A Bacon-Shor code is a subsystem quantum error-correcting code on an $L times L$ lattice where the $2(L-1)$ weight-$2L$ stabilizers are usually inferred from the measurements of $(L-1)^2$ weight-2 gauge operators. Here we show that the stabilizers can be measured directly and fault tolerantly with bare ancillary qubits by constructing circuits that follow the pattern of gauge operators. We then examine the implications of this method for small quantum error-correcting codes by comparing distance