Site of Shelton's Fort
Roxton, Lamar County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1837 Jesse Shelton (1782-1855) built a log house and stockade at this site. It served as a way station for pioneer travelers and a stronghold for settlers fleeing Indian raids. Shelton's Fort was designated a Republic of Texas Post Office in 1840. It was also the site of Methodist worship services. Shelton served on the committee to select the first Lamar County Seat and was one of the county's first justices of the peace. In 1851 George McGlasson bought the property. The settlement that grew up in this vicinity became known as McGlasson community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1837, as the young Republic of Texas pushed settlement into the Red River country, Jesse Shelton raised a log house and stockade here that doubled as a way station and a refuge for families fleeing raids on the frontier. Designated a Republic post office in 1840 and used for Methodist worship, Shelton's Fort anchored the earliest civic life of Lamar County, where Shelton helped choose the county seat and served as a justice of the peace. The settlement that gathered nearby later took the name McGlasson after the man who bought the property in 1851.
Why it matters
Fortified way stations like Shelton's were the fragile footholds of Anglo settlement on the Texas frontier, where a single stockade could serve as post office, church, and shelter all at once.
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Related people
- · Jesse Shelton
- · George McGlasson
Themes & tags
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