DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Now if you want to talk about firsts, here's one worth pullin' over for. The very first plot of land to be cultivated in all of Tom Green County — and whoever broke that ground had grand ambitions from the start.
The year was 1868, and a man named J. C. Marshall — Jake, to those who knew him — set his sights on a stretch of West Texas frontier and saw something most folks would've called nothing but rock and wind.
Jake Marshall was an astute real estate promoter, and he developed a tract of two thousand three hundred acres. The plan? A German colony.
And the name they gave it tells you exactly what spirit they were reachin' for: Bismarck Farm, named for Otto Von Bismarck — the strong-willed Iron Chancellor of Germany himself — who was risin' to power right around the time the farm got its start. Now, think about what it meant to farm out here in 1868. The frontier was no polite place.
The marker calls it Indian-infested, and the nearest reliable customer wasn't a market town — it was Fort Concho, a U.S. Army outpost. Every vegetable, every bit of forage grown in those early years went straight to the fort.
That was the whole operation. And the farmhouse they built — also around 1868 — was not some modest affair. Twenty-two-inch stone walls.
The front building served as a residence. The rear one? A shed for the horses of the Ben Ficklin Stage Line.
This place was woven into the bones of the frontier. In 1872, Marshall sold the farm — the first in what the marker calls a long line of owners, among them some of the best-known citizens of the area. Over the years, crops were diversified and more forts were served.
The land has since been divided into smaller tracts. But here's where that stubborn stonework earns its keep. In 1882, a disastrous flood virtually leveled the nearby town of Ben Ficklin.
Virtually leveled it. And during that flood, the roof of the Bismarck farmhouse saved several persons. Those twenty-two-inch walls weren't just architecture — they were shelter when the water came for everything else.
The house survived that flood. It survived heavily damaged by fire in 1954, was repaired and modernized somewhat afterward — and still, the marker says, it looks much as it did in the nineteenth century. First cultivated ground in Tom Green County.
Named for an Iron Chancellor. Built to last — and it did.
What the marker says
First plot of land to be cultivated in Tom Green County; projected as a German colony and named for Otto Von Bismarck, the strong-willed "Iron Chancellor" of Germany who was rising to power when this farm was started in 1868. J. C. (Jake) Marshall, first owner and astute real estate promoter, developed the 2,300-acre tract. In early years, the entire crop of vegetables and forage was sold to Fort Concho, a U.S. Army outpost on the Indian-infested frontier. The farm house complex, also built about 1868, has 22-inch stone walls. The front building was originally used as a residence and the rear one as a shed for horses of the Ben Ficklin Stage Line. In 1872 the farm was sold to the first in a long line of owners, among whom were some of the best-known citizens of the area. Over the years, crops were diversified and more forts served. Since then, the land has been divided into smaller tracts. In 1882 the roof of the sturdy farm house saved several persons during the disastrous flood which virtually leveled the nearby town of Ben Ficklin. Although heavily damaged by fire in 1954 and later repaired and modernized somewhat, the house looks much as it did in the 19th century. (1968)