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FORT
DAVIS, TEXAS
Jeff Davis County Seat, West
Texas
Hwys 17 & 118
36 miles S of I-10
21 miles N of Marfa
26 miles N of Alpine
Population: 1,050 (2000)
Fort
Davis Area Hotels:
Alpine Hotels |
| | Ft.
Davis and its Buildings c. 1950
Photo Courtesy TXDoT |
History in a Pecan
Shell
The county, town and fort were all named after Jefferson Davis, although
the county had originally been Presidio County. Fort Davis was named prior
to Davis' term as President of the Confederate States. As U.S. Secretary
of War - Davis signed the order establishing the facility and was thus honored.
Originally the site of the fort was an Indian camp. A stage stop was
set up in 1850 for the mail route between San
Antonio and El Paso with
a man named Diedrick Dutchover in charge. The Fort was formed in 1854
to billet the troops needed to patrol and protect the area from Apaches.
During the Civil War, the Confederate Army left Diedrick in charge of the
fort, but he and his party were attacked by Apaches.and forced to abandon the
place. In 1867, The Ninth U.S. Cavalry reoccupied the fort and the town
experienced new growth as an important West
Texas crossroads.
Ft. Davis had only 500 people in 1894,
but the population remained between 700-1,200 for decades. Various plans to develop
Ft. Davis as a tourist destination have failed over the years - not because they
were bad ideas - but because of the deaths of the would-be developers. One such
plan was instrumental in getting approval of Ft. Davis as a National Historic
Site in 1961. |
[Fort Davis] is literally
a “mile-high”, the environment holds a distinct juxtaposition to the rest of the
surrounding west Texas desert. While Marfa,
Marathon and Terlingua
all radiate an aura of dust and heat, Fort Davis
exudes a cooler, even floral animus; even in July a sweater is needed in the evenings.
However, even more interesting was the history of the place. The territory’s rich
climate has drawn human activity for, well, a helluva long time. The Native American
pictograms that adorn the rocks and cave walls throughout the area give evidence
of this.
The first American settlers began to drive their cattle into this
fecund land in the late nineteenth century, at the end of the American Civil War.
By the 1870s the violence that the Native Americans (mainly Mescalero Apache and
Comanche tribes) and the new settlers were hurling at each other warranted intervention
by the United States government. Military forts were established as protection
for the stage lines, the mail routes, the railroads and, of course, those early
settlers who chose to try to scrape out a living amongst all of the chaos that
permeated the territory. A peculiar lawlessness pervaded this section of the country
at this time. If you couple the inherent violence that persisted in the region
after the Civil war with the Indian “depredations”, the early residents had to
sacrifice personal safety for the quality of the land they had chosen. Clearly,
a military presence was needed if any claim to permanency was to be hoped for
or even expected.
Fort Davis, the actual fort, not the town, was garrisoned
twice; once ante bellum and then again, post bellum. It is the second effort that
is the more successful and historical. The famous “Buffalo Soldiers” completed
the second occupation of the fort. And, it is the person and family of Colonel
B.H. (Benjamin Henry) Grierson, the commander of the Tenth United States Cavalry
at Ft. Davis, who exemplify the renowned history of the territory... next
page
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Hotel Here >
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Jeff Davis County Courthouse. 1939 Photo courtesy TXDoT |
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Jeff Davis County Jail. Built at the same time as the courthouse (1910.) No historical
marker. Photo Courtesy Terry
Jeanson, Dec. 2005 |
Fort Davis Landmarks / Attractions include: Jeff
Davis County CourthouseOverland
Trail Museum : Former home of Nick Mersfelter, Barber, Justice of the Peace
and versatile musician. Many historical relics of early life in the area.
Fort Davis
National Historic Site: Est. in 1854 - deactivated in 1891. This was the main
Fort that garrisoned troops that patrolled the border from El Paso to San Antonio.
The post was abandoned during the Civil War and re-occupied by troops of the 9th
Cavalry. Museum. Open 9 to 5 daily except for major holidays.
Davis Mountains
State Park: 6 miles west of Ft. Davis on Park Road 3 off Hwy 118. 1,800 acres.
Chihuahuan
Desert Visitor Center: A must-see for the visiting naturalist. On Hwy 118,
3.5 miles south of Ft. Davis. 915-364-2499.
The
McDonald Observatory: Nearby, on top of Mount Locke (Altitude 6,800 ft.)
