DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Kinney County, at a place called Fort Clark, the story of feeding soldiers starts about as humble as it gets, men gathered around open fires along Las Moras Creek, near the spring, making do with what they had. No roof over their heads, no walls to cut the wind.
Just fire, creek, and sky. Now that's a long way from fine dining, but it was the beginning of something. Come 1886, Fort Clark got serious about the business of keeping its enlisted men fed.
Nine kitchens and mess halls went up that year, one to serve each company of enlisted men. Eight of those nine buildings are still standing today, and the one this marker belongs to is among them. Think about that.
A building raised in 1886, still here, still telling its story. It's built from locally quarried limestone, stone pulled right out of this same Texas earth, set on a pier and beam foundation, with double hung windows, masonry openings spanned with timber lintels, and two chimneys. Two chimneys, because out here you needed one for cooking and one for heating, and some days you needed both working hard at the same time.
Over the years, the old mess hall didn't stay a mess hall forever. It found new lives, day rooms, unit offices, supply storage, arms storage. A building that once smelled of woodsmoke and soldiers' coffee eventually became a place of paperwork and provisions.
But those limestone walls held through all of it. From open fires along Las Moras Creek to a building that's outlasted almost everything around it, that's Fort Clark, still standing its ground.
What the marker says
The earliest mess arrangements for soldiers at Fort Clark were around open fires along Las Moras Creek near the spring. This building is one of Fort Clark’s eight remaining kitchens and mess halls out of nine built in 1886 to serve each company of enlisted men. It is built with locally quarried limestone and features a pier and beam foundation, double hung windows, masonry openings spanned with timber lintels, and two chimneys for cooking and heating. The building was later used for varied administrative purposes, including day rooms, unit offices, and supply and arms storage.