Bachelor's Hall, MONOGRAPHS OF KINNEY COUNTY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE #6

This bi-weekly feature examines the enduring 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 next subject is “Bachelor’s Hall” a contributing structure to the Fort Clark Historic District and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Completed 140 years ago, in 1885, this building was first occupied in October of that year as evidenced in the diary of Lieutenant Francis H. French of the 19th Infantry, one of the original occupants. Post building No. 1 was built on a rectangular plan with eight two-room (a sitting room/parlor and a bedroom) suites, four on each floor, lettered A–H. It was an
impressive two-story stone structure of random pitch-faced ashlar limestone that featured front and rear porches for each floor and interior stairwells for access to the second floor. The rear porches each had four small rooms, which were converted to bathrooms in the 1920s. It was the first Fort Clark building to have cornerstones.

The Army constructed bachelor officers quarters (BOQs) to house unmarried officers or those officers stationed at a post without their families. Bachelor officers’ quarters typically were rectangular, two-story structures that contained individual living quarters for multiple officers. Bachelor officers’ quarters were standard components of permanent Army cantonments. They usually were located near the parade ground or near the officer family housing. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the military designed bachelor officers’ quarters
using Victorian architectural motifs.

Each post provided individual housing for the commanding officer, but not for all the other officers of the garrison, particularly bachelors. Bachelor officers’ quarters evolved as a distinct building on Army posts after the Army began to construct more duplex and single-family officers’ quarters. When the Army consolidated its troops into larger, permanent posts during the 1880s and 1890s, the Army built rows of officers’ family housing and usually one bachelor officers’ quarters.

Bachelor officers’ quarters are associated with the evolution of living standards for military personnel. The buildings reflect the history and status of the military at the time of their construction. The design of bachelor officers’ quarters often reflects the influence of civilian architecture on military construction and the military's self-perception of its image and presence. Bachelor officers’ quarters usually are part of a cantonment or a housing area and can be contributing elements in an historic district, which is the case with Fort Clark’s noble Bachelor’s Hall.

The rear porches have since been removed. In the 1950s-60s the building was rented as the Cavalryman Apartments during the Guest Ranch era, the building is now eight private condominiums. Bachelor’s Hall retains its setting and location, and the majority of its design, materials, workmanship, association, and feeling from its late 19th century period of significance. Now a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark candidate.