Laredo College Fort McIntosh Tour

Laredo College was founded in 1947 on the grounds of Fort McIntosh, an Army post on the Rio Grande that operated from 1849 until after World War II. Many of the fort's brick buildings from the 1860s through the 1900s still stand around the old parade ground and are used as classrooms and offices. The fort is on the National Register of Historic Places. This walk starts at the river crossing where Laredo began and moves through the chapel, guardhouse, officers' homes and hospital.

Laredo College has one of the most unusual settings of any campus in Texas. It was founded in 1947 on the grounds of Fort McIntosh, an Army post that guarded the Rio Grande from 1849 until after World War II, and many of the fort's brick buildings, dating from the 1860s into the 1900s, still line the old parade ground as classrooms and offices.

The history here runs deeper than the fort. Near the river, tradition holds that Jacinto de León found a safe ford around 1746, a crossing Indigenous people had probably used for centuries; a marker for El Paso de Jacinto recalls it, and a ranch started nearby grew into the city of Laredo. The Army arrived about a century later, first as Camp Crawford before taking the name of Lt. Col. James S. McIntosh, and after the Civil War it rebuilt the post in local brick. Buffalo Soldier units were among the troops later stationed here.

Two buildings stand out. The 1910 Classical Revival chapel now bears the name of Pvt. David B. Barkley Cantu, a Laredo soldier who died in France in 1918 and was later awarded the Medal of Honor, and a Veterans Walkway dedicated beside it in 2023 honors Hispanic recipients of the medal. The 1885 commanding officer's quarters, its porches paved in colorful patterned cement tile, is now the college president's home.

It is an easy, level walk that turns a working campus into an open-air museum of the Texas border.