Fort Graham was a pioneer fort established in 1849 by Brevet Major R.A. Arnold (Companies F and I of the Second United States Dragoons) at the site of Jose Maria Village, an Anadaca camp on the western edge of present-day Hill County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It remained in service until 1853, when settlements had moved further west. It was named after Col. William M. Graham, who died at the Battle of Molina del Rey. A line of seven army posts was established in 1848-49 after the Mexican War to protect the settlers of West Texas and included Fort Worth, Fort Graham, Fort Gates, Fort Croghan, Fort Martin Scott, Fort Lincoln, and

Fort Duncan Fort Duncan was a United States Army base, set up to protect the first U.S. settlement on the Rio Grande near the current town of Eagle Pass, Texas. History A line of seven army posts were established in 1848–49 after the Mexican War to protec ...

Reconstruction

In 1936, the Texas Centennial Commission granted Hill County $6,700 to purchase the land upon which the Fort stood and reconstruct one of the buildings.

US Army Corps of Engineers and Lake Whitney

In 1953, the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

took the fort site as part of the Lake Whitney project. Dr. S. Alan Skinner published, in 1974, ''An Evaluation of the Archaeological Resources at Lake Whitney, Texas'',

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , ...

contributions in anthropology No. 14. The Corps, in accordance with the 1936 dedication, operated a park on the site until 1982 at which time

Hill County, Texas Hill County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 35,874. Its county seat is Hillsboro. The county is named for George Washington Hill, secretary of war and secretary of the navy under the Republic ...

was forced to enter into a lease for the property or lose this culturally significant resource.

Preservation

In 1983, a group of local citizens led by Mrs. Selma Hill raised $15,000 to move the building, determined that the fort be preserved. At this time, the building was only three years from being eligible for the

National Register The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on its own merits, but the citizens were never informed of this. Had it achieved National Register status, the Corps would have been forced to take preservative action. The citizens of the county continued to maintain the site until 2002, when the corps came before the county demanding that a minimum of $60,000 be spent for the revitalization of the area. Hill County did not have sufficient funds, thus it relinquished the lease.

Fort Graham Preservation Society

The Fort Graham Preservation Society, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation established to ensure that the memory of Fort Graham is not lost. It is currently working with federal and county agencies to preserve and revitalize Fort Graham Park and archeological site.

References

External links