The history of Fort House is as much a narrative about a nineteenth-century family home as it is local twentieth century efforts to preserve the landmarks of Waco’s prosperous past. The man behind one of Waco’s more distinctive homes was not a Texas native. Originally from La Grange, Alabama, William A. Fort came to Waco in 1854 with a caravan of five hundred people. He and his father established a plantation four miles south of Waco in the Downsville area. On May 7, 1856, he married Dion...
