MONOGRAPHS OF KINNEY COUNTY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE: “Quartermaster Storehouse”

On Saturday, July 16, 1892, United States Secretary of War, Stephen B. Elkins, approved the plan for a new stone building at Fort Clark, Texas to replace one destroyed by fire earlier that year on March 31st and allocated $10,000 ($359,104 in today’s dollars) from the U.S. Treasury for its construction. The building was completed just four months later in November 1892. This massive two-story building with a partial third floor was built of regularly coursed square cut ashlar limestone with pitch-facing and featured segmented arch window and door lintels with pitch-faced voussiors (a wedge-shaped or tapered stone used to construct an arch) and tooled margins. In other words, superior stone craftsmanship by skilled masons. Pitch-faced stonework is a traditional and high-quality building finish where the face of each stone is hand-pitched by a mason to create a raised, textured, and bold surface. This technique uses a pitching tool to chisel away the edges, leaving a convex, textured center on the face of each block. This gives the finished masonry depth and a distinctive, hand-crafted look.

The builder was local master builder and stone mason James Cornell (1835-1900). Cornell was born in England and came to Kinney County in the 1860’s, where he established himself as a builder of sturdy stone buildings. He is credited with building the officer’s quarters and barracks at Fort Clark along with many of the public buildings constructed in the original town of Brackett in the 1870s. He later made himself into one of the town’s most prosperous merchants. His four daughters became the matriarchs of Kinney County’s most prominent families. James Cornell is the great-great-grandfather of Zack Davis. According to Zack, building the QM Storehouse at Fort Clark nearly ruined James Cornell financially.

This building is Fort Clark’s third Quartermaster storehouse. The first, a two-story stone building, was built in 1856 and stood where Dickman Hall is today. The second QM storehouse was a single story stone building, the one that was destroyed fire on March 31, 1892, which was located where Seminole Hall stands today. Our subject building remains the largest most prominent structure in the Fort Clark Historic District, as it was for the post in its Army days. Similar to the hospital plan the center of the building, which rises three-stories, housed offices for the post Quartermaster. The main floor wings where huge open warehouses and two second floor “garret rooms” or attics provided additional warehouse space. Foundation rooms included cold storage and added storage areas.

The QM Storehouse or Commissary not only stored property but also rations. Typically a post would keep on hand a three month supply of rations. Food attracts rodents and the Commissary had its share. There was a story published in The Centaur, the newspaper of the 112th Cavalry while at Fort Clark, which told the legacy tale of the Commissary cats. Seems between 1936 and 1940 there were at least four cats, most named Minnie the Mouser, written on a commissary wall is a list: Minnie II, five kittens on April 17, 1938; Minnie III, four kittens on May 25, 1939; Minnie IV, four kittens on April 19, 1940; and Nellie I, four kittens on October 10, 1941.

In 1981 preservation architect Killis P. Almond, Jr. wrote this evaluation of the building. This structure is by far the most architecturally significant building within the district and the greater area. The building was constructed with large square pitch-faced limestone laid up as regularly coursed ashlar. It has a long rectangular plan, with the long sides facing north and south. The walls rise to a two-story height and a partial third floor is located at the center. An expansive gallery is located at the south wall which follows the floor height and is constructed of solid chamfered wood columns. Wood jack braces are later additions. Doors are spanned by segmented stone arches and windows by flat stone lintels. Window sash are typically six-over-six, double hung and the doors originally were paneled with transom windows. All windows appear to have been originally barred. The roof is hipped at the third floor which acts as a shoulder for the second floor hip roofs.

At the second floor roofs, large gabled dormers rise from the eave line and are sheathed at the return walls with fishscale wood shingling. The roof is covered with wood shingles and the ridges have been recently covered with asphalt composition shingles in an effort to prevent leaking. The overall condition of the building is good although there are many local conditions which are severe. The south gallery has widespread wood deterioration and shows effects of past vandalism. Much of the lower portions of the walls have been repainted and parged with cement mortar. Windows are in poor condition and sashes are either in poor condition or completely destroyed.1

The building was featured in Paramount Pictures Arrowhead which was filmed at Fort Clark in 1953 during the Guest Ranch era. Now 133 years old the building has seen its share of remuddling by later civilian owners with replacement windows and doors, but its unique architectural qualities are still dominant. The building remains a classic example of the U.S. Army’s deliberate effort, at the close of the 19th century, to compete with civilian architecture in both style and character. A prime candidate for consideration and designation as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

1 All upper story windows were replaced with aluminum frame windows in the late 1980s. Although not at all historically correct, these windows have saved the building from any further damage.

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.