MONOGRAPHS OF KINNEY COUNTY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE: Fort Clark's Quartermaster Corral

The Quartermaster corral was the hub of quartermaster activity for the post. This once four-sided corral served as the principal location for post quartermaster transportation assets and activities. Beginning in 1885, each post was required to report QM Department “means of transportation” on a monthly basis. In that year Fort Clark averaged: 28 army wagons; 6 escort wagons; 3 spring wagons; 140 draught mules; 20 pack mules; 3 water wagons; and 10 carts. All of this government property was kept and maintained in the QM corral. In charge of the corral was the post quartermaster, usually an officer detailed from the garrison regiment, assisted by the post quartermaster sergeant, a permanent party soldier of the Quartermaster Department. The workforce was primarily civilians employed by the QMD: a clerk, a forage master, a wagon master, wheelwrights, teamsters, mule skinners, and blacksmiths.

This complex replaced the antebellum quartermaster corrals which were located on the north side of Las Moras creek in the open area between Rendezvous Park and the main gate. The 1883 post map identifies a square compound as “QM Stables and Corral.” The enclosure had a low stone wall on the west side anchored on the south end by a square stone building which served as the corral office. Another stone wall ran along the south side with a square stone storage building on its east end. Post maps over time indicate the north and east elevations may have had similar stone walls but they are now gone.

Of particular potential archeological interest is the post map of 1915 which clearly shows two storage buildings at the south corner (one has survived), a building on the east corner labeled “saddler shop,” and a building just outside the corral on the same east corner which on other maps is identified as “laundress quarters.” Just another example which reinforces the opinion of a National Park Service archeological survey supervisor who observed, “There are enough sites at Fort Clark to keep a team of archeologists busy for ten years.”

In his 1981 Fort Clark Historic District Preservation Plan, Killis P. Almond, Jr. recorded the following description and opinion of the site:

This general area is composed of abandoned buildings and ruins which include portions of the original horse corral and fort compound constructed between 1852 and 1860. [Note: During the period 1852-1860 nothing existed on this site! Mansfield’s sketch map drawn 30 November 1860 during his inspection of the post locates all corrals on the opposite or north side of Las Moras Creek.] The original south and west walls remain, are constructed of rubble limestone, and have been capped by a continuous concrete coping. This coping presumably was added during the twentieth century and supported a wood frame superstructure. Several small openings are located in the west wall which appear to be loopholes. But more likely were air vents into now demolished stock sheds. [Note: these “loopholes,” which originally held rafters to support shed roofs, brought on the totally false identity of the site as the “old fort.”] The north and south walls were originally palisado and are not remaining. Several small stone structures remain and construction dates are undetermined.

Building 1-A is a single story limestone structure with a square plan and gable roof. [Note: The 1915 post map identifies Building 1-A as the corral office and the compound as the “Q.M. Corral.”] Original construction was a simple shed which was historically altered by adding upper courses of pitch faced limestone to enable the placement of a gable roof. The gable end is wood frame construction with horizontal wood siding. The southwest corner has a stone chimney flue which originally vented an interior stove. Windows are spanned flat with wood timber lintels and further investigation is needed to determine historic sash types. On the north wall the building has been extended with a wood frame addition sheathed in corrugated metal. The existing roof is corrugated sheet metal. [Note: This wood frame addition no longer exists.]

Building 1-B is a one story limestone structure with a square plan and hipped roof. This building evolved in the same manner as Building 1-A; where the original common faced limestone walls were coursed upwards and covered with a new roof. The west, south, and east walls each have a small window spanned with timber lintels. The north wall has a door which faces Building 1-C. Building 1-B has a hipped roof of corrugated sheet metal which replaced an earlier wood shingle roof. At the northeast corner is a stone impost gate which projects from the corner. The interior has a deteriorated wood floor which covers an earlier stone floor. [Note: Building 1-B is identified on the 1915 post map as a store room. It is now in an even more advanced state of ruin and neglect. The roof is now deteriorating asphalt shingles.]

Building 1-D is a small one story structure with a square plan, stuccoed structural clay tile walls, and concrete roof. This structure dates from the early to mid twentieth century [WWII construction] and is not shown in the plates. There is a concrete vehicle maintenance ramp located near the center of the compound [grease rack, incised dated 1942]. Along the northern edge of the compound there are foundation ruins which consist of concrete piers and several small concrete slabs. Two large concrete slabs are located to the east of the area outside the compound. 

Sadly today the historic QM Corral, a potential Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, often serves as an unsightly embarrassing dump site for the Fort Clark Springs Maintenance Department. This should never be allowed to happen in our National Register Historic District, but then again there needs to be someone in charge who genuinely cares about our history and who enforces higher standards.

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