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Fort Concho

Coordinates: 31°27′10″N 100°25′45″W / 31.45278°N 100.42917°W / 31.45278; -100.42917
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Fort Concho Historic District
A portion of the parade ground (bottom half) and the fort headquarters building (upper half)
Headquarters building, September 2017
Map
LocationSan Angelo, Texas, United States
Coordinates31°27′10″N 100°25′45″W / 31.45278°N 100.42917°W / 31.45278; -100.42917
Websitefortconcho.com
NRHP reference No.66000823
TSAL No.8200000596
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966
Designated NHLDJuly 4, 1961
Designated TSALJanuary 1, 1986

Fort Concho is a former United States Army installation and National Historic Landmark District located in San Angelo, Texas. It was established in November 1867 at the confluence of the Concho Rivers, situated on the Butterfield Overland Mail Route and Goodnight–Loving Trail. The US Army operated the fort for twenty-two years, from November 1867 to June 1889, and in that time the fort housed elements of fifteen US Cavalry and Infantry regiments. Initially, Fort Concho was the principal base of the 4th Cavalry and then between 1875 and 1882, the "Buffalo Soldiers" 10th Cavalry. From 1878 to 1881, the fort became the headquarters of the short-lived District of the Pecos. The troops stationed at Fort Concho participated in Ranald S. Mackenzie's 1872 summer campaign, the Red River War in 1874, and the Victorio Campaign of 1879–1880.

The fort was abandoned in June 1889 and passed into civilian hands. Over the next twenty years, it was divided into residences and businesses, with the buildings repurposed or recycled for their materials. Efforts to preserve and restore Fort Concho began in the 1900s and resulted in the foundation of the Fort Concho Museum in 1929. The property has been owned and operated by the city of San Angelo since 1935. Fort Concho was named a National Historic Landmark on July 4, 1961 and is one of the best-preserved examples of the military installations built by the US Army in Texas.

At its greatest extent in the 1870s, Fort Concho consisted of forty buildings on 40 acres (16 ha) of land leased by the US Army. The Fort Concho Historic District now includes the fort's original grounds and twenty-three buildings, some of which are the oldest in San Angelo. As of August 2019, the fort was visited annually by around 55,000 people.

Operation by the US military

See also: American Indian Wars

Europeans first reached the Concho valley in the 16th century, contacting the Jumano people. The Jumano were driven out of the valley in the 1690s by the Apache peoples, who were themselves expelled by the mid-18th century by the Comanche. But, following the discovery of gold in California, American colonists began crossing West Texas en masse in 1849.[1] The region's indigenous peoples – the Comanche, Kiowa, Plains Apache, and Mescalero Apache – stubbornly resisted white encroachment.[2] In response, the United States Army's Department of Texas surveyed the frontier in 1850 and built a string of forts along principal routes of travel.[3] In March 1852, American troops established a camp on the North Concho that was abandoned with the establishment, in October 1852, of Fort Chadbourne.[4]

This phase of frontier history ended with the beginning of the American Civil War, which forced the federal government to abandon its Texas forts to the Confederate States of America. As a consequence, the native peoples of Texas pushed the boundaries of white settlement back until the end of the war, when white settlement returned with interest.[5] Many of these incoming settlers became cattle herders and followed trails like the Goodnight–Loving Trail,[4] established in 1866. The Goodnight–Loving Trail traced the route of the earlier Butterfield Overland Mail route,[6] which found a natural gateway through the inhospitable terrain of West Texas by following the Middle Concho River west.[7][8] These routes were re-secured with the reoccupation of Fort Chadbourne in May 1867. Later that year, Major John P. Hatch, commanding the 4th Cavalry, sent Lieutenant Peter M. Boehm of the 4th Cavalry to establish a camp on the Middle Concho, 50 miles (80 km) to the south.[4]

