Antelope Creek Ruins
Fritch, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Plains Village Native Americans occupied a series of interconnected rock dwellings near here from about 1200-1500. Called "Texas' first apartment house," the ruins have been the focus of numerous excavations through the years. Made of native dolomite, the rock and slab dwellings averaged about 12 feet by 15 feet in size with a single opening, a long crawlway, on the east side. Other rooms contained a central hearth under four roof-support posts, while smaller rooms were thought to be for storage. Adobe platforms may have been an altar for ceremonial purposes. The ruins are located near a branch of the Canadian River, providing a perennial source of water. The creek bottom soil of sandy loam allowed residents to harvest crops including corn, beans, squash and pumpkin. The semi-sedentary natives also hunted bison, antelope, deer, and small animals as evidenced by the bones and tools found at the site. Artifacts recovered include small arrow points, beveled and oval knives, bone implements, grinding stones, and cord marked ceramics. Considerable information on the artifact assemblage and village structure was gained from the Works Progress Administration excavations from 1938-41 and subsequent interpretive works in 1946. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
From roughly 1200 to 1500, Plains Village people built a cluster of interconnected stone dwellings above a branch of the Canadian River, dubbed by later observers "Texas' first apartment house." Fashioned from native dolomite slabs, the rooms centered on hearths ringed by roof posts, with smaller chambers for storage and possible ceremonial platforms. These semi-sedentary farmers raised corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins in the sandy creek-bottom soil while hunting bison and antelope, and WPA crews in 1938–41 recovered arrow points, knives, grinding stones, and cord-marked pottery that illuminate their way of life.
Why it matters
The Antelope Creek ruins preserve a rare glimpse of settled Native village life on the Southern Plains centuries before European contact, complicating the myth of the Plains as home only to nomads.
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Related events
- · Works Progress Administration excavations
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fifteen miles to the Site of the Battle of Adobe Walls
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Fifteen miles from this marker lies the site of the first Battle of Adobe Walls, fought on November 25, 1864, when Kiowa and Comanche warriors met U.S. troops led by Colonel Christopher 'Kit' Carson. Carson attacked the villages but, badly outnumbered, was forced to withdraw in what proved to be the famous scout and frontiersman's last fight. The clash was one of the largest engagements between the Army and the Southern Plains nations.
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In 1845, just as Texas was joining the Union, the U.S. government sent West Point topographical engineer Lt. James W. Abert and a 33-man party to map the Canadian River. Camping near this spot, Abert was visited by Kiowa who said they were at war with Texans but welcomed him once he proved to be an American, and his maps and notes on the river's geography and its native peoples became valuable to the young state and nation.
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