{"nrhp_refnum":"71000928","name":"Fort Lancaster","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"10 mi. E of Sheffield on U.S. 290","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sheffield","county":"Crockett County","state":"TX","lat":30.666430737500065,"lon":-101.69650591450193,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-03-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Ruins of a 19th-century military fort on the east side of Live Oak Creek in the Pecos River Valley, about 10 miles east of Sheffield, Crockett County, Texas. The fort was first occupied in August 1855.","why_significant":"Fort Lancaster was one of a series of forts built along the western Texas frontier to protect settlers and travelers going between Texas and California. It sat at the Pecos crossing on the Lower Road between San Antonio and El Paso, used by the stage. It is significant for its military and transportation roles.","narrative":"Fort Lancaster is a ruined frontier military post in the Pecos River Valley of Crockett County, Texas, about 10 miles east of Sheffield. Established in August 1855, it was one of several forts built along the western Texas frontier as settlement spread. Its job was to protect settlers and travelers heading between Texas and California, and it guarded the Pecos crossing on the Lower Road between San Antonio and El Paso, the route used by the stage. Early buildings were crude portable shelters, but by 1860 most were stone or adobe. The Federal post was abandoned in 1861 when Texas seceded, served briefly as a Confederate garrison from December 1861 to April 1862, and was reactivated in 1871 as a sub-post during the Kiowa-Comanche uprising. It was abandoned for good around 1873 or 1874. Today the remains include ruins of 29 buildings, a lime kiln, a cemetery and trash dumps, with some walls six to ten feet high and a prominent barrack chimney. The state now owns the site.","period_of_significance":"1855-1860","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Stands in ruins on state-owned land; a museum had recently been built and was about to open as the site was being developed.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.983129-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/7/9716/40971607/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/71000928.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000928/2c18541615-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000928/2c18541615-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Sketch by a government draftsman","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_lancaster_1861.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sketch by a government draftsman</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_lancaster_1861.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971607","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lancaster","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5471452"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/crockett-county/fort-lancaster-71000928/"}