- 16 miles NW of Fort Davis. Managed and owned by the University of Texas. At
the bottom of the mountain. Visitor's Center open daily 9 to 5. 1-877-984-7827.Book
Hotel Here > Alpine
Hotels
The Chamber of Commerce: 432-426-3015
Website: www.fortdavis.com
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Overland Trail Museum
TE photo, 2000 |
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Fort Davis Masonic Lodge
TE photo |
First
Presbyterian Church in Fort Davis
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, 2005 |
Fort Davis Stories:
Hoxie's
Moxie by Mike
Cox ("Texas Tales" column)
Thirty-seven years after the Army abandoned
Fort Davis, a celluloid cowboy announced plans to convert the old cavalry post
into a motion picture colony and resort.... Flora’s
Tree by Mike
Cox ("Texas Tales" column)
The giant pecan, which still stands outside
Helen Bentley’s house in Fort Davis, grew from a sapling planted in 1873... Indian
Emily by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" column)
One of the most
romantic stories in the lore of the Old West originated at Fort Davis... In the
late 1860s, an Apache female fell wounded in a skirmish between cavalry troops
stationed at Fort Davis and her band.... |
| | Catilyn
Bailey
Courtesy Mr. and Mrs. Bailey
© 1996 Kermit Lancaster |
| Caitlyn Bailey was
a pioneer reenactor at the Fort. She and her brother Kyle (not pictured) would
remind visitors that there were children out west too. The photo was taken in
1996 by Kermit Lancaster who added that "….Caitlyn was a wonderful addition to
our visit to Fort Davis. My own daughters were 10 and 6 at the time. Caitlyn showed
them how to wash clothes "pioneer-style" in a washtub with lye soap and hang them
out to dry. It was great fun for the girls to perform that menial chore... once!"
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| | An
abandoned homestead near Ft. Davis
Photo Courtesy Patrick Cantrell |
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Fort
Davis Texas Forum
Subject: Naming Jeff Davis County
Dear TE, Just a note to correct a misstatement
by one of your correspondents on the Ft. Davis page. C. F. Eckhardt wrote on June
3, 2006, that Texas has the only county in the country named after the Confederate
president, Jefferson Davis. This is actually an error. *There
is a Jeff Davis County in Georgia (where else?!); the town of Hazelhurst is the
county seat (it's in Southeast Georgia).
I ran across Texas
Escapes more or less by chance (I was searching for the Texas Cowboy Poetry
Gathering website at the time), and I immediately bookmarked your production.
It is a wonderful resource for those who are interested in Texas, its people,
its geography, and its history. I am not a Texas native, but two of our four daughters
are--and they are quite proud of that fact. My wife and I spent three quite enjoyable
years in Austin while I earned my
Ph.D. in English at the University of Texas ("Hook 'Em, Horns!"). I look back
on my days in Texas as among the best three years
of my life. (I'm now a retired college English professor.)
Thank your
for the effort you have put into making Texas
Escapes such a good [magazine]. - Cordially, Rick Thurman, (Dr. William
R. Thurman, Jr.),Thomaston, Georgia, August 28, 2007
Subject:
Naming Jeff Davis County
Fort Davis, the military post, was originally named for then-Secretary of War
Jefferson Davis, who expanded the army & for the first time started calling Regular
Army horse soldiers cavalry. Up to then they'd been dragoons & mounted rifles.
After the War Between the States, when the US Army reoccupied Fort Davis, it was
announced that the post would no longer be Fort Jefferson Davis, but Fort Edmund
J. Davis. E. J. Davis, the reconstruction governor, was probably the single most
hated man in Texas at the time. Therefore, when the county was split off from
Presidio County, the people voted to name it 'Jeff Davis County,' restoring the
name of the original fort. As a result, Texas has the only county in the country
named for the Confederate President*--and the only
county in the world named for Ireland's patron saint--San
Patricio. - C. F. Eckhardt, June 03, 2006
Turnstiles
on Court House Grounds
Around 1993 when I had taken a group to the Big Bend and we stayed at the Prue
Ranch, I asked one of the local citizens about the turnstiles on the Jeff Davis
Court House grounds. She informed me that they were placed there to keep the burros
out. Originally, trade between the US and Mexico was conducted by traders using
the burros as pack animals to carry the trade goods. When the burros were replaced
by wagons, the traders let the burros run loose. The burros made the court house
grounds part of their home. They became such a nuisance that the locals built
the fence and the four turnstiles around the court house to keep them out. - John
Gibbs, March 25, 2006
Subject:
The McDonald Observatory
There is one telescope here that’s owned by 5
universities, but not the whole complex. Everything here is managed and owned
by the Univ. of Texas. Also, if anyone wants more information about the new Visitors
Center here, they can check our website at http://McDonaldObservatory.org or call
our toll free information line at 1-877-984-7827. Enjoyed your site! Thanks. -
Mark Cash, Public Affairs Specialist, U.T. McDonald Observatory, September
28, 2002 |
| Do
you know where this gas station in the Davis Mountains was?
Photo courtesy
Nancy McVickar |
Do you know where this gas station in the Davis Mountains was?
My Grandparents
owned a gas station at Davis Mt., Texas (see photo). Would you or any of your
readers know the address of this station? I doubt it is still standing. The photo
which was in my grandmother's photo album belongs to my cousin who was planning
a trip out that way in mid-September and doesn't recall the address or the highway.
She spent some time with our grandparents there when she was a little girl when
they were running the station. Any information would be appreciated. Thank you.
- Alysia (Meyers) Hargus, August 26, 2004
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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