Fort Clark Historic District

Fort Clark is a former frontier army post on a mesa above Las Moras Creek at Brackettville, Texas. Founded in June 1852 to protect travelers along the old El Paso Road, it began as a cantonment of tents and temporary shelters. In 1857 orders were given to build permanent structures, and enlisted men working under skilled craftsmen from the San Antonio area raised most of the surviving buildings from local limestone. Officers' quarters, barracks, a commissary, a hospital and administrative buildings were arranged around a large parade ground. The earliest surviving building, the Lee Building, uses cedar picket palisade walls, while later structures show dressed, rough and rusticated stonework. Twentieth century additions include stone-veneered frame buildings from 1915 to 1930. After the fort closed in 1946 it became a hunting resort and then a residential resort community. Some alterations have been intrusive, but the district keeps the look of a 19th century cavalry station and reflects the Army's changing needs over ninety-four years.