Captain Michael J. Kelly and 50 troopers established this camp, albeit on the North Concho, and remained there over the summer of 1867. A committee of officers including Hatch surveyed the North and Middle Concho Rivers in September 1867, and chose a plateau at the junction of the three Conchos for its grazing grounds and the abundance of nearby limestone and fresh water. On November 28, 1867, the 4th Cavalry's H Company departed from Fort Chadbourne for the site. H Company's commander, Captain George G. Huntt, named the site "Camp Hatch", but changed it to "Camp Kelly" in January 1868 at Hatch's request to honor Kelly, who had died on August 13, 1867 of typhoid fever. Construction began of a permanent outpost immediately on a site north of the camp, which was named Fort Concho in March 1868 by Edward M. Stanton, United States Secretary of War.[9]

Construction

The parade ground of Fort Concho, which fills out the lower half of this image
The fort's parade ground

Construction of Fort Concho was assigned on December 10, 1867 to Captain David W. Porter, assistant quartermaster of the Department of Texas. He brought in civilian stonemasons and carpenters to construct first temporary storehouses and then a permanent commissary in January 1868. Porter, also responsible for constructing Forts Griffin and Richardson, was replaced in March by Major George C. Cram, who built a temporary guardhouse. Construction was slow, as direction had been poor under Cram and his predecessor, who was rarely at Fort Concho. Over 1868, Cram began a dispute with Major Ben Ficklin, the regional mail line superintendent, that resulted in Cram having Ficklin arrested. The United States Postmaster General soon became involved and by August, Cram was reassigned and replaced with Major George A. Gordon, who handed Fort Concho's construction to Captain Joseph Rendlebrock, the 4th Cavalry's quartermaster. By the end of the year, Rendlebrock had completed the commissary, quartermaster's storehouse, and a wing of the hospital.[10]

The first permanent military structures on the fort grounds, five of the officer's residences and the first regimental barracks, were completed by August 1869. They were followed over the next year by two more officer's residences, another barracks were built, and a permanent guardhouse and stables. Hatch pushed for the completion of the fort through 1870–71, directing the building of a quartermaster's corral, a wagon shed, and a failed attempt at producing adobe bricks that earned him the moniker "Dobe". Construction was again slowed in February 1872 with the discharging of most of the civilian workforce following budget cuts to the US War Department, but by the end of the year, Fort Concho consisted of four barracks, eight officers' residences, the hospital, a magazine, stone guardhouse, bakery, several storehouses, workshops, and stables.[11]

In 1875, the parade ground was cleared and a flagstaff placed in its center. In the process, the adjutant's office was moved to the headquarters building. It was replaced in short order with a stone command structure, the headquarters building, built in 1876. Another officers' residence was built in 1877, as were the foundations for another that went unfinished for lack of funding. This building was completed in February 1879 as the schoolhouse and chapel. It was the final permanent structure completed at Fort Concho.[12] By 1879, the fort was an eight-company installation of entirely limestone-built structures with a parade ground measuring 1,000 ft (300 m) long by 500 ft (150 m) wide.[13] Construction had, by 1877, cost the US Army $1 million (equivalent to $28,612,500 in 2023)[14] on land it had leased.[13]

Base of the 4th Cavalry

Picture of the Texas State Historical Survey Committee plaque describing the service history of Fort Concho in metal type: Underneath it is a smaller plaque marking the fort as a National Register of Historic Places property.
Historical marker detailing the service life of Fort Concho

The first act undertaken by the 4th Cavalry when establishing Fort Concho was to build a wagon road to the San Saba River to secure a supply route from Fort Mason. When not on construction details, the garrison patrolled, scouted, and escorted wagon trains on the Butterfield Overland Trail and San Antonio–El Paso Road, and cattle herds. Encounters with hostile Native Americans were rare.[15]

