Chadbourne Ranch Gate

by Steve Templeton

Title

Chadbourne Ranch Gate

Artist

Steve Templeton

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photograph

Description

Garland Richards grew up on the Chadbourne Ranch established north of Bronte, TX by his great-great-great grandfather in 1876.

The ranch was originally called the O-D Ranch when Thomas L. Odom and his son, Garland G. Odom, purchased the land and moved 36,000 head of Longhorn cattle to the area.

Fort Chadbourne, abandoned by the military in 1873, became the O-D headquarters. The fort buildings and parade grounds were under the ownership of Samuel and Mary Maverick, but the Odoms leased the buildings for barns.

The fort was established Oct. 28, 1852, and named in honor of 2nd Lt. Theodore Lincoln Chadbourne, who was killed in the Mexican War Battle at Resaca de la Palma on May 9, 1846, at age 24.

The Comanche Indians raided early settlers in the region between the 1840s and 1850s. Fort Chadbourne was one of several outposts built to protect settlers and pioneers heading west along the Butterfield Overland Mail Route from St. Louis to San Francisco.

In 1861, Texas seceded from the Union and the fort was surrendered to Texas troops. After the Civil War, the U.S. military returned briefly to Fort Chadbourne but abandoned it in 1873 because of the lack of water supply.

Although several buildings were constructed with lime and sandstone, the soldiers numbering around 250 at the peak of the fort's glory days lived mainly in tents with their families.

The Odoms finally purchased Fort Chadbourne from the Mavericks in 1877 for $500 in gold. The buildings were used by the ranch for milking sheds, feed and saddle storage until the 1970s.

Uploaded

October 17th, 2022

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