Gunnison was settled in 1859 and, as a precinct, was granted weekly U.S. Mail service in 1862. The Black Hawk War began in 1865. In 1867, a bastion was erected 362 feet southeast of here and was used by Colonel Byron Pace and 1500 militia men to protect the people and property of Gunnison and surrounding settlements from warring Indians. The old fort surrounded a four block square running west and south from the Gunnison Ward Chapel and Washington School block.