The Fort Vasquez Chapter, NSDAR, is named in memory of Louis Vasquez, a fur trader, who built a fort south of Platteville, Colorado in 1832.

On February 1, 1928, Mrs. Nellie Wilkinson was appointed organizing regent for a new DAR chapter in Brighton. She worked tirelessly to achieve this and the new Vasquez Chapter was organized on December 28, 1928. The charter was presented to the chapter on January 4th 1929 by Mrs. Justus R. Friedline, Colorado State Regent at the time. It's interesting to note that our chapter name, "Fort Vasquez" was actually voted upon by the membership at a later meeting on February 15, 1929.

The first officers, installed at a luncheon at the Blue Parrot Inn in Denver on January 4, 1929, were:

• Nellie Wilkinson, Regent
• Lettie Hunter, Vice Regent
• Ruth Lee Burns, Registrar
• Marguerite F. Counter, Treasurer
• Maude Lohmann, Recording Secretary
• Bertha Maude Leeper, Corresponding Secretary
• Marjorie Beatty Carr, Historian
• Mary Ione Hunter, Auditor

Other charter members included Sophia Martin Massey, Marian Arlene Carr, Eugena Wilkinson Wittke, Emanuela Ione Rees and Lucinda Carr Howell Masters. Our chapter continues to grow and pass on to others the ideals and objectives of the Daughters of the American Revolution - Historic Preservation, Promotion of Education and Patriotic Endeavor.

Chapter Members in 1930 (from left), Marian Arlene Carr Woodard, Ruth Lee Burns, Lettie Winifred Hunter, Nellie Faithy Harris Wilkinson, Ellise Bateman, Florence Vaught, Marjorie Battey Carr

Through the years our members have actively participated in volunteer community work; we have helped at naturalization classes for immigrants, participated in Red Cross drives and taught first aid, worked at the former Fitzsimmons Army Hospital and the Veteran's Hospital in Denver, aided displaced families, donated blood and helped at the blood bank during WWII.

Our members have assisted the Meals on Wheels program, volunteered at Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton, and served as election judges. Over the years, we have had a number of members who have proudly represented our chapter while they served as Chairmen of various committees in the Colorado State Society, NSDAR.
 

A wonderful custom that the chapter began in 1931 and continued until the mid-1950's was to give a DAR spoon to all first babies of chapter members and make a quilt for each member that became a new bride. Trees were planted at each of the three existing schools in Brighton in 1931. In June 1940, the chapter placed a monument in the Junior Chamber of Commerce Park on South Main Street in Brighton. The inscription reads: "Dedicated to the Pioneer Spirit of our Early Settlers"