Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Fort Hancock, TX

Fort Hancock is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in southwestern Hudspeth County, on the Rio Grande border with Mexico across from El Porvenir, Chihuahua.

Fort Hancock began as a military post named Camp Rice in 1882 on the old San Antonio-El Paso Road, established by troops of the 10th U.S. Cavalry, the famed Buffalo Soldiers.

The post was renamed Fort Hancock in 1886 in honor of General Winfield Scott Hancock, a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Army abandoned it in 1895; the fort's remains still sit in a cotton field about a mile and a half west of town.

The Fort Hancock-El Porvenir International Bridge and the Fort Hancock Port of Entry connect the community directly with Mexico, and a 2006 CNN feature highlighted how closely families on both sides of the border are intertwined.

According to the 2020 census, Fort Hancock had a population of 1,052 people living in 453 households, down sharply from 1,750 in 2010, and about 96.6% of residents were Hispanic or Latino.

Fort Hancock keeps Mountain Time, making it one of the few Texas communities an hour behind the rest of the state's Central Time Zone.

Fort Hancock has a cold desert climate: its all-time record high is 113 degrees Fahrenheit, set on June 27, 1994, and its record low is minus 4 degrees, set on February 4, 2011.

In 2006, officials raised the speed limit on Fort Hancock's stretch of Interstate 10 to 80 miles per hour, at the time the highest speed limit in the United States.

Fort Hancock High School's Mustangs built a six-man football dynasty, reaching the state championship game six times between 1986 and 1992 and winning five titles.

Fort Hancock native Benito Martinez was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Korean War.