Ben Ficklin, Texas

Francis Corbett Taylor, a close friend of Ficklin's, came from Alabama to take charge of the Concho mail station.

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.

Taylor had the support of stage line employees, Fort Concho officers, area ranchmen, and the growing numbers of business and professional men, who with their families, had been attracted to the new town.

San Angela's saloons, gambling houses, and prostitutes were popular with soldiers, cowboys, and buffalo hunters.

Mary Bain Spence and Susan Miles, "Major Ben Ficklin," West Texas Historical Association Yearbook 27 (1951).

Katherine T. Waring Cited: [1] Ben Ficklin, TX Area Concho River Flood, Aug 1882 [2] at gendisasters.com