Following the closure of the fort in 1889, it was divided into commercial and residential lots and its buildings were accordingly renovated or demolished. Enlisted Barracks 3 and 4 were replaced with a series of residences, while the officer's residences were preserved as private homes. Additional buildings, were built in around the fort, including what is now Fort Concho Elementary, constructed on the parade ground in 1907. As early as 1905, however, influential locals tried to conserve the fort. J. L. Millspaugh, one of the sutlers contracted to supply the fort, suggested without success that the city buy the fort. That same year, realtor C.A. Broome formed the Fort Concho Realty Company in 1905 to sell his properties on the fort's grounds to the city. The eastern third of the fort grounds, which had remained preserved, was given to the city by the Santa Fe Railroad Company in 1913. A decade later in 1924, the Daughters of the American Revolution raised funds to preserve the fort and secured a designation for it as a Texas state historic site, with accompanying plaque.