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The former
Tom Green County Courthouse, later used as a school
Photo from old newspaper
clipping, no date or name of paper |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The short history of Ben Ficklin has many of the
elements that other counties have built legends upon. A county seat rivalry, a
rowdy frontier fort, friendship beyond the grave and a disaster that killed many
of the inhabitants - it sounds a little bit like a lot of places. If it was not
for the name Ben Ficklin sounding like a bearded hermit or a Charles Dickens character,
the town's story would be familiar to all Texans.
The Man Ben Ficklin
Born in 1827
and a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, Ficklin served as a Corporal
in the Mexican War. He helped establish stagecoach and mail routes across the
U.S. and was involved in the creation of the romantic (but short-lived) Pony
Express. He served Virginia during the Civil War where he became a European
purchasing agent after having served as the Virginia State Quartermaster. His
involvement in Texas started with his establishing a mail route from Ft. Smith,
Arkansas to California. He bought the land where the town Ben Ficklin would later
be. His untimely death in 1871 was the result of choking on a fishbone at a dinner
in Washington, D.C.
The Town Ben Ficklin
In 1868 Major Benjamin F. Ficklin bought 640 acres around a spring that supplied
Fort Concho with its drinking
water. This was about 5 miles South of the fort. As the population of the area
increased, a growing number of people wanted to distance themselves from the fort
and especially the saloons and "businesses" that catered to it. Since it is was
common knowledge that it was difficult for drunks to stagger more than 3 miles,
the decent element felt they were safe at the springs. It is reported that the
place was so tough that the officers of the fort would confine themselves to indoor
activities like board games and letter writing, rather than risk an after-dark
confrontation with the enlisted men.
The town throve as a stop on the
San Antonio to El
Paso Mail Route. Major Ficklin died (in the freak dining mishap previously
mentioned) in 1871 and left his interests to his friend F.C. Taylor. Taylor
moved the stage stop a mile away and filed an application for a post office with
the name of his friend and benefactor Ben Ficklin. It was accepted and Taylor
became the first postmaster. The town became the county seat in 1875 and Taylor
died four years later. |
| | "The
stage coach at Ben Ficklin.
Mr. F. C. Taylor sitting with the driver. Mr.
Taylor known as the father of Tom Green County"
Photo circa 1887, courtesy
Hiram Joel Jacques |
San
Angela (as the town across
the river from the fort was then known) thought that they should be the county
seat and they voiced their desire. The situation may have turned into one of Texas'
many "courthouse wars" but Mother Nature settled the feud. She arranged a flooding
of the local creeks and rivers on the night of August 24th 1882. The ground had
already been saturated from a rare wet summer and a wave of water hit the unsuspecting
town while everyone slept. Most of the town was washed away and 65 citizens -
more than 10% of the population - drowned.
With the demise of Ben Ficklin,
San Angela applied for a post office and was told that authorities in Washington
were appalled at their bad Spanish. The postal authorities would accept Santa
Angela or San Angelo, but not San Angela. And so San
Angelo came into existence, even though it was named after Carolina Angela,
the wife of land developer Bartholomew J. DeWitt.
Ben Ficklin Today
There is
a marker for Ben Ficklin four miles South of San
Angelo on Hwy 277, even though this is not the actual site (see letter
from Mr. Bill Green below).
© John Troesser |
The Historical
Marker is Not Where the Town Once Was
The town of Benficklin was not
located where the park is, and the proper way to spell the name of the town is
as one word, even though it was spelled both ways in the 1880s and since. I don’t
remember what the official post office name was. Francis Corbett Taylor was a
close friend of Ben Ficklin and supposedly said that he didn’t want anyone to
misunderstand which Ficklin the town was named for, so he spelled it as one word.
When
I was growing up during the 1950s, I lived on a farm south of San Angelo on the
Christoval Road, near Benficklin. We frequently drove around on Sunday afternoons.
