Lavatory, Fort DeSoto, St. Petersburg, FL
**Fort Desoto Batteries** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 77000407, date listed 12/2/1977
8 mi. S of St. Petersburg on Mullet Key
St. Petersburg, FL (Pinellas County)
Construction of the post buildings had begun. By 1906, when this work was complete, a total of 29 buildings had been erected. These included officers' and noncommissioned officers' quarters, barracks, kitchen, bakehouse, messhall, hospital, and administration buildings, workshops, stables, and storage sheds. Water and sewerage systems, brick roads, and outlying fire control installations completed the facilities of the base, which occupied an area of 613 acres.
Fort DeSoto was garrisoned by a company of regular Army artillerymen from 1904-1910. Isolation, lack of recreational facilities, and the incessant assaults of swarms of mosquitos made the post all but unendurable. The monotony of garrison duty was broken on three occassions when joint maneuvers were held with the militia units designated to man the post in event of mobilization. In June, 1910, the garrison company was withdrawn. (1)
The post was officially abandoned in 1923. Within ten years, destruction of the facility by the elements was nearly complete. Only three of the original 29 buildings were still standing, and Battery Bigelow had collapsed, a victim of beach erosion. Battery Laidley was still structurally sound, but its mortar carriages and other metalwork were badly deteriorated, and its further usefulness was considered "extremely doubtful". (1)
The Lavatory, constructed in 1900-01 at a cost of $5,547, covered 1,006 square foeet and had facilities designed to serve one company (106 soldiers) - sixteen wash basins, five showers, two tubs, eight toilets, and eight urinals. (from local signage)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg...
Lavatory, Fort DeSoto, St. Petersburg, FL
**Fort Desoto Batteries** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 77000407, date listed 12/2/1977
8 mi. S of St. Petersburg on Mullet Key
St. Petersburg, FL (Pinellas County)
Construction of the post buildings had begun. By 1906, when this work was complete, a total of 29 buildings had been erected. These included officers' and noncommissioned officers' quarters, barracks, kitchen, bakehouse, messhall, hospital, and administration buildings, workshops, stables, and storage sheds. Water and sewerage systems, brick roads, and outlying fire control installations completed the facilities of the base, which occupied an area of 613 acres.
Fort DeSoto was garrisoned by a company of regular Army artillerymen from 1904-1910. Isolation, lack of recreational facilities, and the incessant assaults of swarms of mosquitos made the post all but unendurable. The monotony of garrison duty was broken on three occassions when joint maneuvers were held with the militia units designated to man the post in event of mobilization. In June, 1910, the garrison company was withdrawn. (1)
The post was officially abandoned in 1923. Within ten years, destruction of the facility by the elements was nearly complete. Only three of the original 29 buildings were still standing, and Battery Bigelow had collapsed, a victim of beach erosion. Battery Laidley was still structurally sound, but its mortar carriages and other metalwork were badly deteriorated, and its further usefulness was considered "extremely doubtful". (1)
The Lavatory, constructed in 1900-01 at a cost of $5,547, covered 1,006 square foeet and had facilities designed to serve one company (106 soldiers) - sixteen wash basins, five showers, two tubs, eight toilets, and eight urinals. (from local signage)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg...