MONOGRAPHS OF KINNEY COUNTY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE: Post Headquarters, Part 1

This bi-weekly feature examines the enduring unique architecture and historic associations 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. 

Erected in 1857 to originally serve as quarters for the commanding officer of the post, after the 1873-74 completion of the “new post,” the building was permanently designated for use as the Post Headquarters and went on to serve in that role for the next seventy years, until 1944. Following World War I, in 1919, the building was expanded, doubling its size. The hip roof took on a north- south orientation from the east-west line of the 1857 building. In 1942-43 the present exterior was added, surrounding the 1857 and 1919 building, creating additional office space and a covered rear porch. Sometime after February 1943, the flat roof was removed and a frame second story was added. In the 1950s the building was renamed Las Moras Hall and served as headquarters for the Fort Clark Guest Ranch. 

On November 15, 1959, during filming of John Wayne’s epic “The Alamo,” the building caught fire, the result of a faulty kerosene heater, and was completely gutted. Today only the sturdy limestone walls remain. Every key decision in the life of Fort Clark was made in this building; every famous officer who ever served at Fort Clark knew this building intimately. This building is arguably the "Soul of Fort Clark!"  In 1979, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing structure to the Fort Clark Historic District, a most significant and prestigious status considering the building has been a silent stone shell for the past sixty- seven years. The structure also has the distinction of being one of only two remaining antebellum stone buildings (the other being the post powder magazine) in the Fort Clark Historic District.

In 1979 the Texas Historical Commission’s nomination of the Fort Clark Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places noted, “The old Headquarters Building displays walls of dressed limestone blocks, finely chiseled with sharply defined edges. Textured with subtle tool marks, the blocks are bonded with thin, regular mortar joints. Exaggerated sills define the door and window openings and a large rectangular block with simple bolection bracket and construction date carved in relief accentuates the entrance.”

Colonel Joseph K. F. Mansfield in his, “Report of the Inspection of the Department of Texas in 1856,” noted that at Fort Clark, “There is an excellent quarry here & it would be better to put up stone buildings which the soldiers could readily do with but little aid from the department.” Stone was the predominant construction material used in building Fort Clark. From 1852 to 1910 stone was used in load bearing masonry walls and foundations. The stone was taken from a local quarry which still remains. It was most often laid up as coursed rubble and the surfacing was usually common faced. The notable exception however is the Post Headquarters building. The extremely thin mortar joints evidence the highest quality of stone craftsmanship.

On June 30, 1857, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Edward F. Beale, in command of a column which included twenty-five pack camels from Camp Verde, Texas, bound for California, encamped at Las Moras Spring. A member of Beale’s command, May Humphreys Stacey, recorded in his journal, “After our bath we walked up into the Garrison to see the men muster in the evening. They not at that time being ready we looked around a house they were building out of limestone.” So the soul of Fort Clark is first described.

In the early summer of 1857, when the building was under construction, Fort Clark was garrisoned by companies C and K of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry. Of the six officers present for duty, three were graduates of the United States Military Academy including the post commander Captain James Oakes, class of 1846. Many authors who describe the construction of frontier military posts tend to portray army builders as “inexperienced,” failing to consider the possibility that any number of soldiers had been stonemasons or carpenters in civilian life. They also ignore the fact that West Point officers had considerable training and education in military and civil engineering. In fact, during a cadet’s final year at the Academy the major portion of the fall term was taken up learning architectural design, plan drawing, and stonecutting. This being considered, officers and men were more than capable of producing substantial well-made buildings in the absence of skilled civilian craftsmen.

The first official mention of the building was made by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. Johnston, 1st Cavalry, in his inspection report of November 13, 1859, two years after the building was completed. Johnson remarked, “The buildings erected by the Qr. M. Dept [Quartermaster Department] are quarters for the commanding officer, a hospital, storehouse, and magazine. The first two very unnecessarily expensive. All are of stone.”

