{"nrhp_refnum":"76002059","name":"Fortin de la Cienega","other_names":["41 Ps 37"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"15 mi. NE of Shafter on Cienega Creek","address_restricted":false,"city":"Shafter","county":"Presidio County","state":"TX","lat":29.803735060000065,"lon":-104.21198610999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-10-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fortin de la Cienega is a quadrangular adobe ranch compound with living quarters, built around 1854 on the right bank of Cienega Creek near Shafter in Presidio County, Texas. It was built by Milton Favor.","why_significant":"It was one of three adobe fortresses built by Milton Favor, who established the presumed first Anglo-American owned ranch in the Big Bend region and became a wealthy cattle baron. The structure shows local responses to climate, culture and frontier hardship, and its west end keeps original vigas, transoms, floor and roof. Continuous occupation with little disturbance gives it archeological potential.","narrative":"Fortin de la Cienega is an adobe ranch compound on Cienega Creek at the base of Cienega Mountain, northeast of Shafter in Presidio County, Texas. Milton Favor, who came to Texas from Virginia in 1854, built it around that year as one of three quadrangular adobe fortresses; the other two, at Big Springs Cibolo and La Morita, are largely destroyed. Favor set up what is presumed to be the first Anglo-American owned ranch in the Big Bend region and became a wealthy cattle baron, selling beef to the Army and reservation Indians and sending herds up the trails to Kansas markets. The compound originally had a rectangular wall, living quarters along the south side, storerooms and two corner tower bastions, which have since been removed. Despite remodeling, the west end keeps its original vigas, transoms, floor and roof, and stone-walled corrals remain nearby. The property is still lived in and ranched, and long occupation gives it archeological potential.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Milton Favor","architectural_style":"Vernacular - adobe construction","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence and still ranched; the house has been remodeled and the corner tower bastions removed, but original adobe walls and roof construction remain.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.154469-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/22/9732/40973222/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/76002059.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973222","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107322804"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/presidio-county/fortin-de-la-cienega-76002059/"}