Fort Lancaster - SH 290 near Sheffield, TX
N 30° 39.560 W 101° 41.611
14R E 241904 N 3394943
In the early days of the OST, travelers would have come over Lancaster Hill and spied the ruins of Fort Lancaster, which protected traffic along the Old San Antonio-El Paso Road from the 1850s-1870s.
Waymark Code: WMTW10
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/12/2017
Views: 2
Today, Fort Lancaster is a state historic site operated and interpreted by the Texas Historical Commission.
From the 1910s-mid-1930s, OST travelers would have experienced the site of Fort Lancaster as an interesting and mysterious bunch of ruins and few gravestones spied either from Lancaster Hill or from along the OST.
The site of Fort Lancaster was on private property from 1870-1965, and would have been fenced to keep livestock from wandering. Therefore, we doubt that OST travelers would have been doing much exploring there, but if Mama Blaster was an OST traveler in the 1920s, she'd have climbed over the fence. Just sayin'.
As part of the 1936 Texas Centennial, the state of Texas commissioned several styles and sets of markers to commemorate the different aspects of the history of Texas. One of these categories of markers preserved military and forts history, and one was placed along the OST at Fort Lancaster Road, the historic turn-off from the Old San Antonio-El Paso Road to the fort.
Travelers along the OST after 1936 would no longer have wondered what all those ruins were -- they had a historic marker to tell them:
"RUINS OF FORT LANCASTER
"Established in 1855 by the United States Government as a protection to travelers and mail on the overland route from San Antonio to San Diego. Abandoned in 1861. Reoccupied in 1868 for a short time.
Erected by the State of Texas
1936"
That marker was moved off the OST and relocated inside the fort in the 1960s, when the site of Fort Lancaster was deeded to the state. It still stands today in the center of the fort.
Submission Criteria:
Distinctive or Significant Interest
Website with More Information: [Web Link]
Address of Waymark:
SH 290 east of the Pecos River
Sheffield, TX USA
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Visit Instructions:
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