Francisco Fort was built in 1862. It was an adobe structure with walls one foot thick, built in a square around an open plaza with the only opening to the north, and served as protection from Indian threat. In 1958 three historic buildings were moved onto the museum grounds. The Ritter School House, built in 1876, the Saloon, built in the 1880s and a Log structure used as a blacksmith shop. The Francisco Fort Museum, on the National Register of Historic Buildings, houses many fine artifacts thanks to the generosity of county residents.