Bismarck Farm

Ben Ficklin (Benficklin), seat of Tom Green County from 1875 to 1882, was located five miles south of Fort Concho on the east bank of the South Concho River. In 1868 Maj. Benjamin F. Ficklin bought from John O. Meusebach 640 acres on the South Concho near the spring from which Fort Concho hauled its drinking water. There Ficklin built headquarters for his San Antonio-El Paso Mail line. Francis Corbett Taylor, a close friend of Ficklin, came from Alabama to take charge of the Concho mail station. After Ficklin's sudden death in Washington, D.C., on March 10, 1871, Taylor carried on the prospering stage line. In 1873, with William Stephen Kelly and Charles B. Metcalfe, he laid out a town a mile up the river and named it Ben Ficklin in honor of his friend. Kelly, also from Alabama, built the first house. The post office was established on August 27, 1873, with Henry M. Taylor as postmaster.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.