On February 25, 1871, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie took command of the 4th Cavalry. He moved the regimental headquarters to Fort Richardson a month later,[16] but kept a few companies at Fort Concho.[17] These companies participated in an inconclusive campaign against the Kiowa from May to September 1871. Comanche and Kiowa raids increased in number over the rest of 1871, prompting a number of expeditions that rarely saw Native Americans. A notable exception was a patrol carried out by Sergeant William Wilson from March 26 to 29, 1872 that led to the US Army's discovery of water in the Staked Plains and a large Comanche settlement at Mushaway Peak. Hatch,[18] in charge of Fort Concho while Mackenzie was in the field,[19] reported Wilson's findings to Mackenzie and to the Departments of Texas and New Mexico. Captain Napoleon B. McLaughlen set out with two companies of the 4th Cavalry and one of the 11th Infantry and confirmed Wilson's report.[20]

After Mackenzie and Hatch met with Brigadier General Christopher C. Augur,[21][22] commander of the Department of Texas, Mackenzie and McLaughlen, commanding Companies D and I, departed from their respective installations on June 17. Over the following months, the 4th Cavalry explored the South Plains and fought the Comanche at the Battle of the North Fork of the Red River on September 29. As a result of that battle, the 4th Cavalry captured 124 women and children, 116 of whom were taken back to Fort Concho on October 21. The captives were interned in the quartermaster's corral and remained there until the Department of Texas ordered their release on April 14, 1873. They departed Fort Concho on May 24 under escort from the 11th Infantry and arrived at Fort Sill on June 10.[23]

On June 27, 1874, more than 200 indigenous warriors attacked a group of buffalo hunters camped at Adobe Walls, beginning the Red River War. In response, Augur ordered Mackenzie and the 4th Cavalry back to Fort Concho in July and by August,[24] Major General Philip H. Sheridan,[25] commanding the Military Division of the Missouri, ordered five expeditionary forces of more than 3,000 soldiers each into the South Plains.[17] The southern force, under Mackenzie, left Fort Concho on August 23, 1874 with eight companies of the 4th Cavalry, four of the 10th Infantry, and one from the 11th Infantry. Over the following year, Mackenzie chased the Comanche until he found their base of operations in the Palo Duro Canyon and destroyed it on September 28. His force continued to patrol the area over the winter, preventing the Comanche from rebuilding their supplies and forcing their return to their reservation.[26]

Base of the 10th Cavalry

A picture of another Texas State Historical Association placard with an abbreviated history of the 10th Cavalry in metal type.
Texas State Historical Association placard commemorating the 10th Cavalry

By 1875, Fort Concho had become one of the main US Army bases in Texas,[27] but early in the year the 4th Cavalry was transferred to Fort Sill to keep the South Plains nations on their reservation.[17] They were replaced in Texas by the 10th Cavalry, one of the two cavalry units of the "Buffalo Soldiers", commanded by Colonel Benjamin Grierson.[28] Grierson arrived at Fort Concho on April 17, 1875, and established the regimental headquarters there.[29] Stationed at Forts Concho, Stockton, Fort Davis, Quitman, and Clark, the 4th Cavalry was tasked with patrolling the frontier, escorting wagons and settlers, and mounting expeditions. Their surveys and patrols were invaluable for the development of West Texas, as roads could be built and telegraph lines laid.[28] In July 1877, Captain Nicholas M. Nolan led an ill-fated expedition out of Fort Concho that achieved nothing and killed four soldiers from the 10th Cavalry's Company A.[30][31]

In January 1878, in response to raids by the Mescalero and San Carlos Apaches, the US Army created the District of the Pecos and placed it under Grierson's command. In October 1879, Grierson received word that a war party of Ojo Caliente and Mescalero Apache under Chief Victorio entered the Trans-Pecos. He left Fort Concho on March 23, 1880 at the head of five companies of the 10th Cavalry and some of the 25th Infantry to disarm the Mescaleros of the Fort Stanton reservation. Grierson's soldiers fought with Apache raiders over early April, then reached Fort Stanton on April 12. The disarmament was delayed until April 16 because of rains, and resulted in failure when the Mescalero Apache escaped with most of their arms. Grierson returned to Fort Concho on May 16, but left the 10th Cavalry's M Company at the head of the North Concho in case the Apache appeared in the area.[32]

