My Mom met my Dad during WWII, when he was stationed at Goodfellow. He was from Poughkeepsie, NY - my Mom grew up in San Angelo. They got married after the war.

During their courtship in San Angelo, the Ben Ficklin Dam area was the hottest spot to party - lots of dances with live bands, swimming, picnicing, rowboats, etc.

During my family's frequent visits to San Angelo during the 50 and early 60's, we never failed to take a trip out to Ben Ficklin for a picnic. There was still a nice pavilion, boat rentals, swimming, pinball machines, etc, but the dancing and live bands were no more.

I'm sure my parents always took us there because they were nostalgic about their courtship and all the fun times they had there.

Is there anything left out there? I do remember LOTS of really big trees and shade - a big plus for a West Texas venue IMO. But I would add that swamp coolers were the norm back in the 50's and central air was for the wealthy. So a shady venue back then was a real draw.

Just wondering.

Norman,

I bet my Grandfather knew your Dad. He was stationed there during the war. It was not Goodfellow at the time. It was Mathis field. My Grandfather Coy Estes was an airplane mechanic for the Army Air Corp. he also would talk about Ben Ficklin and I myself have been there several times.

[This message has been edited by The Fall Guy (edited 3/1/2011 11:51a).]

Not a lot going on there. I take my 4 yr old son on the causeway where the stagecoach used to be to look at ducks. I think there is a small park and a baseball field on the south side of the dam. I found this site that you might be interested in:

http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGhostTowns/BenFicklinTexas/BenFicklinTx.htm

Thanks for the link - it was great. I remember the aread around the old dam would flood from time to time and the causeway would be under water. I was not aware of the history of Ben Ficklin or the story about San Angela and San Angelo.

My brother and I went to Ft Concho Elementary for a few months in Spring, 1957 and spent a lot of time walking around the old fort. One of our ancestors was a cavalry officer stationed there in the 1870's.

Norman Ag, You wouldn't know Ft. Concho from 50+ years ago. The school is gone and they built a new one off to the south behind the officer's row. allowed the drill field to open up. None original buildings at the Oakes st end of the drill field are gone. Great improvements and restorations were done in the 80's and 90's.

I was in the Living History cavalry from 84 to 96 or so and it is back as close as it can be to how it really was in 1875.

The 2 barracks that had become a part of the Monarch tile plant have been separated too.

You need to go see it or at least look thru their website. Not many overall view pics but some to give you an idea of the change.

Has been recognized as one of the best preserved Indian Wars period forts in the country.

http://www.fortconcho.com/index.htm

Thanks for the link - I really enjoyed it. And it's neat you were part of the Living History calvalry. Many years ago I was stationed at Andrews AFB for four years. One of the things my family liked to do was attend Civil War reenactments. We didn't have the time to be participants - we just enjoyed watching and learning.

You were right about Ft Concho 50 years ago - wasn't much to see back then. You mentioned that the Ft Concho school has been relocated.

Funny story - your link got me interested in looking up a google map of the area around the Ft. The Ft Concho school is on the map - but the location was not at all where I remembered it to be.

My bother and I used to walk to school from my Grandma's house at 216 Bird St, and it sure wasn't where the school on the map is. Now I know why - LOL.

Thanks again - lots of great memories of San Angelo and Ft Concho.

The school is not where you remember it because it was in the middle of my drill field!

The fort got a joint city/fed/private grant deal that paid for the school to be rebuilt, which it needed as it was originally built in 1909, So the moved it to where you see it.

They also got Ethicon (Johnson and Johnson) to kick in to underwrite a bunch of the cost to rebuild the hospital which burnt in in the 1880s or 90's.

The writeup says there were 6 members of the first cav unit there, but we really had four show up for our big debut in June of '84.

We didn't do "re-enactments" more interpretion, than anything. We did work out of period correct drill manuals. Sure was hot wearing wool uni's in 100 degree weather, but at least we had a/c to go home to!