DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and Fort Davis has earned every word. Way out in the Davis Mountains, where the San Antonio-El Paso Road once cut through some of the roughest country in Texas, the U.S. Army planted a military post in 1854.
The community of Fort Davis grew up right around it, the way frontier towns do — close enough to feel protected, close enough to feel alive. Now, when Presidio County was organized in 1875, Fort Davis got the nod as county seat. Seemed settled.
Seemed permanent. Then 1885 rolls around and the county seat picks up and relocates to Marfa. Fort Davis, left without that particular distinction.
But here's where the story gets interesting — when Jeff Davis County was organized in 1887, Fort Davis was selected as a county seat all over again. Some towns just keep comin' back. By 1910, Fort Davis was ready to announce itself properly.
The county commissioned a new courthouse and a new jail — both of them, together, replacing an adobe courthouse and jail structure that had been doing the job since 1880, back when this was still Presidio County's show. Architect L.L. Thurman of Dallas drew up the plans for both buildings.
The Falls City Construction Company of Louisville, Kentucky, was contracted to build them. Now, what Thurman designed for the jail is something worth slowing down for. It's a one-story structure, built from pressed concrete block, plastered and scored to look like ashlar stonework.
And running along the top of all four exterior walls — a crenellated parapet. Battlements. The man gave a county jail in the Trans-Pecos actual battlements.
That wasn't vanity, either. It fit squarely in the tradition of fortress-style jails and prisons that had been popular across the United States throughout the nineteenth century. Step inside and you'd find four rooms: a front entryway and office, a kitchen, a jailer's bedroom, and the cell block taking up the entire rear of the building.
Modest in scale, deliberate in purpose. That jail held its original function for the better part of seven decades — right up until 1978, when the building no longer complied with current jail standards, and it was decided that sending prisoners to Marfa would be more economically sound. So Fort Davis lost its jail the same quiet, practical way the frontier lost a lot of things — not to fire or drama, but to a ledger sheet.
The county clerk's office moved in between 2002 and 2009, keeping the old fortress at least partially in service. A building that once locked people in, shuffling paperwork. Fort Davis has a long memory, and the walls — battlements and all — are still standing to prove it.
What the marker says
THE COMMUNITY OF FORT DAVIS GREW UP AROUND THE MILITARY POST OF THE SAME NAME, ESTABLISHED BY THE U.S. ARMY IN 1854 TO PROTECT TRAVELERS ON THE SAN ANTONIO-EL PASO ROAD. FORT DAVIS WAS DESIGNATED AS THE PRESIDIO COUNTY SEAT WHEN THE COUNTY WAS ORGANIZED IN 1875, BUT THE COUNTY SEAT WAS RELOCATED TO MARFA IN 1885. WHEN JEFF DAVIS COUNTY WAS ORGANIZED IN 1887, FORT DAVIS WAS AGAIN SELECTED AS A COUNTY SEAT. THIS JAIL STRUCTURE WAS BUILT IN 1910-1911 ALONG WITH A NEW COUNTY COURTHOUSE; THE TWO BUILDINGS REPLACED AN ADOBE COURTHOUSE AND JAIL STRUCTURE BUILT IN 1880, WHEN FORT DAVIS WAS THE SEAT OF PRESIDIO COUNTY. ARCHITECT L.L. THURMAN OF DALLAS DESIGNED BOTH THE NEW COURTHOUSE AND JAIL, AND FALLS CITY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, WAS CONTRACTED TO CONSTRUCT BOTH BUILDINGS. THE STRUCTURE IS A SMALL-SCALE EXAMPLE OF THE FORTRESS-STYLE JAILS AND PRISONS THAT WERE POPULAR IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE 19TH CENTURY. THE ONE-STORY JAIL BUILDING WAS CONSTRUCTED WITH PRESSED CONCRETE BLOCK WHICH WAS PLASTERED AND SCORED TO RESEMBLE ASHLAR BLOCKS. A CRENELLATED PARAPET TOPS THE FOUR EXTERIOR WALLS. THE INTERIOR IS DIVIDED INTO FOUR ROOMS, INCLUDING A FRONT ENTRYWAY AND OFFICE, A KITCHEN, A JAILER’S BEDROOM, AND THE CELL BLOCK THAT INCLUDES THE ENTIRE REAR PORTION OF THE BUILDING. THE JAIL RETAINED ITS ORIGINAL FUNCTION UNTIL 1978, WHEN THE BUILDING NO LONGER COMPLIED WITH CURRENT JAIL STANDARDS, AND IT WAS DECIDED THAT SENDING PRISONERS TO MARFA WOULD BE MORE ECONOMICALLY SOUND. AMONG OTHER TENANTS, THE COUNTY CLERK’S OFFICE OCCUPIED THE BUILDING 2002-2009.