Fort Brown, Commissary & Guard House, May Street & Gorgas Drive vicinity, Brownsville

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS TEX,31-BROWN,10A-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Building 88 was constructed around as a commissary. After the Battle of Matamoros in June the building was used to hold Mexican insurgents as prisoners. It has a long history of adaptive re-use, having been remodeled first as a guard house, and then for Texas Southmost College as a chemistry building, and then as an art building. PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Dates of erection: According to a letter from Ralph C. Schmeling to Grace Edman dated January 25, the Commissary was built around or (Texas Historical Commission Files.) The Quartermaster1s Report gives the date as 2. Architect: The Departmental Office of the Quartermaster General of the Army was responsible for the architectural plans. It is referred to as "Standard Building Plan 106A." 3.

Original and subsequent owners: Building 88 is located on a tract of land in the Fort Brown Reservation at the edge of the city of Brownsville. Confusion surrounds the original title to Fort Brown, and negotiations for title dragged on from to In effect, the United States occupied the site for nearly forty years without acquiring title or paying rent. (Chatfxeld, p. The acquisi- tion of the land by the United States is still controversial in certain circles. After World War II, the United States disposed of much of the Fort Brown property through the War Assets Administra- tion, acting under the authority of the Surplus Property Act of (58 Stat. and W. A. A. Regulation No. 1. On April 20, the United States of America deeded two tracts of land to the Brownsville Independent School District.

(Deed Records, Vol. page 1 and following.) FORT BROWN COMMISSARY AND GUARD HOUSE, #88 HABS No. - (Page 2) In Texas Southmost College was a junior college under the jurisdiction of the Brownsville Independent School District. On November 22, the same two tracts of land were granted to the Southmost Union Junior College District by the United States of America, acting by and through the Federal Security Administrator, a and the Brownsville Independent School District. (Deed Records, Volume page 329 and following.) Deed Records can be found in the Cameron County Clerk's Office, Brownsville, Texas. 4. Building, contractor, suppliers: Not researched. 5.

Original plans and construction of the building: Naval and Old Army Records Branch, Record Group 92, Records of the Qartermaster General, correspondence National Archives and Record Service, Washington, D. C. The building was constructed of Mexican adobe brick and iron bars were placed on the windows to keep out thieves. (This is what made it suitable for a guardhouse later on.) Construction data given in the Quartermaster's Report(1942, Hunter Room, Brownsville City- College Library) entries from reads as follows: 1 1/2 story brick, with basement Walls - brick - 15" thick Interior Finish: 3" beaded ceiling, floor.

Ceiling - beamed - 3" Beaded Floors - wooden Floor - basement - cement 2nd story Attic- unfinished Roof - slate Foundation - brick Porch Foundation- brick piers and cedar posts Windows - 30. 3x6 Doors - 4 All windows and doors with iron gratings. The Quartermaster's Report also gives a total cost of for the building. (This data may or may not refer to the building as built, since other data in the report refer in some cases to the latest major renovation, in others to original construction.) 6. Alterations and additions: The plan in the Quartermaster's Report shows the building as it existed at the time the Report was written and shows the commissary building converted into a guard . house.

From the handwriting, it would appear that the plan was drawn between and This plan shows a 33' x 63' Storeroom and a x 33' Tool Room in the basement. The Storeroom is on the southwestern side and a solitary cell is shown in the eastern corner of this room. The first floor plan shows an open porch with shed roof (9' 6" x 351 Two 15' x 17' rooms are on the southwest wall, FORT BROWN COMMISSARY AND GUARD HOUSE, #88 HAE.S No. (Page 3) The western room Is labeled "Guard Room" and the southern, "Guard Office." Next to these rooms is a 19' 9" x 32' guardroom. A 9' 9" x 6' 6" gunrack room is located in the western, corner and a 5' x 5' lavatory in the eastern, corner* This guard room opens into a 33* x 48' cell room on the northeastern side of the building.

