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At the present time
we are focused on two projects. The first major project was
initiated in November, 2004 when the Friends of Fort Davis received
a $200,000 matching grant from the Save America’s Treasures Program
sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This
grant will allow us to complete the restoration of the hospital’s
interior and open it to the public. The other project is the
protection of the view on the hillside behind Officer’s Row. That
property was in danger of being sold for a housing development that
would forever alter the original pristine view of this frontier
fort.
THE POST
HOSPITAL RESTORATION PROJECT
The 1876 Post
Hospital is the largest un-restored building at Fort Davis, and one
of the most architecturally significant buildings in the Southwest.
It consists of three connected units: two twelve-bed hospital wards
and an administrative unit which includes the surgeon’s office, the
hospital steward’s room, the dispensary, an isolation ward and
several other rooms. The buildings wide porches, breezeways and roof
ventilators were designed to facilitate air circulation in its two
hospital wards. When it was completed it was considered one of the
most up-to-date medical facilities in the Southwest; it was even
supplied with ice from a steam-powered ice machine. The adobe
building was stabilized by the National Park Service in the late
1960s, when the roof was replaced and the porches reconstructed.
PROTECTING
THE VIEW
The entire western viewshed of Fort Davis
National Historic Site (NHS) is protected by federal and State land
with the exception of a very prominent bluff that was recently
purchased by a private citizen from a seller who had indicated a
desire to develop the property. That bluff looms over officer’s row
which is the scene for which Fort Davis is best known. Any structure
on that bluff would greatly impair the sense of history the fort now
offers.
The private citizen who purchased the tract has no interest in
owning or developing the tract. Rather, he purchased the tract to
preserve the scenery behind Fort Davis. He wishes to sell to the
Conservation Fund as soon as possible with the ultimate goal of it
being added to Fort Davis NHS, Davis Mountains State Park or some
other conservation status.
United States Congressman, Ciro Rodriguez, introduced a
bill in May of 2008 that would permit Fort Davis NHS to acquire the
tract. Congressman Rodriguez was instrumental in getting the bill
passed through the U.S. Congress to authorize acquisition of the
land. The property is temporarily in the hands of a sympathetic
owner who will sell the land to Conservation Fund. The Conservation
Fund is teaming up with the Friends of Fort Davis NHS and the
National Parks Conservation Association to raise funds that will
permit the Conservation Fund to purchase the tract and donate it to
the National Park Service.
The entire character of the setting for the fort will be forever
altered if this bluff is not protected.
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