Fort McKavett is a
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
in
Menard County,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, United States that was occupied for a while by local Hispanics after its decommissioning as a fort until the 1970s. It lies at the intersections of
Farm to Market Road
In the United States, a farm-to-market road or ranch-to-market road (sometimes farm road or ranch road for short) is a state highway or county road that connects rural or agricultural areas to market towns. These are better quality roads, usually ...
864 and Farm to Market Road 1674, 20 miles southwest of the county seat,
Menard
Menard may refer to:
Places
Canada
*Menard River, a tributary of the Wawagosic River in Quebec, Canada
United States
* Menard County, Illinois
** Menard, Illinois
* Menard County, Texas
** Menard, Texas
* Menard–Hodges site, archaeological s ...
. Its elevation is 2,169 feet (661 m). It has a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
with the
ZIP code 76841.
History
The settlement of Fort McKavett had its 1850s origins as a civilian population just north of Camp San Saba in Menard County (not the Camp San Saba in
McCulloch County), with the name of Scabtown. Camp San Saba closed in 1859, and many residents fled to safer areas to be protected against Indian depredations. The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
reopened the outpost in 1869 as
Fort McKavett
The Fort McKavett State Historic Site is a former United States Army installation located in Menard County, Texas. The fort was first established in 1852 as part of a line of forts in Texas intended to protect migrants traveling to California. Th ...
. As the civilian population of Scabtown grew, the community was renamed after Fort McKavett, and the local economy began to thrive. The Army closed the fort in 1883, but the earlier relocation of native American tribes made the civilians feel safe enough to remain. The population grew, and with it an economy that supported two hotels, three churches, a newspaper, and a mattress factory. The population peaked at 150 at the beginning of the 20th century, but declined in the latter half of the century.
The writer
Robert E. Howard, a Texas history enthusiast, visited Fort McKavett in 1933, and wrote: "McKavett is fascinating - a village of ruins and semiruins, people living in the old unruined barracks and officers's quarters, among the remnants of other buildings which had not stood the test of time.
Notable people
*
Harry D. Thiers
Harry Delbert Thiers (January 22, 1919 in Fort McKavett, Texas – August 8, 2000 in Ohio) was an American mycologist who studied and named many fungi native to North America, particularly California. Thiers taught mycology at San Francisco St ...
*
E.B. Beaumont
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, dry summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system, Fort McKavett has a mid-latitude arid desert climate, ''BWk'' on climate maps.
Climate Summary for Fort McKavett, Texas
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Menard County, Texas
Unincorporated communities in Texas
Ghost towns in Central Texas