On June 17, 1880, Nolan and a battalion of the 10th Cavalry at Fort Sill returned to Fort Concho by Grierson's order. Ten days later, Grierson sent Nolan to patrol the Guadalupe Mountains and himself set out from Fort Concho on July 10.[33] Grierson harried Victorio over the summer until he was defeated at Rattlesnake Springs and driven into Mexico, where Victorio's band was destroyed on October 15, 1880 by the Mexican Army.[34] The 10th Cavalry left Fort Concho for the last time in July 1882 for Fort Davis, farther to the west.[35]

Post-Texas Indian Wars and deactivation

On January 27, 1881, the Texas Rangers fought and defeated what was left of Victorio's band in the final battle of the American Indian Wars fought in Texas. The District of the Pecos was disbanded the following month. In 1882, the 10th Cavalry was replaced at Fort Concho by the 16th Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alfred L. Hough. Ten days before Hough and the regimental headquarters arrived at the fort that August, a massive flood of the Concho wiped the town of Ben Ficklin off the map and badly damaged San Angelo. As a result, the 16th Infantry spent its first week on-site rendering humanitarian aid. After recovering, San Angelo began to prosper, while Fort Concho declined from poor maintenance.[36] From 1882 until the fort's final closure, it served primarily as a base for troops awaiting transfer elsewhere in Texas.[13] When Fort McKavett was abandoned by the US Army in June 1883, its garrison moved to Fort Concho.[37]

By the mid-1880s, the ranches that now enclosed the surrounding plains with barbed-wire fencing reduced the soldiers, barred by law from cutting the wire, to patrolling roads. Many of the frontier forts, such as Forts Davis and Griffin, had either been abandoned or were awaiting deactivation. After the 16th Infantry left Fort Concho for Fort Bliss in February 1887, locals believed Fort Concho would also be abandoned. In early 1888, the 8th Cavalry gathered at Fort Concho from around Texas, and then left in June for Fort Meade, South Dakota. With their departure, only the 19th Infantry's K Company was garrisoned at Fort Concho. On June 20, 1889, the men of K Company lowered the flag over the fort for the final time, and left the next morning.[38]

Relationship with San Angelo, Texas

Main article: San Angelo, Texas § History
Plate photograph of a train of immigrants passing through San Angelo in 1885
Immigrants and their wagons passing through San Angelo in 1885

In 1870, entrepreneur Bartholomew J. DeWitt purchased a half-section of land across the Concho from Fort Concho. He divided the area into plots to build a town, later to be known as San Angelo. The township was not a profitable venture, and its lots were sold at low prices. By 1875, San Angelo was a collection of saloons and brothels, and had a reputation befitting that.[39][40] Relations between the town and Fort Concho's garrison were strained and often outright hostile. San Angelo's inhabitants were especially hostile to Fort Concho's black servicemen, and violence between Buffalo Soldiers and townspeople was common.[41][42] This state of affairs remained in place until the 10th Cavalry was replaced by the 16th Infantry in 1882. Humanitarian aid rendered to locals by the garrison, especially following the flood of 1882, eventually evaporated the lingering animosity.[43]

Fort Concho was crucial to San Angelo's early growth. The presence of its garrison attracted traders and settlers, and allowed diversification in the town's economy.[40] The fort's chaplains were some of the first preachers and educators in the town and its medical staff, chiefly surgeon William Notson also treated civilians. One of Notson's civilian assistants, Samuel L.S. Smith, became San Angelo's first physician, and in 1910 helped establish its first civilian hospital. The government-contracted sutlers who serviced the fort would all settle in San Angelo and be counted among its architects.[44]

