One of the best preserved frontier forts in Texas, Fort Concho was built in 1867, by German craftsmen from Fredericksburg, to protect local settlers and pioneers moving westward on the overland trails. Remaining in service until 1889, it became the focus around which San Angelo grew up, and looks so much like a 19th-century residential neighborhood you could almost fail to recognize its military roots.
Restored buildings, arrayed around a grassy parade ground, include the Headquarters – now home to the Fort Concho Museum – plus a Museum of Telephony and the Post Hospital (look out for the tin of Dr Bandit’s Crotch Powder). Modern stables nearby hold displays on the Buffalo Soldiers, and some actual mules.
