New Cavalry Barracks

NEW CAVALRY BARRACKS

The earliest quarters for soldiers at Fort Clark were tents along Las Moras Creek near the spring. During the forts 1870s building boom, stone cavalry barracks were constructed, but by the late 1920s. They had become too deteriorated for continued use. Three two-story stone cavalry barracks were constructed in 1931-1932 two replace the three barracks that were razed. This new, fourth barracks was constructed on the site of the first post Commissary which had burned in March, 1892, leaving the site vacant for 40 years. When the building was completed, it contained state-of-the-art facilities, including three 30 by 60-foot open bays for bunks and wall lockers, a mess hall, troop offices, supply and arms rooms, and a latrine. The building was so modern and impressive that it was singled out in order to justify the retention of Fort Clark as a permanent military post.

The first occupants of the barracks were the soldiers of “F” Troop, 5th US Cavalry. In 1941 the 5th Cavalry left the post and the barracks were used by the 112th Cavalry of the Texas National Guard. The Buffalo soldiers of the 9th Cavalry, African-American troops, moved into the barracks in fall, 1942. Lastly, for the remainder of World War II, the barracks are occupied by 182 African-American enlisted women of the Women's Army Corps Detachment of the 1855th Service Unit.

The two-story rectangular plan barracks is built atop a raised concrete basement. Loadbearing walls are of limestone web wall construction, with cast stone windowsills and steel lintels. The main elevation is divided into 15 days by square wooden columns, with a cross braced railing across the second-story porch.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2009