Preservation

Following the closure of the fort in 1889, it was divided into commercial and residential lots and its buildings were accordingly renovated or demolished.[45] Enlisted Barracks 3 and 4 were replaced with a series of residences, while the officer's residences were preserved as private homes.[46] Additional buildings, were built in around the fort,[45] including what is now Fort Concho Elementary, constructed on the parade ground in 1907. As early as 1905, however, influential locals tried to conserve the fort. J. L. Millspaugh, one of the sutlers contracted to supply the fort, suggested without success that the city buy the fort.[47] That same year, realtor C.A. Broome formed the Fort Concho Realty Company in 1905 to sell his properties on the fort's grounds to the city.[48] The eastern third of the fort grounds, which had remained preserved, was given to the city by the Santa Fe Railroad Company in 1913. A decade later in 1924, the Daughters of the American Revolution raised funds to preserve the fort and secured a designation for it as a Texas state historic site, with accompanying plaque.[48]

In 1927, a local named Ginevra Wood Carson acquired a room in the Tom Green County Courthouse for an exhibit on local history,[47] and there established what would become the Fort Concho Museum.[13] When the museum began expanding into other rooms of the courthouse, Carson moved the museum into Fort Concho's headquarters building on August 8, 1930. Carson struggled to raise a sum of $6,000 (equivalent to $109,434 in 2023) to purchase the building from its owner, who in 1935 relented and accepted the $3,000 (equivalent to $133,340 in 2023) she had been able to raise.[47] That same year, the city of San Angelo assumed partial administrative responsibility for the museum,[49] to be managed by a board of directors headed by Carson until she retired in 1953. The Great Depression and World War II imposed financial difficulties on the museum, though four buildings were acquired in 1939. There were further acquisitions in the later 1940s, until the 1950s Texas drought again strained municipal resources. The museum was made a department of the city of San Angelo in 1955, but there was only property purchased in that decade; the Fort Concho Museum by this time controlled only about a quarter of the fort grounds. In the 1960s, the city of San Angelo sought to cede the Fort Concho Museum to the federal and state governments, but both were prioritizing other Texas forts.[50]

The second half of the 20th century was to see a change in the Fort Concho Museum's fortunes.[51] On July 4, 1961, Fort Concho was named a National Historic Landmark District,[52] and placed on the National Register of Historic Places,[53] by the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS prepared a plan in 1961,[50] and again in 1967,[48] and advised both times the expansion of the museum staff. That expansion began the next year with the hiring of a museum curator and the beginning of a spree of property purchases.[48][54] In 1980, the Fort Concho Museum and Bell, Klein and Hoffman, an Austin-based architecture firm specializing in restorations,[54] prepared a three-phase plan to acquire the rest of the fort's grounds and demolish its 19th and 20th century modifications.[45] The museum began implementing that plan in 1981, spending over $900,000 (equivalent to $3,016,252 in 2023).[54] This money had been raised by matched grants from the National Park Service via the Historic Preservation Fund.[45] The parade ground was then brought fully under the museum's control with the move of Fort Concho Elementary to a new campus.[55] An NPS survey in June 1985 found that the fort was in generally good condition, though a number of later buildings were still on its grounds.[45] The next year, it was named a Texas State Antiquities Landmark by the Texas Historical Commission.[56] By 1989, the district consisted of 16 original buildings, six reconstructed buildings, and a stabilized ruin.[48]

Involvement in the YFZ ranch raid

On April 3, 2008, following a call from an alleged victim of abuse by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist Mormon sect, Texas authorities raided the YFZ Ranch. The authorities began removing children from the ranch the next day, and relocated them to Fort Concho on April 5. The State of Texas was granted conservatorship over the children on April 7, and seven days later moved all women accompanying children older than five years to the Foster Communications Coliseum, also in San Angelo.[57] On June 2, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the seizure of the children was unlawful, and the children were released from state custody.[58]