A 6' 6" x 8' 7" lavatory is in the eastern corner of this room and a 7' 10" x 61 1" room is in the norhtern corner. A stair to the attic is located along the northwestern wall next to the latter room. The second floor is listed as a 33' x 841 unfinished attic storeroom. The Quartermaster's Report shows that the building was repaired each year from to and again in It also shows fans and " plumbing were installed in and that the building was rewired in Kitchen fixtures were installed in A photograph of the building enclosed with the Guartermaster's Report shows the existing dormer window on the second floor and the two interior chimneys at either end of the building which have since been removed. It is not known when the building was remodeled to its present floor plan.

Texas Southmost College renovated it for chemistry labs in The following area distribution is taken from their Self Study: Faculty office 168 Sq. Ft. Laboratories (general) Chemical storage room 700 Balance rooms (2) 154 Development laboratory 527 Men's restroom 36 Women's restroom 46 Hallway 50 Instrument laboratory 100 Storage, third floor Plumbing Shop (basement) Brick walls, loading dock Total area Skylights were added when the second floor was converted to an art studio. B. Historical Events and Persons Connected with the Structure: Building #88 was originally part of Fort Brown, the earliest permanent fort in the State of Texas, but built during one of its later phases.

It was built as a commissary with a basement, main floor', loading plat- form, and attic* Iron bars were placed on the windows so that the build- ing could be both secure and well ventilated. FORT BROWN COMMISSARY AND GUARD HOUSE, #88 HABS No. (Page 4) The Commissary saw use as a guard house in. after the Battle of Matamoros. Prior to the. battle, the United States and some of the more powerful South. American, countries had tried to mediate in Mexico between the opposing forces of the Mexican government on the one hand, and its insurgent military leaders on the other.

On June 3, the Carranzistas (insurgents following Venustiano Carranzas who had allied himself with Obregon and Villa) under General Lucio Blanco, defeated the Mexican Federal troops at Matamoros, and 130 Mexican soldiers fled across the river to Brownsville and Fort Brown. Colonel Blocksom, the commanding officer at Fort Brown, fearing an international incident if there were trouble between any of his U. S. soldiers in the regular guard house, and the incoming Mexican soldiers, used the Commissary as a guard house for several weeks to hold the Mexicans. Building 88 presumably became the regular guard house after the original guard house fell into disuse. The Quartermaster's Report of lists it as a guard house with a capacity of fourteen prisoners.

(This would appear to refer to the cell area in the basement only, and not to the capacity of the entire building behind its barred windows.) In the Fort Brown Commissary and Guard house was renovated by Texas Southmost College for use as a Chemistry Laboratory, and more recently for use as an Art Building which houses studio space. C.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS TEX,31-BROWN,10A-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

1. Primary and unpublished sources: Files at the Texas Historical Commission, Austin, Texas. Quartermaster's Reports in the Hunter Room of the Brownsville City- College Library. These appear to date from and note changes in the Fort Brown Commissary and Guard House 3uilding from the to that date. Figures for total cost and date completed are not reliable since these often refer to more recent major renovations, 2. Secondary and published sources: Brownsville Herald, April 2, (Microfilm available at the City-College Library, Brownsville, Texas,) Chatfield, W. H. The Twin Cities of the Border. Originally pub- lished in Reprinted in by the Harbert Davenport Memorial Fund, the Brownsville Historical Association, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley Historical Society. Sides, Joseph G.

Fort Brown Historical. San Antonio: The Naylor Company, Scott, Florence Johnson* Historical Heritage of the Lower Rio Grande. San Antonio: The Naylor Company, (Hunter Col- t lection, Texas Southmost College, Brownsville, Texas.) FORT BROWN COMMISSARY AND GUARD HOUSE, #88 HABS No. (Page 5) Texas Southmost College- Self Study. Brownsville: Copies of this study are in the college president's office. Prepared by: Betty Bird University of Virginia Project Historian PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION A. General Statement: 1. Architectural character: This is an example of fairly large brick military architecture built just after the turn of the twentieth century, 2. Condition of fabric: Good. B. Description of the Exterior: 1.

