History:

Ft. Richardson State Park, Historic Site & Lost Creek Reservoir State Trailway, located northwest of Fort Worth in Jack County, contains 454.16 acres. The property was acquired in 1968 from the City of Jacksboro and was opened to the public the same year.

Fort Richardson was established in November 1867. Fort Richardson was named in honor of General Israel B. Richardson, who died in the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War. The fort was the northernmost of a line of Federal Forts established after the Civil War. The soldiers arrived in Jacksboro in 1866 with orders to establish a fort at Buffalo Springs, 20 miles north of Jacksboro. Due to unhealthy conditions at Buffalo Springs and the constant Indian raids, the fort was abandoned. The soldiers returned to Jacksboro and eventually received orders to establish a fort on the South Bank of Lost Creek. Expeditions sent from Fort Richardson arrested Indians responsible for the Warren Wagon Train Massacre in 1871 and fought Comanches in Palo Duro Canyon. The Fort was abandoned in May 1878.