, United States military officer who commanded at Fort Lyon. * Josephine Beatrice Bowman, Navy nurse stationed at Fort Lyon * Walter McCaw, Army surgeon * William Nathaniel Thomas, Navy chaplain who served at the US Public Service Hospital. * Kit Carson, a frontiersman who died at the surgeon's quarters in Fort Lyon. Sides, 2006, pp. 482–483 * Laurice Aldridge Tatum, namesake of the USS Tatum, served at Fort Lyon's Naval Hospital.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Bent County, Colorado Unincorporated communities in Colorado