San Angelo: Fort Concho and Miss Hattie's Bordello

Fort Concho exceeded our expectations.  We have been to many forts in our travels over the years, some more fully restored than others. This one was incredibly restored, and the buildings were staged with many original pieces, pieces from the time period, or recreations of pieces.  We saw that guided tours were given for a nominal fee, so we decided to take it.  The guide said it would last about an hour, but it was two hours of incredible interest and fun. Our guide, Rocia, has a degree in history and was very knowledgeable.  Also taking a guided tour meant that she opened up every room for us to go in and explore instead of just standing outside a gate and staring at it.  We were very impressed.

The fort was established and operated between 1867 and 1889 to protect the bustling town of San Angelo from marauding Comanches and Apaches.  They left it once those tribes were no longer a threat.  The fort buildings were then sold and became stores and private residences, so over the years almost all of the limestone buildings remained intact. One officer's house and one enlisted men's barracks crumbled, but the rest remained.  In the mid-1900s a committee headed by one lady purchased them back and began restoration.  It is always amazing to see a town preserve its history.

Then we had lunch at Miss Hattie's, a restaurant in what was a bank.  There was a tunnel under the bank to the bordello a few doors down, so now the restaurant is themed as a bordello.  The actual bordello is a museum, so we went on a tour of that, too.  It operated from 1902-1952, so more modern than the fort.  There were plenty of bordellos along Concho Street when the fort was opened, too!  Miss Hattie lived to be over 100 years old and remained in San Angelo even after her bordello was closed down by the Texas Rangers.  When it was being restored as a museum, she was brought in as a consultant to get it right.  Because she had to get out quickly, many large pieces of furniture and all of the bed frames were left behind and are in the museum today.

We just had a marvelous time.  Then it was a 90 minute drive north to Abilene, where we are right now.  We are spending two nights in Abilene and hope to see two more forts and two museums before heading to Amarillo.

I got through eating lunch out two days in a row and still lost weight.  I made reasonable choices at the lunches and compensated for those calories by making good choices at dinner and bedtime.  This morning I am down another pound or so to 263.9, which means I passed my first milestone of 265.  WOW!  Now I need another milestone.  The next one is 255, which is what I weighed at Lowell's wedding in July of 2014.  I hope to hit that one before the end of August.

Looking at the exhibits in the Visitor Center as we waited for the tour to start

Rocia explaining how the six horses pulled the heavy artillery wagon

Enlisted men's barracks.  The bed frames were cast from the original molds, so they were the exact shape and size.  

We didn't think Mark would fit, but he did!  We were thrilled that the guide let him try it out.  The thin  mattress would have been stuffed with hay.  This one is not, but it is thin and just laying on a piece of wood.

Each barracks had its own mess hall behind it.

In the headquarters building.  

Front of the headquarters

Heading over to the hospital

One of the wards.  Other rooms in the building are not open but include another ward, a surgery, a pharmacy, the doctor's office, and his living quarters.

The school/chapel

The minister was both the teacher during the week and the preacher on Sunday.  Children at the fort went to school 9-3 every week day.  In the evening, enlisted men who could not read or write came to school.

Except for the General's house, all the officers' houses were duplexes.  Your rank determined how many rooms you were entitled to have.

The wives liked to have a proper Victorian parlor and tried to live a lifestyle of gentility even on the frontier.  Many had servants and nannies, but they had to share their assigned rooms with them.

This is a National Historic Landmark, so I got another stamp for my Passport.

Then off to lunch at Miss Hattie's.

There are many sheep ranches outside of San Angelo, so thee are sheep statues all over town.  San Angelo used to be a major supplier of wool.

The door to the upstairs museum.

The first room at the top of the stairs, one of two parlors where the men would wait.

This museum and the restaurant both had original tin ceilings.

An original sofa left behind my Miss Hattie when she got closed down.

All the bed frames are original, but nothing else in the room was here.  They have done a great job of collecting period pieces and staging each room.

The red fainting couch was in Miss Hattie's private parlor.  She left it behind, too. Originally, Miss Hattie and her husband bought this building with the intention of having a store on the first floor and living above it.  Shortly after, they bought it, they got divorced.  Miss Hattie got the upstairs living quarters and her ex-husband got the first floor store.  She turned the upstairs in to the bordello and moved to an apartment a few blocks down the road.

There were seven or eight bedrooms all together up there.  Very interesting tour.