Texas In 1870, entrepreneur Bartholomew J. DeWitt purchased a half-section of land () across the Concho from Fort Concho. He divided the area into plots to build a town, later to be known as San Angelo. The township was not a profitable venture and its lots were sold at low prices. By 1875, San Angelo was a collection of saloons and brothels. Relations between the town and Fort Concho's garrison were strained and often outright hostile. Violence between Fort Concho's black servicemen and townspeople was common, and continued until the 10th Cavalry was replaced by the 16th Infantry in 1882. Humanitarian aid rendered to locals by the garrison, especially following the flood of 1882, eventually evaporated the lingering animosity. Fort Concho was crucial to San Angelo's early growth. The presence of its garrison attracted traders and settlers and allowed diversification in the town's economy. The fort's chaplains were some of the first preachers and educators in the town and its medical staff, chiefly surgeon William Notson, also treated civilians. One of Notson's civilian assistants, Samuel L. S. Smith, became San Angelo's first physician, and in 1910 helped establish its first civilian hospital. The government-contracted merchants who serviced the fort would all settle in San Angelo and be counted among its architects. Preservation Following the closure of the fort in 1889, it was divided into commercial and residential lots and its buildings were accordingly renovated or demolished. Enlisted Barracks 3 and 4 were replaced with a series of residences, while the officers' residences were preserved as private homes. Additional buildings were built in and around the fort, including a school constructed on the parade ground in 1907. As early as 1905, however, influential locals tried to conserve the fort. J. L. Millspaugh, one of the merchants contracted to supply Fort Concho, suggested without success that the city buy it. That same year, realtor C. A. Broome formed the Fort Concho Realty Company in 1905 to sell his properties on the fort's grounds to the city. The eastern third of the fort grounds, which had remained preserved, was given to the city by the Santa Fe Railroad Company in 1913. Eleven years later, the Daughters of the American Revolution raised funds to preserve the fort and secured a designation for it as a Texas state historic site, with accompanying plaque. In 1927, a local named Ginevra Wood Carson acquired a room in