Grounds and architecture

As of August 2019, the Fort Concho Historic District consists of 23 buildings standing on a 40-acre (16 ha) site, with a museum collection of 40,000 items.[59] The district's boundaries are formed by East Avenue A and the railroad track to the north, South Oakes Street to the west, a fence behind Officer's Row to the south, and a service road behind the administrative buildings to the east.[60] The fort is visited annually by 55,000 people.[59]

As was standard for American frontier forts, Fort Concho's buildings were arranged around its parade ground, which was also the hub of its activity. The design of those buildings is a blend of the Neoclassical and Territorial styles. The only ornament in the buildings are the stone lintels over each sash window. Each building was constructed from limestone upon a low-lying stone foundation, usually with an attached wooden veranda, with gabled roofs shingled in wood.[61] The material used in the fort's construction was not produced locally. The stone and mortar came from a quarry to the south, and the wood was shipped from the Gulf Coast, as the native pecan and mesquite were unsuitable for construction.[62]

Barracks Row

Enlisted Men's Barracks 1 and 2, taking up the entire central third of the picture
Enlisted Men's Barracks 1 and 2

Barracks Row is made up by the six enlisted mens' barracks that line the northern side of the parade ground. The barracks are rectangular, one-story dormitories with attached an kitchen and mess hall to the north of each barrack. They are topped with hipped roofs, crowned with a ventilator and a single chimney each. A veranda wraps each barrack, but not their attached mess halls. North of the barracks are the stables, built like the rest of the fort, but with a flat roof.[63]

Barracks 1 and 2 were built in 1869 and 1870, respectively, and each contained two cavalry companies. These barracks are unique in having sally ports at their centers for leading horses through, rather than around, the barracks to reach the stables.[64] Barracks 1 had two dining halls to Barracks 2's two, but they were lost after the fort was abandoned.[65] Barracks 1 is the visitor's center, while Barracks 2 is a display space housing wagons and replica artillery pieces.[66] Barracks 1 and 2 were acquired by the Fort Concho Museum in 1981.[54]

The other four barracks buildings were built to house infantrymen.[66] Barracks 5 and 6 were built in 1871 and remodeled in the 1920s to house a unit of US National Guard. The buildings had mostly fallen to ruin by 1947,[65] when they were purchased by the Fort Concho Museum.[51] Reconstruction of Barracks 5 and 6 was completed in 1951 as living history spaces. A veranda wraps around the mess halls. Barracks 3 and 4 were identical to Barracks 5 and 6. The latter buildings were demolished after the fort was abandoned and have not been rebuilt.[67]

Administrative Row

This is a photograph of the post Hospital at Fort Concho, rebuilt in the 1980s, from the parade ground. The north ward is the leftmost section of the building and vice versa for the south ward.
Post hospital, from the parade ground, left is north, right is south

The commissary and quartermaster's warehouse, built to the same plan in 1868 and 1869 respectively, are the oldest buildings in the city of San Angelo.[68] The commissary was purchased by the city government in 1939, but was used as a garage by the municipal transit department until 1974. It was restored in 1980 and then used as a meeting space. The quartermaster's warehouse opened in 1985 as an art museum.[50]

The headquarters building was built on Grierson's orders in 1876,[69] a decade into the fort's military operation.[70] The building is U-shaped, opening to the east, with two chimneys in the main structure and one in the north and south wings. A veranda is attached to the façade and back of the building, between the wings.[71] The headquarters building was used in various capacities in the 20 years after the US Army left Fort Concho. Four of the rooms on the ground floor, the court martial, orderly's room, adjutant's office, and regimental headquarters, have been remodeled to appear as they would have during the fort's military career.[72] About 50 feet (15 m) of the headquarters building is the former residence of Oscar Ruffini,[73] San Angelo's first civic architect. The house was moved to its present location on May 14, 1951.[74]

The post hospital was built from 1868 to 1870. After the fort's deactivation the hospital was used as a rooming house and for storage until it was destroyed by fire in 1911. The building was rebuilt in the mid-1980s with the aid of architectural and historical records. The hospital contains a museum about frontier medicine in its north ward, a library in the south ward, and general medical exhibits in the center.[75]

