Grierson Spring

Duane's take

This one comes straight from the marker record, and I'm gonna do it justice. Out here in Reagan County, there's a spring that carries a name, and that name carries some history with it. Grierson Spring.

Let's talk about it. It started life as a stage stand, sitting on the route between Fort Concho and Fort Stockton. From 1875 to 1882, coaches would roll through, dusty and bone-tired, and this spring was part of what kept that route alive.

Then, on April 30th, 1878, it became something more official. An outpost. Established to serve Fort Concho, giving the Army a foothold out here in this wide, open stretch of Texas.

Now, the spring carries the name of General Benjamin H. Grierson. He commanded the Federal troops in this region, and the marker is precise about it: from April 23rd, 1875, to July 20th, 1882.

That's the man the spring honors. And 1882 is when the story of this place as a military post comes to a close. It was abandoned that year, the soldiers gone, the stage route behind it.

But the spring stayed. And so did the name. Some things out here in West Texas just refuse to be forgotten.

What the marker says

Established as an outpost to Fort Concho, April 30th, 1878. Stage stand on the Ft. Concho to Ft. Stockton route, 1875-1882. Named in honor of General Benjamin H. Grierson who commanded the Federal troops in the region, April 23, 1875, to July 20th, 1882. Abandoned as a military post in 1882.