Sheffield, Texas
HISTORY
Welcome to Sheffield, Texas
Area First Documented By Gaspar Castaño de Sosa in 1590.
Sheffield, Texas is located in Pecos County near the Pecos River at the junction of former US Highway 290 (now State Highway 290) & State Highway 349. Sheffield was established near a ford on the Pecos River, a natural crossing point once used by the San Antonio-El Paso Mail Route.
The first settler bought land in 1888, and by 1898 a post office had been established with Will Sheffield as the postmaster. Sheffield was a social center and supply point for area ranchers in the early 1900s and became a stopping point on the Old Spanish Trail in the 1920s.
PHOTOS
Sights Around Sheffield, Texas
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Crossing The Pecos
Opened to traffic in 1932, this Parker through truss bridge spans the
Pecos River, some 4 miles east of Sheffield, Texas, on State Highway 290.
Previously the route was known as US Highway 290 and the Old Spanish Trail Auto Route before that. After completing Interstate 10, traffic rerouted north, and the roadway became the state highway that it is today.
The State Highway Commission built the Pecos River Bridge just north of the old Lancaster Crossing, established in 1849 along with the San Antonio-El Paso Road.
Fort Lancaster was opened just to the east of the Pecos River in 1855 to aid in the safe passage on the road. Of all the frontier forts in Texas, Fort Lancaster was the only US Army Fort ever attacked by indigenous people.
If you stop at the scenic overlook and look to the west, you can still see old wagon wheel ruts and a cut in the bluff that the wagons once traveled through.
Did you know that in 1855 the US Army tested using camels and that all three expeditions passed through Fort Lancaster?
