Old Ringgold Barracks Hospital
Rio Grande City, Starr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Architecture Moorish; wide surrounding porches ornamented with 15' arches. Built according to plans of surgeon general. First occupied Nov. 25, 1870, and used for 75 years until post was inactivated in 1944. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The hospital at Ringgold Barracks on the Rio Grande was a striking piece of frontier military architecture β Moorish in style, wrapped in wide porches trimmed with fifteen-foot arches, and built to the surgeon general's own plans. First occupied in November 1870, it cared for soldiers for seventy-five years until the post was inactivated in 1944. It is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Why it matters
Border posts like Ringgold Barracks anchored the U.S. Army's long presence along the Rio Grande, and their hospitals tended troops through decades of frontier and wartime service.
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Nearby & related markers
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