One year later Colonel Joseph K. F. Mansfield again inspected the post, and sketched the building on his map of November 30, 1860, just four months before the fort was abandoned on the eve of the Civil War. Mansfield was very critical of the lack of change for the better he found at Fort Clark, commenting that, “I have referred to the slow progress at this post in improvements. I will now call attention to the plan herewith & I have to remark that since 1856 two stone buildings have been erected, A & B for officers. These are good buildings. But there is not a soldier properly quartered.”

In all likelihood the building sat empty for nearly all of the five plus years from March 1861 until December 1866 when the fort was reoccupied by Federal troops. From 1866 until 1873-74 the building served alternately as the commanding officer's quarters, post headquarters, and a double set of officers’ quarters. In those varied capacities the building answered as home for such notable officers as William R. (Pecos Bill) Shafter, Wesley Merritt, and Ranald Mackenzie. Most probably the building was the site of the secret meeting, in May of 1873, held between Secretary of War William Belknap, Lieutenant General Phillip Sheridan, and Colonel Mackenzie (4th Cavalry) which precipitated the Remolino Raid.

Although no plans and specifications for the building have survived, the basic original floor plan can be easily determined from the report of Acting Assistant Surgeon Donald Jackson, United States Army, July 20, 1870.

Extending from one side or one set of these rooms, is a stone building, shingled and shed roofed, 36 by 12 feet, divided into three equal apartments for dining room, kitchen, and servants’ room. In the rear of the other set of rooms, but not connected, is a stockade shingled building, used as kitchen and servants’ quarters. The old stone building was designed, I believe, for one set of quarters only, but is now intended for two sets, though not very well adapted for this, as there is but one hall.

The architectural context of the building’s original floor plan is decidedly the partial Georgian plan, having a central hall with two rooms generally of equal size, heated by fireplaces, on each side. In the 1850’s builder’s handbooks, style books, and pattern books were extremely popular and the similarities in design plans for army buildings are plentiful. The Commanding Officer’s quarters at Fort Stanton NM, built in 1856, is virtually identical to this building at Fort Clark, suggesting a common style was favored by army officer builders in the absence of standardized plans, which were not adopted by the Quartermaster Department until 1866. This lack of standardization in the 1850s allowed post commanders to use their best judgment for the plans and specifications of post buildings, limited only by the availability of local building materials, soldier labor, and meager government funding.

When quarters had the central hall four room floor plan, the front rooms were most commonly used one as a parlor and the other as a sitting room, while the back two rooms served as bedchambers. These were indeed spacious accommodations reserved for the commander of the post. It is likely one of the bedchambers often served as lodging for senior officers visiting the post for inspections or courts-martial duty. It is possible Colonel Mansfield stayed in this building during his inspection of December 1860. After the building was repurposed by the Army, in 1874, to serve as the post headquarters the four rooms were used as dedicated workspace. It is logical to assume one room served as the Adjutant’s office, a name given the entire building on period maps, and another as the office of the post commander. One room might have been set aside for use by the Officer of the Day and/or the regimental sergeant major, while the fourth room may have been reserved as a courtroom for conduct of courts-martial. There is no question there was ample space for enlisted clerks and orderlies to function. Photographic evidence circa 1885 clearly shows one end of the front porch was enclosed to create a fifth room of frame.

Continued in next week’s Kinney County Post and online at KinneyCountyPost.com


Monographs of Kinney County’s Architectural Heritage is written by Bill Haenn, FCHC Senior Historian. Fort Clark Heritage Council is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, established in 2023, to advocate for the preservation and protection of the architecture and other historic resources in the Fort Clark National Register Historic District for the benefit  of the visiting public and future generations, providing for the advancement and strengthening of heritage tourism initiatives by growing recognition of and visitation to the Fort Clark Historic District and being committed to endorsing and promulgating the rich history of Fort Clark by expanding upon related educational and research efforts. Find this article and more online at  KinneyCountyPost.com