First Commanding Officer's Quarters (101)

This log cabin is the oldest surviving building at Fort Apache and the westernmost of eight log cabins built in 1871 to form Officers' Row, where it was designated the Commanding Officer's Quarters. It was originally an 18 by 20 foot log pen with a canvas floor, and a second pen attached by an enclosed ten-foot-wide dogtrot was added later. Further additions included a log extension on the northwest side and wood frame additions built after the installation of a steam-powered sawmill in 1872. Like all officers' quarters built before 1883, its kitchen stood in a detached shed behind the cabin. The log quarters leaked and were drafty, and they were gradually replaced by frame buildings and in some cases stone buildings. This cabin continued to house junior officers throughout the Fort period, then in the 1920's and '30s it housed teachers for the Theodore Roosevelt School, later became the home of the tribal trapper, became the first home of the White Mountain Apache Tribe's Cultural Center and Museum in 1969, and was restored in 1994.

Fort Apache, Arizona · United States