Military
1886 Kitchen/Mess Hall
The earliest mess arrangements for soldiers at Fort Clark were around open fires along Las Moras Creek near the spring. This building is one of Fort Clark's eight remaining kitchens and mess halls out of nine built in 1886 to serve each company of enlisted men.
Military
2nd Cavalry Division at Fort Clark
In response to the U.S. experience during World War I, the army organized the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions in 1921. However, the 2nd Cavalry Division was not activated until 1941 at Fort Riley, Kansas.
Civic & Local
Army Service Club
Occupying the site of Fort Clark's first guardhouse, this 1938 structure served as a morale and welfare facility until 1944, when the U.S. Army closed the fort. The building was a recreation center for soldiers, and served as a non-commissioned officers' club during World War II mobilization. The building has also been a country club and community center.
Architecture
Commanding Officer's Quarters
Fort Clark was established as a U.S. Army garrison in June 1852. Nine structures designed by U.S. Army engineers were built in 1873-1874 to house the fort's officers. This house served the fort's commanding officers, including Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie and Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright.
History
Dolores Townsite
Only settlement founded in John Charles Beales' ill-fated Rio Grande colony of 1834-1836. Beales (1804-1878) -- empresario of 70,000,000 acres in present Southern and Western Texas and New Mexico -- was Texas' largest known land king. In 1833 he and a partner brought 59 settlers here to colonize a town to be named for Beales' Mexican wife.
History
Filippone Building
Italian stonemasons Giovanni B. Filippone (1845-1917) and Giovanni Cassinelli purchased property here in 1883-85 and in 1885 built the six-sided portion of this limestone block building. Filippone became sole owner in 1887 and operated a general store on the first floor, while his family lived on the second floor. The five-sided, one-story section was added early in the 20th century.
Military
Fort Clark
A strategic installation in the U.S. Army's line of forts along the military road stretching from San Antonio to El Paso, Fort Clark was established in June 1852. Located near natural springs and Las Moras Creek, its site was considered a point of primary importance to the defense of frontier settlements and control of the U.S. Mexico border.
Military
Fort Clark Guardhouse
Established in 1852, Fort Clark was manned by varying troop strengths over the years. This guardhouse was built in the 1870s during a period of fort expansion. A new stockade was built in 1942 to relieve overcrowding, and the guardhouse became headquarters for the military police.
Military
Fort Clark, U.S.A.
1852-1946 Founded June, 1852. Guarded California road, rebuffed Indians, outlaws. Named for Maj. J. B. Clark, killed in Mexican War. Companies of infantry, artillery, cavalry stationed here. Clothing issued proved too warm for summer. Buildings were too cold for winter until chimneys were built in 1856.
History
John Horse
Born in Spanish Florida of a black mother and Seminole father in 1812, John Horse (also known as Juan Caballo, Juan Cavallo, or Gopher John) was a prominent leader of Seminole blacks during the 2nd Seminole War. After a valiant fight alongside Seminole Chief Coacoochee (known as Wild Cat), and emancipation by Gen. Thomas S.
History
Kinney County Courthouse
Kinney County Courthouse Human inhabitation of Kinney County began thousands of years ago. Spanish expeditions through the area began in 1535 and continued throughout subsequent centuries. An attempt at establishing a Franciscan mission in 1775 failed, as did settlement by Dr. John Charles Beales in 1834.
History
Las Moras Masonic Lodge Building
Built in 1878-1879 to serve as the first County-owned Courthouse for Kinney County. This structure served that purpose for thirty-two years. In 1911 it became the headquarters of the Las Moras Masonic Lodge, which was chartered in 1876. While the Lodge used the second floor, the ground floor was leased to the U.S. Postal Service for the Brackettville Post Office from 1918 to 1983.
Military
Married Officers' Quarters 8-9
This single-story duplex once served as housing for married officers and their families at Fort Clark. The U.S. Army fort, established in 1852 to defend the western frontier of Texas and the border with Mexico, saw significant growth in the 1870s. To accommodate a regimental size garrison, the Army constructed living quarters such as this particular house.
History
Military Roads in Texas
The routes that moved troops in early Texas often followed old Indian trails, usually were little more than deep wagon ruts. This one, the Chihuahua Road joining Ft. Clark with other southwest posts -- was widely used, 1850-1880. The Comanche War Trail, part of the Chihuahua Road, carried women, children, and horses stolen by Indians from Mexico to the north.
History
Montalvo House
Yldefonso Montalvo (1855-1941), also known by the name Obed Woods, built this dwelling about 1887. He used cedar pickets, caliche plaster, and other materials available in the area. Originally the kitchen and several outbuildings stood nearby. The educated son of an English mother and Mexican father, Montalvo was a rancher and an employee of Fort Clark and a local mercantile store.
Military
New Cavalry Barracks
NEW CAVALRY BARRACKS The earliest quarters for soldiers at Fort Clark were tents along Las Moras Creek near the spring. During the forts 1870s building boom, stone cavalry barracks were constructed, but by the late 1920s. They had become too deteriorated for continued use. Three two-story stone cavalry barracks were constructed in 1931-1932 two replace the three barracks that were razed.
Architecture
Officers Quarters 2-3 and 4
These two buildings date from 1854-55, soon after the U.S. Army established Fort Clark. The antebellum fort then included officers quarters and barracks for enlisted men, as well as a two-story quartermaster storehouse, powder magazine, hospital, guardhouse and post headquarters around a parade ground. During this period, such notable army officers as John Bell Hood, J.E.B.
Architecture
Officers' Row Quarters
Fort Clark was established as a U.S. Army garrison in 1852. The original quarters were crude log huts and houses of palisade construction. In 1857, a new program began to replace badly dilapidated structures with buildings of quarried stone.
Military
Palisado Kitchen/Mess Room
This structure was built by the U. S. Army in 1869-70 and is an example of vertical post or jacal construction, used due to the absence of trees tall enough for traditional horizontal log construction. African American 'Buffalo Soldiers' of the 25th infantry built the rectangular plan structure with wood shingle roof for use as a mess room located behind their new stone barracks.
Military
Seminole Indian Scouts' Cemetery
(Founded on Fort Clark Reservation, Sept. 1, 1872) Burial site of heroic U.S. Army men, families, and heirs. These Seminoles came mainly from Florida about 1850; lived in northern Mexico or Texas; joined Lt. (later a general) John L. Bullis and Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie in ridding Texas of hostile Indians, 1870s.
Military
Seminole Scout Camp on Fort Clark
Seminole Scout Camp on Fort Clark Under Spanish rule, Florida was a haven for freed or escaped slaves in the 1700s. Once there, many integrated into the Seminole tribe, intermarrying and adapting to the culture. Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821, and after approximately 30 years of warfare, the majority of the Seminoles were forced to relocate to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
Elsewhere in Texas
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