MONOGRAPHS OF KINNEY COUNTY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE

Introducing a new bi-weekly feature which will examine the unique architecture to be found here in Kinney County by spotlighting individual buildings and providing brief histories complimented by period photographs. Our intent is to explore the past, inspire the present, and build the future by showcasing the remarkable associations and legacies of structures which have stood the test of time and continue to contribute so much to the exceptional heritage of Kinney County. Our first subject is “The Doctor’s House” Quarters No. 17 in the Fort Clark National Register Historic District.

  The eight double sets of two-story stone officer quarters which dominate the Fort Clark Historic District are now more than one-hundred and fifty years old. Of the sixteen individual sets of quarters only one managed to acquire a distinctive identity during its seventy years of military service. Quarters No. 17, beginning as early as 1889, was referred to as “the doctor’s house” as it served as the home for a succession of post surgeons. The first known Medical Corps occupant was Assistant Surgeon Captain Charles M. Gandy who served at Fort Clark from July 1889 until December 1890. Many Army doctors on the frontier were also amateur photographers and Dr. Gandy took a series of photographs of his quarters which by some stroke of good fortune have managed to survive. The photograph here with Captain Gandy superimposed is the only image of a single set of duplex quarters (Qtrs Nos. 16-17) left to us from the 19th century.

   We are also fortunate to have correspondence from Assistant Surgeon Edgar Mearns which first recognizes Quarters No. 17 as the “Doctor’s House.” Dr. Edgar Mearns letter to his wife Sunday, November 6, 1892, “We are batching together [with Dr. William B. Davis] on Hosp. bunks in his old quarters, the same occupied by Dr. McCreery [George], in which he lived several years. I think I will select this house, as it is known as the doctor’s house and is vacant, and as good as any other I could get, except one near Col. Lazelle [Henry Martyn, USMA 1855, commanding the 18th Infantry and the post] from which I would perhaps be more certain of being ousted by someone with more rank. The house will do about as well as your present house at Snelling [Fort Snelling, Minnesota]. Two stories, back yard with high fence, hennery, shed, + outhouse; front yard with vines, grass, flowers; double house. Lieut. Steele [Charles Lee, USMA 1879, 18th Infantry] next door.”

   Following Dr. Mearns came another generation of Army surgeons who also called this house their home. How long did Quarters No. 17 continue to serve as the Doctor’s House? A list from December 1941 shows Quarters No. 17 occupied by Lieutenant Colonel Walter B. Lasater, Regimental Surgeon of the 112th Cavalry.

   During the Guest Ranch era (1948-1970) all the quarters on the street, now renamed Colony Row, were referred to as “cottages.” Picture postcards from that period almost always center on Quarters Nos. 16-17 with its easily recognizable and distinctive oak tree in front of Quarters No. 16. Well over a century old this mighty oak makes it a simple task to find the building in period photographs or when on a stroll down  Colony Row to admire its massive roots pushing into the sidewalk. One could ask, “Is there a doctor in the house?”