Spanish Fort - Texas Ghost Town

SPANISH FORT

NAME: Spanish Fort
COUNTY: Montague
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 1
CLIMATE: Cold windy winters, blazing hot summers
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Winter, spring, fall

COMMENTS: Semi-ghost. The residents of Spanish Fort get a bit testy when called ghosts. It is becoming a quasi-retirement area as people flee the D/FW Metroplex. No stores, but homes and the old school used a community center, two cemeteries.I'm the publisher of the newspaper in Nocona, 18 miles south. Also covers the Belcherville area, as well. Still folks living there, as well, just not an organized "city".Approximately 100 residents within 2 miles of the center of town. See comment above.
REMAINS: Homes, school, cemetery, historical markers.

The name would suggest something that never existed. There never was a Spanish fort at the site that bears the name. It was all a misunderstanding. Three hundred years ago, a major Indian village was located in the area. From artifacts and remains found by early Anglo-American settlers, an incorrect assumption was made that the Spaniards had occupied the area. Hence the name Spanish Fort. In reality, it was a fortified Indian village. The usefulness of Spanish Fort was as the last stopping point for cattlemen and drovers on their way up the Chisholm Trail before crossing the Red River into Indian Territory on their way to Kansas cattle markets. In its heyday, Spanish Fort boasted four hotels and numerous other businesses and saloons. The town's decline began around the turn of the century even though a new brick schoolhouse was erected in 1924. Today, the schoolhouse remains although abandoned along with a few other vacant buildings. SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth

The name would suggest something that never existed. There never was a Spanish fort at the site that bears the name. It was all a misunderstanding. Three hundred years ago, a major Indian village was located in the area. From artifacts and remains found by early Anglo-American settlers, an incorrect assumption was made that the Spaniards had occupied the area. Hence the name Spanish Fort. In reality, it was a fortified Indian village. The usefulness of Spanish Fort was as the last stopping point for cattlemen and drovers on their way up the Chisholm Trail before crossing the Red River into Indian Territory on their way to Kansas cattle markets. In its heyday, Spanish Fort boasted four hotels and numerous other businesses and saloons. The town's decline began around the turn of the century even though a new brick schoolhouse was erected in 1924. Today, the schoolhouse remains although abandoned along with a few other vacant buildings. SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth

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