Over-all dimensions: This building is approximately eighty-four feet along an eight-bay front, and thirty-three feet, with two bays, at the ends. It is one-and-a-half stories high above an elevated basement. A porch runs along the central portion of the front. 2. Foundation: Brick. 3. Wall construction, finish and color: Common bond tan brick with a stone band at the first-floor level, forming a water table. 4- Structural system, framing: Brick, load-bearing exterior walls with two rows of wood columns on the first and second floors and brick columns in the basement. The floor and roof framing is of wood. 5. Porches, stoops, bulkheads, etc: There is a concrete porch across part of the southeast facade, raised above the grade. Six concrete steps lead up to the porch at each of its ends.

There is an iron- pipe railing extending up each flight of steps, and continuing across the porch. There is a void at the bottom of the steps on the southwest and then another flight of steps leads up to a smal- ler concrete porch. A pent roof, supported by knee-braces against the wall, extends across the facade covering both these porches. The pent roof has exposed rafters, with cyma reversa ends, and is covered with asphalt shingles. There are two brick bulkheads leading to the basement on the north- west facade, with eight concrete steps. Each is covered by a pair of wooden doors. FORT BROWN COMMISSARY AND GUARD HOUSE, #88 HABS No. (Page 6) 6. Chimneys: Brick chimneys have been removed. 7. Openings: a.

Doorways and doors: The door at the porch leads into a small hall- A similar door by its side leads into an art studio. Both doors are wood panel with wood surrounds, wood threshold, and concrete sill, and each has a transom. The head is a brick arch. There is a large double opening on the small porch at the front facade. It has been partly closed up and a single wood flush panel door added in the opening, with wood surrounds. The door in one bulkhead is a very large wooden panel door with wood surrounds and the other bulkhead has a pair of vertical wood panel doors with wood surrounds and concrete sill. b. Windows and shutters: Wooden windows on the first and decond floor have six-over-six-light, single-hung sashes, with wood surrounds and iron bars across each.

Windows have an arched brick lintel and stone sills. Windows in the basement have wooden, one-light, in-swinging sashes, wood surrounds and iron bars across them. 8. Roof: a. Shape, covering: Roof is gabled with asphalt shingles. * b. Cornice, eaves: There is a boxed cornice frith built-in gutter and a frieze board under the cornice. The cornice returns at the gable ends. c. Dormers, cupolas, towers: There is a large dormer in the cen- ter of the northeast facade. The dormer has two small windows, is sided with slate shingles, and has a boxed cornice with cor- nice return. Asphalt shingles cover the roof of the dormer. C. Description of the Interior: I. Floor plans : a.

Basement: The elevated basement under the entire building is reached by a stairway from a passage on the southwest end of the building or through one of the two bulkheads. There are two rows of brick columns running the length of the one large room. In the east corner is an area enclosed by strap metal grillage, supposedly the cells. There are indications where this type of enclosure has been cut off at the floor and ceil- ing on the north corner of the basement. The area appears now to be used as a pottery laboratory. FORT BROWN COMMISSARY AND GUARD HOUSE, #88 HABS No. (Page 7) b. First floor: The entrance leads into a small hall that has a small office on the left- There is a window on the southeast and northeast walls. At the end of the hallway is the stair to the second floor.

On the right a doorway leads into a large art studio. There are two rows of wood columns with haunched beams. Two windows are on the southeast wall and three on the northwest wall. There is a doorway to the exterior porch on the southeast wall. A doorway on the southwest wall leads into a second studio. This studio has a doorway to a small porch on the southeast and a window on each side of the door. There are two windows on the northwest wall. A doorway on the southeast leads to a landing in the enclosed passageway, four steps lead to the floor level, and then continue to the basement. The passageway connects with a small building and houses two toilets. There are two entrances on the exterior. c.

