{"nrhp_refnum":"66000824","name":"Fort Belknap","other_names":["Fort Belknap State Park"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 mi. S of jct. of TX 24 and 251","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newcastle","county":"Young County","state":"TX","lat":32.87400674850005,"lon":-98.74195099523995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1960-12-19","areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fort Belknap is a former US Army frontier post founded June 24, 1851, on the Brazos River near Newcastle, Young County, Texas. It is now a county park with one original 1852 arsenal and six reconstructed stone buildings.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Fort Belknap was the key post in the outer chain of Texas frontier forts, protecting settlers from Kiowa and Comanche raids between 1850 and 1865. It bore the brunt of the attacks and was the base for military offensives into Indian territory. It also served as a stop on the Butterfield Overland stage route and as a base for Red River exploration.","narrative":"Fort Belknap was a US Army post founded on June 24, 1851, beside the Brazos River in what is now Young County, Texas. It anchored a chain of forts meant to shield the Texas frontier from Kiowa and Comanche raids. Of the outer-ring posts, it took the heaviest attacks and launched expeditions into Indian homeland. Troops from the fort and the Texas Frontier Regiment used it through the Civil War. It also served as a Butterfield Overland stage station and as a base for Red River exploration in 1852. The army discontinued it as a permanent post in 1867 because of an unreliable water supply. Today it is a county park. The only original structure is the 1852 sandstone arsenal, now called the Chapel of Peace. The commissary, barracks, kitchen and corn house were rebuilt on original foundations in 1936 for the Texas Centennial. They now hold museums and a western archives collection.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific date 1851)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Operated as a county park with museums and archives, in cooperation with the Fort Belknap Society. Condition is rated good and excellent. The arsenal is original but reroofed, and the other structures are 1936 reconstructions.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.159682-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/9709/40970971/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/66000824_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000824/2249eb1b15-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000824/2249eb1b15-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"0ccam","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Belknap_Colonel_Young.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">0ccam</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Belknap_Colonel_Young.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40970971","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Belknap_(Texas)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5470794"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/young-county/fort-belknap-66000824/"}