Heritage, Volume 15, Number 3, Summer 1997 Page: 10
31 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Fort Concho: Texas Frontier Outpost
By Bob Bluthardt and Evelyn Flynn
Photographs courtesy of the Fort Concho National Historic LandmarkBenjamin Grierson, Fort Concho Post Commander, 1875-1882. Photo circa 1864.
hen Company K of the 19th
Infantry closed Fort Concho
and marched away in June
of 1889, few of the soldiers cared what
would happen to the military post. They
were on their way to a presumably better
assignment in San Antonio. Like many
military posts, Fort Concho might fall into
ruins or be dismantled for building material.
That it became a national historic
landmark, a major tourist destination, anda monument to those indifferent soldiers is
both an accident of geography and a tribute
to some far-sighted preservationists.
Fort Concho began as one of many postCivil
War military outposts in response to
civilian demands for a more permanent
federal presence on the frontier. The location
was both strategic and pleasant: the
confluence of the three Concho Rivers
near several centuries-old trails. Between
1867 and 1879, troops and civilian craftsmen erected six barracks, ten officers' quarters,
several storehouses, four stables, aheadquarters,
hospital, schoolhouse/chapel, and
other support structures. The native limestone
gave the fort an appearance of stability
that proved true years after its abandonment.
Wooden forts tended to rot; adobe
posts would crumble, but Concho's stone
buildings endured.
A wide range of troops and commanders
called Fort Concho home during its 2210 HERITAGE *SUMMER 1997
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 15, Number 3, Summer 1997, periodical, Summer 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45401/m1/10/: accessed May 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.