Officers' Row

Officer's Quarters 3 from the north and west.
Officer's Quarters 3 from the northwest

The Officers' Row are the ten buildings on the south side of the parade ground, comprised by Officers' Quarters 1 through 9 and the schoolhouse and chapel.[76] The officers' quarters were built in several phases from 1869 to the mid-1870s.[77] The houses generally follow an L-shaped plan with a primary residential building and kitchen, connected by veranda. Interiors consisted of four equally-sized rooms and a central hallway on the first floor and two more rooms on a second. The houses have three fireplaces; two in the main building and a third in the kitchen.[78]

Officer's Quarters 1 was built from 1870 to 1872 and served as the commanding officer's residence. Grierson, who lived there from 1875 to 1882,[79] added a kitchen and office onto the building, on the south and west ends respectively, in 1881.[80] Grierson also added a carriage house and placed locks on every door in the building. The Fort Concho Museum purchased the building in 1964. In 1994, it was renovated and became the Concho Valley Pioneer Heritage Center.[79] Officer's Quarters 8 and 9 were built to the same plan as Officer's Quarters 1, and were also completed in 1872. Another room was added to the south side of Officer's Quarters 8 in 1936. Officer's Quarters 9 was restored to its original appearance in 1905.[81]

Officer's Quarters 2, 4, 5, and 6 were all built in 1870 and all follow the general plan. Their roofs extend over the verandas to cover them.[82] Officer's Quarters 2 was purchased by the Fort Concho Museum in 1952.[51] Officer's Quarters 5 is a ruin; only its foundations remain. About 90 feet (27 m) to the south of Officer's Quarters 5 is the site of a carriage house thought to be associated with the house. Officer's Quarters 6 was damaged by fire in 1961, but was repaired and turned into a living history exhibit.[83]

Officer's Quarters 3 was built in 1870,[80] possibly in March, which would make it the first of the officers' houses to be completed. The house was the fort commander's residence until Officer's Quarters 1 and 2 were finished.[77] The building has a total of five rooms, as it lacks a second floor. The two structures making up Officer's Quarters 7 were built from 1870 to 1877 to house field officers and their families. The buildings form a duplex stand to the same height and have two fireplaces each. A porch connects the 15 feet (4.6 m) between the buildings.[82]

The schoolhouse and chapel was completed and dedicated on February 22, 1879, making it the last permanent structure to be completed during its military career.[84] The chapel is built like the Officers' Quarters, and in fact its site was first intended to be another duplex.[71] Funding was only sufficient for the foundation of the kitchen to be completed, so the building was finished as the present schoolhouse and chapel. After the US Army left, the building continued functioning as a schoolhouse, and at one point, a private home.[84] The Fort Concho Museum purchased the schoolhouse in 1946 and restored with funds raised by US military personnel on nearby Goodfellow Air Force Base.[51]

Panoramic photograph of Barracks 2's interior, which contains wagons and replica artillery
Interior of Barracks 2, containing wagon coaches and artillery pieces from the 19th century