My grandparents had rented the former site of Benficklin to graze cows during
the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, there were still some foundations located
on the land. A housing addition has been built on it now—in fact, the whole area
is covered with houses. It’s the low area along the river west of the granite
marker on the hill, on the west side of Benficklin Road. There is an old dam called
Metcalfe Dam on the South Concho immediately west of the town’s location. I once
drove Miss Mary Bain Spence, whose mother was a sister Charles B. Metcalife, down
a road into the area where the town was located and to Metcalfe Dam. There wasn’t
a house anywhere at that time, probably about 1970. Her mother had told her about
the town many times. The Metcalfe family lived at the stage station and some of
them drowned in the Benficklin Flood of 1882.
The Benficklin Stage Stand
was where South Bryant Throughway crosses the South Concho. In fact, part of the
site must have been destroyed to build the road. The marker for the stage stand
at Benficklin park was located in some trees near a public bathroom, west of the
Throughway by the road that crosses the old Benficklin Causeway. That was where
part of the stage stand was located, according to the late Penrose Metcalfe who
was the son of Charles B. Metcalfe. - Bill Green, Curator of History, Panhandle-Plains
Historical Museum, July 30, 2009 |
Ben
Ficklin Texas ForumIt
is with great interest that I recently read your article about Ben Ficklin.
In 1879, my greatgrandparents settled in Ben Ficklin and lived there until
the flood in 1882. After the flood, they established a ranch on Willow Creek in
the northern part of the county which later became Sterling City. Their names
were Thomas and Ann Blezard Brennand. |
| Thomas
Brennand
Photo courtesy Ann Brennand Martin Williams |
| | Ann
Blezard Brennand
Photo courtesy Ann Brennand Martin Williams |
They married
in England in 1862 and came to America. They lived in Wisconsin until 1879 when
they moved to Ben Ficklin. Thomas had a ranch and raised sheep and cattle. Thomas
was the first County Commissioner to represent Precinct No. 4 and was present
as a member of the Commissioners Court at its first sitting at the old Kildare
Ranch in 1891.
I do not know where Thomas was the night of the flood.
His son William Henry Brennand, who was my grandfather, was in Midland. When he
heard about the flood, he got on his horse and rode all night to see about his
parents and sisters. When he got to Ben Ficklin, he found his mother and sisters
sitting on the roof of their house. The only thing they were able to save was
a pan of yeast. I guess they knew if they survived they would need something to
make bread to eat.
His sisters names were Jennie and Annie Brennand.
I know this story is true because it was told to my father by Jennie who was one
of the girls. - Very truly yours, Ann Brennand Martin Williams, February 25,
2004 |
| | "My
great-great-grandfather, Tomas Jaques de Salazar (1800-1880), moved to Ben Ficklin
around 1871-72 with his family."
Photo courtesy
Hiram Joel Jacques | | My
late father's ancestors have deep roots in Ben Ficklin and Knickerbocker
history and also Tankersley.
My great-great-grandfather, Tomas Jaques de Salazar (1800-1880), moved
to Ben Ficklin around 1871-72 with his family.... - Hiram Joel Jacques San
Jose, CA , August 14, 2003 |
There's a house out there
used for the Stage Coach with stone walls 3 feet thick. Are there any online pictures
of that house? - Kelly A. Allison, June 02, 2004
Good
website. I am a decendent of Francis Corbett Taylor and Charles Metcalfe.
My mother, Mrs. Simms still owns the cemetery in which the bodies of family members
who drowned in the Ben Ficklin flood and from the original cemetery were interred.
Thank you for preserving history in this manner. - Margie E. Kiser, San Angelo,
14/Nov/2002
I was born in San Angelo on Feb 6 1955. I enjoyed reading the story on Ben Ficklin.
I went there many times as I was growing up, and we had a lot of family outings
there. My parents are buried in San Angelo and when I go to visit there graves,
I always make a trip to Ben Ficklin and remember the times we had there. I enjoy
the website. Thank you - Larry Kohutek, Grandview, Texas, 10/Mar/2002 |
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