MONOGRAPHS OF KINNEY COUNTY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE: Corbin House

This bi-weekly feature examines the unique architecture to be found here in Kinney County by spotlighting individual buildings and providing brief histories complimented by period photographs. Our intent is to explore the past, inspire the present, and build the future by showcasing the remarkable associations and legacies of structures which have stood the test of time and continue to contribute so much to the exceptional heritage of Kinney County. Our next subject is “The Corbin House” Quarters Nos. 6-7 in the Fort Clark National Register Historic District.

Completed in the early summer of 1870, this double set of quarters has a noteworthy twofold history having served as both officers’ quarters and as the officers’ mess and club for the garrison. Quarters No. 6 was first occupied by then Post Commander Captain Henry C. Corbin, Co C, 24th Infantry (Buffalo Soldier Regiment) in July 1870. At that time Quarters No. 7 did not have a wing and was used as the Adjutant’s Office. With the construction of the “New Post” in 1873-74 these quarters became isolated from the main officers’ row and were thought better suited as housing for bachelor officers. In the early 1890s the convenient central location of this building made it well suited for conversion to an officers’ mess and club.
For several generations, over 45 years, the building served the garrison in that role. The Army tradition of naming a building for the most senior officer to have lived within its walls results in naming these quarters in honor of Lieutenant General Henry C. Corbin, Adjutant General of the U.S. Army and the most senior officer of the Army in 1906.

Constructed on a simple plan this duplex was only the second stone quarters built on the post. It is of the double-hall design with two large rooms heated by fireplaces adjoining the hall in each set. A style Army junior officers irreverently referred to as “two pens and a passage.” The wings each contained three equal size rooms, one for dining, one a kitchen, and one for servant’s quarters. 

Exclusive clubs for commissioned officers began to come into vogue in the late 1880s when the active campaigning of the Indian Wars was nearing an end. Many frontier posts formally organized an officers’ club by adopting a constitution and by-laws to govern the club’s operation. In 1889, at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, forty-three officers of the 9th Cavalry and 8th Infantry each paid a five dollar entrance fee to join the officers’ club. Club property was insured against loss by fire, monthly dues were two dollars, the club closed at midnight, there was a weekly “Ladies Day,” rules were set for loan of periodicals in the reading room, and no dogs were allowed in the club rooms.

The primary purpose of the officers’ mess was "to promote cordiality, comradeship, and esprit de corps." It was not only a place where the bachelor officers dined, but also the garrison hearthstone where, at certain intervals, all the post officers were required to dine together. It was the place where the colonel and lieutenant meet in the social equality of gentlemen in that camaraderie and good-fellowship which taught the youngster respect and affection for his seniors, and the elders, kindness and consideration for the juniors; it was the place where links were forged that bound the unit front unbroken to the outside world ...; it was the place where dwells the spirit and the soul of the principles that made the regiment and that preserved intact its prestige, its honor, and its tradition. In short, the officers’ mess became the single, most important means of building esprit de corps and professionalism among the officers.

The delicious crumbs of history languish in obscure books, long forgotten official reports, and out of print periodicals waiting for the diligent researcher to sift them out. Without the internet these ingredients for the whole cake would be impossible to locate. Here are just a few discovered which speak of Fort Clark’s officers’ mess and club in Quarters Nos. 6-7:

After decades of neglect, new life has been breathed into Quarters Nos. 6-7 with responsible restoration and preservation actively underway. The property can now be considered for designation as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.