See also

Citations

  1. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 1–2.
  2. ^ National Park Service 1985, p. 18.
  3. ^ Alexander & Utley 2012, pp. 32, 35.
  4. ^ a b c Matthews 2005, p. 2.
  5. ^ Alexander & Utley 2012, pp. 32–33.
  6. ^ Handbook of Texas Online: Goodnight–Loving Trail.
  7. ^ Handbook of Texas Online: Butterfield Overland Mail.
  8. ^ National Park Service 1985, p. 3.
  9. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 3–4.
  10. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 3, 4, 5–7.
  11. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 6–10.
  12. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 10–12, 51.
  13. ^ a b c d Handbook of Texas Online: Fort Concho.
  14. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 12.
  15. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 3, 13.
  16. ^ Handbook of Texas Online: Mackenzie, Ranald Slidell.
  17. ^ a b c Handbook of Texas Online: Fourth United States Cavalry.
  18. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 13–15.
  19. ^ Handbook of Texas Online: Hatch, John Porter.
  20. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 15–16.
  21. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 16.
  22. ^ Handbook of Texas Online: Christopher Columbus Augur.
  23. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 16–19.
  24. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 19–21.
  25. ^ Handbook of Texas Online: Philip Henry Sheridan.
  26. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 21–23.
  27. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 23.
  28. ^ a b Handbook of Texas Online: Tenth United States Cavalry.
  29. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 24.
  30. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 25.
  31. ^ Handbook of Texas Online: Nolan Expedition.
  32. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 26–28, 29–30.
  33. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 31.
  34. ^ Handbook of Texas Online: Victorio.
  35. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 34.
  36. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 34, 57.
  37. ^ Alexander & Utley 2012, pp. 38–39.
  38. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 58–60.
  39. ^ Gibson 1971, pp. 26–27.
  40. ^ a b Handbook of Texas Online: San Angelo, TX.
  41. ^ Gibson 1971, pp. 6, 15–16.
  42. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 43–45.
  43. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 57.
  44. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 48, 51, 53–56.
  45. ^ a b c d e National Park Service 1985, p. 2.
  46. ^ Bluthardt, Robert (November 1, 2010). "Through the Centuries at Old Fort Concho". Ranch and Rural Living. Archived from the original on February 15, 2019.
  47. ^ a b c Bluthardt & Flynn 1997, p. 11.
  48. ^ a b c d e Handbook of Texas Online: Fort Concho National Historic Landmark.
  49. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 61.
  50. ^ a b c Bluthardt & Flynn 1997, pp. 12–13.
  51. ^ a b c d Bluthardt & Flynn 1997, p. 12.
  52. ^ "List of NHLs by State". National Park Service. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  53. ^ "Fort Concho Historic District". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  54. ^ a b c d Bluthardt & Flynn 1997, p. 13.
  55. ^ Bluthardt & Flynn 1997, pp. 13–14.
  56. ^ "Fort Concho (41TG57)". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  57. ^ "Timeline: Before and after the 2008 raid on the FLDS' Yearning for Zion Ranch". San Angelo Standard-Times. April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  58. ^ "Polygamist parents, children begin reunions". NBC News. June 2, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  59. ^ a b Bluthardt, Robert (August 29, 2019). "Fort Concho a national historic landmark; no need for ranger hats". San Angelo Standard-Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  60. ^ National Park Service 1985, pp. 21–22.
  61. ^ National Park Service 1985, pp. 2–15.
  62. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 6.
  63. ^ National Park Service 1985, pp. 10–11.
  64. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 8, 37.
  65. ^ a b National Park Service 1985, p. 10.
  66. ^ a b Matthews 2005, p. 37.
  67. ^ National Park Service 1985, pp. 10, 15–16.
  68. ^ National Park Service 1985, p. 9.
  69. ^ National Park Service 1985, pp. 8–9.
  70. ^ Matthews 2005, p. 10.
  71. ^ a b National Park Service 1985, p. 8.
  72. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 10–11.
  73. ^ National Park Service 1985, p. 12.
  74. ^ Prestiano 1984, p. 7.
  75. ^ Matthews 2005, pp. 7, 53.
  76. ^ National Park Service 1985, p. 5.
  77. ^ a b Matthews 2005, p. 7.
  78. ^ National Park Service 1985, pp. 5–6.
  79. ^ a b Matthews 2005, p. 27.
  80. ^ a b National Park Service 1985, p. 6.
  81. ^ National Park Service 1985, pp. 7–8.
  82. ^ a b National Park Service 1985, pp. 6–7.
  83. ^ National Park Service 1985, p. 7.
  84. ^ a b Matthews 2005, pp. 11, 51.

References

Texas State Historical Association
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