Officers' Quarters

Officers' Quarters. (East Line). In 1869, a limestone deposit was found southeast of what is now Old Post, Fort Sill. A quarry was opened and the soldiers of the 10th Cavalry cut the rock and started the walls of the garrison buildings. Crude kilns were erected to burn lime for mortar and sand came from the bed of Cache Creek. Chimneys were built of brick brought from Fort Arbuckle and Texas. , Houses for the officers were built along the north and east line of the quadrangle. Two sets of quarters on the north line were single family dwellings for the Field Officers. The rest of the houses were for company grade officers and built for double occupancy. The walls were of stone, the floors of wood and the roofs shingled. Each of the company officers' houses consisted of four rooms downstairs a library, a living room, a dining room and a kitchen. Upstairs there were two bedrooms. There was no plumbing and stone latrines were built in back of the quarters. The houses were heated by stoves and lit with mineral oil lamps. White picket fences were erected around the houses to keep the cattle out of the flower beds. , In the 1890s, Lt. Hugh L. Scott, Post Quartermaster, built foundations under the officers' quarters, and buttressed some of the walls which were toppling. He replaced rotting floors, reroofed the houses and constructed the frame wing bedrooms. , In the early 1900s, indoor plumbing was installed, a two-story kitchen addition built and finally, in 1930, another bedroom and bathroom were added. , Captions , Upper Left: View to the east of Officers' Quarters (ca. 1870). , Lower Left: View to the north of Officers' Quarters (ca. 1895).