1873 Infantry Barracks
Brackettville, Kinney County, Texas
Marker Inscription
FORT CLARK BY 1873 HAD GROWN TO REGIMENTAL SIZE, COMPELLING CONSTRUCTION OF SIX SINGLE-STORY INFANTRY BARRACKS AND THREE TWO-STORY CAVALRY BARRACKS BY THE U. S. ARMY QUARTERMASTER DEPARTMENT. THIS ONE-STORY RECTANGULAR PLAN BARRACKS WAS BUILT OF COURSED RUBBLE LIMESTONE WITH A GABLE WOOD SHINGLE ROOF, STONE FIREPLACES, CENTRAL ROOF VENT AND SHED FRONT PORCH. THE OPEN INTERIOR HOUSED BUNKS FOR SIXTY-FOUR SOLDIERS WITH A SINGLE GUN RACK IN THE CENTER OF THE OPEN BAY. THE COMPANY BARRACKS FACED THE OFFICERS’ QUARTERS TO THE WEST ACROSS THE PARADE FIELD. TODAY THIS BUILDING IS THE BEST SURVIVING EXAMPLE OF ITS KIND AT FORT CLARK, AND ONE OF A HANDFUL OF INDIAN WARS PERIOD BARRACKS LEFT ON ANY POST IN THE NATION.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
By 1873 Fort Clark had grown to regimental size, prompting the Army to build six single-story infantry barracks and three two-story cavalry barracks. This coursed-limestone building housed bunks for sixty-four soldiers around a central gun rack, facing the officers' quarters across the parade field. Today it is the best-surviving example at Fort Clark and one of only a handful of Indian Wars-era barracks left standing at any post in the nation.
Why it matters
Surviving frontier barracks are rare physical records of the ordinary soldiers who garrisoned the West during the Indian Wars.
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