Second floor: The second floor is given over to two large stu- dios, with two rows of sloping braces extending the length of the building. At the long edges of the room are wood braces extending from the wall to the floor. Most of these have been enclosed, forming mechanical space. There are two windows on each end, flanking a projecting brick flue in the center of the end walls. 2. Stairways: The half-turn-with-landings stairway to the second floor has a closed string, the railing extending from the floor and past the string. The railing, extending from the first floor, contin- uing to the second floor, turns and ends at the wall, enclosing the stair opening. The wooden treads have linoleum tread covers and the railing is modern wood paneling.

There is a beaded-wood paneling on the wall to the first-floor ceiling height in the stairwall. The stairway to the basement has an open string with metal pan and concrete treads. The simple metal railing extends from the landing at the first floor and continues to the basement. The steps lead down to a landing which is one step above the basement floor. 3. Flooring: The basement and passageway have concrete floors. The first and second floors have narrow board wood flooring, some is covered with linoleum and carpet. 4. Walls and ceiling finish: Walls in the basement are brick and the ceiling is painted gypsum board. Wails and ceilings on the first and second floor are gypsum board, painted. The office has beaded wood paneling on walls and ceiling. 5.

Doorways and doors: Doorways are wooden with wood panel doors. 6. Mechanical equipment: Modern air-conditioning equipment and light- ing fixtures are used throughout the building. FORT BROWN COMMISSARY AND GUARD HOUSE, #88 HABS No. (Page 3) D. Site: 1. General setting and orientation: The building faces southeast on the college campus. There is a paved plaza in front of the building on the southeast. There is an asphalt paved parking lot on the northwest, beyond which sits the morgue and administration building. There is a grassy lawn on the northeast, along May Street, as it curves through the campus. Across Gorgas Drive is the Fort Brown Resaca a small spit of land nearly surrounded by water channeled from the Rio Grande.

On the southeast, in front of the buildiitg, there is a paved plaza. 2. Outbuildings: A frame, flat-roofed, closed passageway joins the Fort Brown Commissary, now Art Building, to a small brick building housing the kiln. The kiln building is one large room with brick walls, concrete floor, and exposed-structure ceiling. There are two-over-two single-hung wooden windows with iron bars across them at a low level around the room. Above each of these windows is a high, two-light, wooden inswinging window with iron bars. The win- dows have arched brick heads, brick sills with wood sills and sur- rounds. A large double opening on the southeast wall has been bricked up as have small round openings banded with rowlocks in the - gable ends.

The gabled roof has asphalt shingle covering and a gabled roof ventilator. The ventilator has wood siding ends and wood louvres on the sides. There is a boxed cornice. Small arched openings around the sill on the exterior have been bricked up. Prepared by: John P. White Texas Technological University Project Supervisor PART III. PROJECT INFORMATION At the suggestion of a national preservation consultant, Ellen Beasley, this project was undertaken by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, in cooperation with the Brownsville Historical Association and the Brownsville City Planning Depart- ment.

Under the direction of John Poppeliers, Chief of HABS, the project was completed during the summer of at the Historic American Buildings Survey field office, Brownsville, Texas, by John P. White (Associate Professor, Texas Technological University) Project Supervisor; Betty Bird (University of Vir- ginia) Project Historian; and Student Assistant Architects Scott Deneroff (University of Maryland), Susan Dornbusch (University of Virginia), Matthew Lowry (University of Pennsylvania), Eduardo Luaces (University of Florida), and Alan Willig (the City College of the City University of New York) . Special assistance and support were provided to the HABS team by Mary Simmons, Sally Fleming, Miss Theresa Champion, and Mr. Calvin Walker of the Browns- ville Historical Association; and by Mr.

Mario Moreno, Mr. Richard Waldman, Graciela Salinas, and Mr. tarry Brown of the Brownsville City Planning Department. Archival photographs of the project were made in February by Bill Engdahl, of Hedrich-Blessing, Chicago, Illinois. Editing and final preparation of the documentation was carried out in the HABS Washington office by Lucy Pope Wheeler of the HABS professional staff.