Fort Concho - Building The Fort

Building The Fort

During its 22-year existence as an active Army fort, Concho mainly served to protect frontier settlers, stagecoaches, wagon trains and the United States mail, and maintain trade routes. Several successful campaigns against the Comanches were launched from Fort Concho. In addition, the post played a pivotal role in the suppression of illegal profiteering between the Mexican and American traders known as Comancheros.

The initial site for Concho was abandoned after the expenditure of $28,000 to prepare the land for future construction. Pecan wood was first considered as the building material, but it was found to have been too hard and unmanageable. Adobe bricks were then used, but the soldiers lacked experience with that material. Soon their work was melted away by heavy rains. Finally, sandstone from nearby quarries was used to build Concho, but there were no stonemasons available. Therefore, private German contractors were recruited from Fredericksburg, the seat of Gillespie County in the Texas Hill Country to the south. The masons anchored the sandstone with pecan wood beams and rafters. Construction continued for the entire existence of the fort, and it was deactivated before it was ever actually completed. It consisted of forty buildings on 40 acres (160,000 m2).