Cantonment Burgwin was abandoned by the U.S. Army in May 1860. Several structures were rebuilt starting in 1957 and continued until 2004, financed initially by Ralph Rounds until his death in 1960. The new structures were known as the Fort Burgwin Research Center.
The core buildings are external reconstructions of the original buildings, but the interiors of several of the buildings are modern and serve as offices and classrooms. The site currently serves as the SMU-in-Taos campus, which offers for-credit summer and fall college classes, including the SMU archaeology field school, and the Cultural Institute, which offers weekend informal classes taught by SMU faculty. Previous archaeological work investigating the original fort included the work of Judith Thomas, a historic archaeologist from Mercyhurst University.[3]
