Site of Ben Ficklin

Ficklin's mail headquarters stood near the spring that supplied Fort Concho's drinking water, the Handbook of Texas says. His friend Francis Corbett Taylor kept the line running and in 1873 laid out a town a mile up the river; its post office opened that August. In 1875 Taylor, backed by stage men, fort officers and ranchers, won the county seat over San Angela. A two-story stone courthouse was finished in February 1882. The flood of August 24 drowned sixty-five people and left only the courthouse, the jail and two houses standing on the flat.

What the plaque says

An early stage stand named in honor of Major Ben Ficklin, 1820-1870 - A noted frontiersman, mail and stage contractor, who assisted in establishing the Pony Express - - He carried the first message from the first governor of California to the governor of Missouri - First county seat of Tom Green County, 1875-1882 - Destroyed by flood, August 24, 1882. Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Concho National Historic Landmark — 3.6 mi
  The stone post at the forks of the Concho, headquarters of the Tenth Cavalry from 1875 to 1882, saved by a woman with a museum and now a city-run landmark of 23 original buildings.
• Concho River Walk — 3.6 mi
  Four miles of lit trails along the North Concho through downtown San Angelo, rebuilt after voters taxed themselves in 2004, with gardens, sculpture, a river stage and stocked trout.
• San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts — 3.8 mi
  A free art museum on the Concho beside Fort Concho, founded in the fort's 1868 quartermaster building and known nationally for its biennial ceramics competition.
• Miss Hattie's Bordello Museum — 4.0 mi
  The upstairs rooms on Concho Avenue where a brothel ran from 1902 until the Texas Rangers closed it in 1952, shown on short guided tours with most of the furnishings original.

More markers nearby

• Major Ben Ficklin, C.S.A. — steps away
• Tom Green County — steps away
• John Ingram — 2.6 mi
• John R. ("Sarge") Nasworthy — 3.2 mi