Aztec Museum and Pioneer Village allows visitors to experience pioneer life in the American West. Aztec’s history goes back a thousand years when Native Americans settled along the Animas River, building a community now called Aztec Ruins National Monument.

After the Ancient Puebloan people migrated south in the 1300’s, Ute and Navajo Native Americans camped along the Animas River banks.

Treaty agreements in the late 1800’s allowed settlers to homestead by establishing Indian Reservations boundaries restricting the Ute people to land in Colorado and the Eastern Navajo people to lands south of the San Juan River.

The City of Aztec was founded in September of 1887 to provide commercial services for the new Hispanic and Anglo settlers. Aztec was named after the ancient Pueblo ruins located across the Animas River.

Pioneer Village gives visitors the opportunity to revisit an early western American community. Children will enjoy climbing aboard the caboose or visiting a one-room schoolhouse, only two of many pioneer buildings located at the museum.

Visit Aztec Museum and Pioneer Village and learn about modern Aztec’s early days. Visit Aztec Ruins National Monument to learn about Aztec's original settlers or the Aztec Cemetery to find where the founding families are buried.