Fort Griffin

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

From the record

“Fort Griffin, now a Texas state historic site as Fort Griffin State Historic Site, was a US Cavalry fort established 31 July 1867 by four companies of the Sixth Cavalry, U.S. Sturgis, in the western part of North Texas, specifically northwestern Shackelford County, to give settlers protection from early Comanche and Kiowa raids.”
Wikipedia article Fort Griffin, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 5 National Register listings published here for Shackelford County · listed in 1971 · category: Site.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. 15 mi. N of Albany on U.S. 283, Albany, 76430
When was it listed? March 1971
Category. site
Census division. Albany
National Register reference number. 71000962 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

26 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 26 fires within 5 miles of Fort Griffin between 2005 and 2012, burning about 3,465 acres in total. 7 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Equipment and vehicle use	9
Natural	7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	6
Power generation/transmission/distribution	2
Debris and open burning	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
6 September 2005	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	not named
30 August 2006	Equipment and vehicle use	12 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	not named
18 August 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	not named
12 August 2010	Power generation/transmission/distribution	40 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	CALDWELL
12 August 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	100 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	CALDWELL # 2
11 August 2006	Equipment and vehicle use	2.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	not named
11 August 2006	Natural	30 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	not named
6 July 2012	Natural	100 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	COUNTY ROAD 295 FIRE

