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Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains and West » North Central Texas » Stamford to Ballinger » Anson and Vicinity (Jones County) » Fort Phantom Hill

Fort Phantom Hill

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1851–1854. 10818 FM, 20 miles southeast of Anson

The earliest settlement in this region, the fort and a subsequent town, consisted largely of jacales with stone chimneys. Established by the U.S. Army in 1851 and known as the Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos, the post was abandoned in 1854 and used from 1858 until 1861 as Way Station Number 54 on the Butterfield Overland Mail route. After the Civil War, settlers used the site as a market for bison hides, a stopping place on the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail, and a subpost for Fort Griffin (FC1). The settlement was the temporary county seat of the new Jones County for five months in 1881, but the railroad bypassed the area, giving Anson the preference. The privately owned property was deeded in 1997 to the Fort Phantom Foundation to ensure its preservation. Only a stone magazine, guardhouse, and a haunting stand of megalith-like stone chimneys remain in the open landscape.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

Related Essays

FEDERAL FORT PLANNING IN TEXAS: HISTORY

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Fort Phantom Hill", [Abilene, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-SB11.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 302-302.

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