Abandoned Towns
The 1936 San Teodoro monument, a pink granite shaft with a bronze relief, inside a pipe-rail fence on a lawn, with an open-sided pavilion and a bare tree behind

Railroad and road town · Farm and ranch town

Spanish Fort

A Taovaya village here beat a Spanish army in 1759. A century later cowboys on the Chisholm Trail rode in for supplies. Now most of the buildings on the square stand empty.

33°57′07″N 97°37′36″W · ≈780 ft

Photo: Renelibrary, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Mostly empty · 2023 report

The newest account we found, a Red River Historian post of August 2023, calls Spanish Fort a ghost town: an oil-boom store stands alone on the main street, and the high school no longer serves students. It says the Taovaya village sites are on private property. About 50 people lived here in 2000, when nearly every building on the square stood empty (Handbook of Texas). We don't know who owns the buildings. A 2018 photo shows the 1936 monument in a small park beside a picnic shelter. Treat the buildings as private and view them from the road.

Overview

Taovayas, cattle and an empty square

The 1936 San Teodoro monument, 2014
The 1936 San Teodoro monument, 2014 · Photo: Renelibrary, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Spanish Fort sits at the end of Farm Road 103, a mile south of the Red River in north central Montague County. In the 1750s the Taovayas built two villages here, one on each bank. In 1759 Col. Diego Ortiz Parrilla marched several hundred Spanish soldiers against the fortified village. After four hours the Spanish retreated, leaving two cannon and their baggage. Smallpox and American settlement later emptied the villages, and by 1841 the Taovayas were gone.

In the early 1870s a settlement called Burlington grew up as a watering stop for the Chisholm Trail. Drovers bedded their herds at Red River Station and rode in for supplies and entertainment. The post office opened in 1877 under the name Spanish Fort, and the town had about 300 people by 1885.

Then the trails moved west and the railroad went elsewhere. Herman J. Justin moved his boot company to Nocona in the late 1880s. The town held about 250 people into the 1940s, then fell to 40 by 1952. The post office closed around 1970. About 50 people lived here in 2000, and most buildings on the square, the brick school among them, stood empty.

Timeline

From San Teodoro to Spanish Fort

  1. The Taovayas build two permanent villages on opposite banks of the Red River here.
  2. Col. Diego Ortiz Parrilla attacks the fortified Taovaya village with several hundred Spanish soldiers. After four hours of fighting the Spanish retreat, leaving their baggage train and two cannon.
  3. Athanase de Mézières visits, names the place San Teodoro and talks the Taovayas into giving up the cannon. Smallpox epidemics begin.
  4. The Taovayas have left.
  5. A settlement called Burlington grows up as a watering stop for cattle drives on the Chisholm Trail.
  6. The post office opens as Spanish Fort; the name Burlington was already taken in Texas.
  7. The first school opens in a log building.
  8. About 300 people.
  9. The trails move west, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway passes the town by, and Herman J. Justin moves his boot company to Nocona.
  10. A brick school is built.
  11. The state erects a monument to San Teodoro. A second marker follows in 1976.
  12. About 40 people, down from about 250.
  13. The post office and all but one business close.
  14. The Spanish Fort site goes on the National Register of Historic Places.
  15. About 50 people.

What's here

A square, a school and a monument

The small park with its historical markers, picnic shelter and the 1936 monument at right, June 2018
The small park with its historical markers, picnic shelter and the 1936 monument at right, June 2018 · Photo: Larry D. Moore, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

A century of farming wiped out the Taovaya earthworks. A state monument put up in 1936 marks the site of San Teodoro, and a second marker followed in 1976. The site went on the National Register in 1975. In 2000 nearly all the buildings on the square stood empty, the brick school of 1924 among them. In August 2023 the Red River Historian found a store from the oil-boom years standing alone on the main street and the school no longer in use, and noted that the Taovaya village sites are on private property.

  • 1936 San Teodoro monument
  • 1976 historical marker
  • Empty buildings on the square (2000)
  • 1924 brick school (2000)
USGS topographic map of Spanish Fort near the Red River
USGS The National Map, topo. Spanish Fort sits at the end of FM 103 south of the Red River.
Aerial view of a few buildings among fields
Aerial imagery, same area. A few buildings among farm fields.

Historic maps

Spanish Fort on USGS maps, 1905–1991

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Spanish Fort, 1905
Montague sheet, 1905, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Spanish Fort is on farm roads northeast of Nocona, the closest town with services. From Fort Worth, take US 81/287 to Bowie.

Topographic map from Nocona northeast to Spanish Fort, with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Nocona16.6 miabout 33 min
  1. From downtown Nocona, take Clay Street, FM 103, north.5.7 mi
  2. Turn right onto FM 2634.2.8 mi
  3. Bear left onto FM 2953.4.3 mi
  4. Continue onto FM 103 to its end, then turn right on Howard Road.3.7 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Farm-to-market roads all the way, with the last 0.4 mile on Howard Road.
  • We don't know who owns the empty buildings on the square. Treat them as private and look from the road.
  • Nocona is the closest town with services.

Photos

Spanish Fort in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Spanish Fort?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Spanish Fort

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Texas index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Handbook of Texas Online, "Spanish Fort, TX": Taovaya villages, 1759 battle, San Teodoro, Burlington, post office, population, school, decline, monument, location.
  2. Wikipedia, "Spanish Fort, Texas", retrieved October 2026: distances, 1936 and 1976 markers, 1975 National Register listing, coordinates (GNIS).
  3. Robin Cole-Jett, "Spanish Fort in Montague County, Texas: Not Spanish and not a Fort," Red River Historian, August 30, 2023: a ghost town today, an oil-boom store alone on the main street, the high school no longer serving students, and the Taovaya village sites on private property.
  4. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Status checked against the sources above on October 22, 2026.

Photo and map credits