Every fire recorded in Shackelford County

Storms near this property

60 of 137 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Albany, the town this property stands in, in 137 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 75 hail, 43 thunderstorm wind, 10 tornado, 4 flash flood. The reports record 1 death. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
April 2002	Flash Flood	Albany	1 killed, $3,000,000	Storms remained nearly stationary producing 8 to 12 inches of rain in and around the Albany area. The deluge produced significant flooding in Albany. The hardest hit areas were on the north and west parts of town. The North Hubbard Creek and Gourd Creek came out of their banks. More than 100 homes were damaged or destroyed due to the flood.
April 2004	Hail	Albany	$800,000	Large hail damaged roofs and cars in Albany.
April 2004	Hail	Albany	$400,000	Albany was hit again by another hail storm that produced significant damage to homes and businesses. Windows were broken all through the town.
April 2004	Hail	Albany	$100,000	no account filed
September 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$100,000	no account filed
October 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$50,000	Twenty-two power line poles were destroyed by high winds.
August 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$50,000	no account filed
April 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$40,000	Trees were blown down, metal buildings were destroyed, and roofs were damaged by high winds.
June 2004	Hail	Albany	$20,000	Baseball size hail damages homes and automobiles.
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$10,000	Several rounds of strong winds from severe thunderstorms moved through Albany. Numerous reports of power lines and trees downed. The highway department reported several road signs twisted.
May 2003	Tornado (F1)	Albany	$10,000	This tornado ripped roofs off of barns, destroyed part of a barn, and snapped a few trees.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$8,000	Lots of damage to trees and power lines in Albany.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$7,000	The severe thunderstorm winds in Albany blew shingles off of roofs, and the intense winds also toppled telephone poles.
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$5,000	Another severe thunderstorm swept winds of 70 mph across the city of Albany for a third time in about two hours.
February 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$5,000	Strong winds lifted the roof from a storage shed, and caused damage to signs and trees.
September 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$5,000	no account filed
June 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$4,000	Power lines were downed as a result of strong thunderstorm winds.
June 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$4,000	Power lines were downed in the city of Albany.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$2,000	Telephone poles were blown down around Albany.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	$2,000	Numerous power lines blown down
April 1998	Tornado (F0)	Albany	$2,000	no account filed
April 2002	Hail	Albany	$1,000	Windows broken out of home from the hail.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	The West Texas Mesonet station near Albany measured a wind gust of 62 mph.
May 2025	Tornado (EF2)	Albany	-	A severe thunderstorm moved across eastern portions of Shackelford\|County late Sunday afternoon which produced a brief tornado about\|6 miles northeast of Albany, Texas, near County Road 109. The\|Shackelford County Sheriff sent photos of damage to several\|utility poles as well as damage to trees. Time of the tornado \|touching down is based on radar. The estimated maximum peak wind \|speed was 115 mph.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	A mesonet observation station reported a 58 mph wind gust.
June 2025	Hail	Albany	-	Public report of half dollar sized hail.
June 2025	Flood	Albany	-	A storm chaser reported street flooding in Albany. Time estimated from radar.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	A mesonet observation station reported a 66 mph wind gust.
April 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	The public reported a roof was blown off a house.
April 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Mesonet observation site reported 88 mph wind gust.
March 2023	Hail	Albany	-	There was a report of golf ball size hail near Albany.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Mesonet site reported a 58 mph wind gust.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	A West Texas Mesonet observation site recorded a wind gust of 66 mph.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	A West Texas Mesonet Station measured a wind gust of 81 mph.
May 2021	Flood	Albany	-	Texas Department of Transportation reported water over the roadway along many points on FM 1084 just outside of Albany.
May 2021	Flood	Albany	-	Texas Department of Transportation reported water over the roadway on southbound U.S. Highway 180.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	The public reported broken tree limbs on a residents property. The winds were estimated at 60 mph. The time was estimated using velocity data.
June 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Law enforcement estimated winds gusting to 60 mph.
September 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Law enforcement officials reported damaging thunderstorm winds blew tree limbs down and caused some roof damage in Albany. The thunderstorm winds also damaged a door at the courthouse.
September 2015	Hail	Albany	-	Quarter size hail was reported for three minutes along Texas State Highway 180. A total of 1.26 inches of rain fell in 21 minutes.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Fire Department/Rescue estimated thunderstorm wind gusts between 60 and 80 mph in Albany.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Law enforcement estimated a thunderstorm wind gust of 60 mph in Albany.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Law enforcement officials reported multiple tree limbs down. The largest tree limbs were five feet in length.
May 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	The fire department reported a large factory lost its roof. In addition, several very large trees and power lines were downed by the strong winds.
May 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	The sheriff's office estimated a 60 mph wind gust.
May 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	This thunderstorm wind was reported by law enforcement.
May 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Law enforcement reported a roof was torn off of a house and power lines were blown down on the north side of Albany.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Law enforcement reported a tree down in Albany.
May 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	A power line was reported down in Albany. The time was estimated by radar.
April 2008	Tornado (EF0)	Albany	-	A storm chaser reported a brief tornado about 4 miles northeast of Albany.
May 2006	Hail	Albany	-	The large hail stones damaged vehicle windshields in Moran.
April 2004	Funnel Cloud	Albany	-	A funnel cloud was spotted by members of the fire department near the airport in Albany. It does not appear the funnel cloud touched the ground.
April 2004	Hail	Albany	-	This is the second severe hail storm to hit Albany in just over an hour.
May 2004	Hail	Albany	-	Nickel size hail covered the ground at the Nail ranch.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	A trained spotter estimated up to 80 mph winds and three trees blown down by the high winds.
April 2002	Hail	Albany	-	Dime to quarter size hail fell for 15 minutes.
July 2002	Flash Flood	Albany	-	Shackelford County was on the northern fringes of an area of very heavy rains. There was some significant street flooding reported in Albany for a few hours.
February 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Albany	-	Winds estimated at 60 mph in Albany.
October 2001	Hail	Albany	-	Golf ball size hail reported in Albany in central Shackelford County.
September 1999	Hail	Albany	-	Baseball size hail was reported across the southwest portions of Shackelford County.

Every storm recorded in Shackelford County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Fort Griffin Brazos River Bridge	0.9 miles	1979
	State Highway 23 Bridge at the Clear Fork of the Brazos River	1.1 miles	1996

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 71000962 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Shackelford County	All 5 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.