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Fort Totten Historic District, Fort Totten, Bayside, Queens
Building 207 is a two-and-one-half story rectangular residence, faced in red brick laid in stretcher bond above a rusticated foundation of schist. The building has a gabled roof covered with asphalt shingles. The horizontal and raking cornices at the edge of the roof are enriched with corbels and dentils.
On the front roof slope two wide gabled dormers are faced with slate shingles, have Palladianesque window surrounds, and are framed with wood pilasters carrying raking denticulated cornices. A two-story wood porch extends across the entire front facade. Two sets of wooden stairs approach the porch. At both levels, Tuscan columns are linked by wood balustrades. The second-story columns support a shallow hipped roof. The porch base is supported on concrete piers with wooden screens between them.
The two entrances to the residence have paired paneled wood doors below transoms. Similar entrances are located at the second story. All of the first and second-story window openings have splayed brick lintels with keystones. The windows have stone sills and contain two-over-two wood sash. Paired arched windows with keystones and stone sills are placed at attic level in the gable ends.
Building 207 was constructed in 1905 as Enlisted Personnel (lower-ranking non-commissioned officers) Quarters, part of a campaign to meet the housing needs of the rapidly growing fort and the newly installed Coast Artillery. Erected for the Office of the Quartermaster General, the building displays the forms and details of the popular Colonial Revival style. Under construction at the same time as the adjacent Post Headquarters, Building 207 replaced a frame building, the assistant engineer's office, constructed between 1866 and 1871 during the first development phase of the Fort at Willets Point. It remained in use as housing for enlisted officers until the late 1960s.
Historic District description
Fort Totten occupies a 136-acre site in northeast Queens, north of Bayside, on a peninsula jutting into the Long Island Sound. The Fort Totten Historic District, incorporating much of the peninsula, includes over 100 buildings and smaller secondary structures built between the 1830s and the 1960s.1 The fort, originally called the Fort at Willets Point, was established in 1857 as a major component in the defense system of New York Harbor. Its surviving, although uncompleted, fortification displays the features of the last phase of the Third System of coastal fortification, an important period of American military construction. The fort's surviving structures from various phases of construction vividly depict the changing role of military technology and defense strategy between the Civil War and World War II. The major period of improvement and expansion for the fort occurred in 1885-1914, resulting in much of the historic character that exists today.
In addition to upgrading the fortifications and batteries, installing torpedo buildings, and reconfiguring the parade grounds, the Army built about 80 structures, many of them to house the soldiers and officers who were stationed there. In 1898, the Fort at Willets Point was renamed in honor of Maj. Gen. Joseph G. Totten (1788-1864), who had been a major force in developing the Third System, and it was characterized as one of the most essential posts on the East Coast. The buildings and grounds, represent Fort Totten as a major military post and as one of the most intact, self-contained army posts in New York City.
Fort Totten is a tangible reminder of New York City's once-powerful harbor defense system which ranged from the inner harbor adjacent to Manhattan Island to the Narrows and Long Island Sound. Since the sixteenth century, New York Harbor has been recognized for its strategic importance, and as the city grew to prominence, its defense became increasingly important to New York and the nation. Fort Totten (the Fort at Willets Point) was planned as the counterpoint to Fort Schuyler on Throgs Neck (The Bronx), begun 1833, to guard the Long Island Sound entrance to New York Harbor. Although the Third System fort, begun in 1862 during the Civil War, was never completed because of advances in weaponry during that conflict, the army post retained its importance as the site of advanced training for Army Engineers and of research in military technology and military medicine.
It also housed several major military commands, including the Eastern Artillery District, New York, and the Coast Defense of Eastern New York and the North Atlantic District, through much of the twentieth century.
In 1968, Fort Totten became the home of the 77th United States Regional Support Command for the Army Reserve, and the United States Coast Guard took over a portion of the facility in 1969. The United States Department of Labor established a Job Corps Training Center on a portion of the site in 1971.2 Both the Army and the Coast Guard retain some facilities at Fort Totten; however, much of the fort is to be turned over the the City of New York and will be operated under the jurisdiction of the Fire Department, the Parks Department, and the Historic House Trust.
Notable structures have survived from four major periods of construction on Willets Point. These periods correspond to changing roles of military technology and defense strategy at Fort Totten, and the surviving physical structures of each period give tangible evidence of those roles and exert a strong historical presence.
These periods of construction are described briefly below and in greater detail in the History section following. The fort's open space, which reflects the topography of the peninsula, evolved as part of these campaigns. A description of the open space and landscape features concludes this section on Physical and Architectural Development.
Period of Local Settlement. 1639-1857
Although the Dutch had taken over the peninsula from the Matinecock Indians in 1639, no pre-nineteenth-century structures survive at Fort Totten. The Willets family constructed a Greek Revival double house,3 now known as Building 211, after Charles Willets purchased the peninsula, then known as Wilkins Point, in 1829 and changed the name to Willets Point. This house, the earliest surviving structure on the fort and the only one that predates the fort's establishment, was described in 1868 as "a large double house, which had been built on that portion of the point facing the river and commanding a view of Long Island Sound, for occupation as a summer residence."4 At that time, the house had been moved to its present location on Murray Avenue and remodeled as a Gothic Revival villa to serve as the living quarters for the commanding officer of the fort, Major Henry L. Abbot.
The Fort at Willets Point: Third System. Civil War, and Reconstruction Periods (1857-1885)
Construction of the original Third System battery (now called the Stone Fort or Building 518) began in 1862 at the north end of the peninsula under the direction of Col. William Petit Trowbridge. It was planned as a V-shaped structure with a polygonal bastion at the vertex of the ramparts with four tiers of casemates, but construction halted in 1864 when advances in Civil War weaponry made the plan obsolete. The two tiers of vaulted casemates that were built are of brick, faced with heavy granite blocks, and they command an impressive view of Long Island Sound and Fort Schuyler on Throgs Neck. The Quartermaster's Wharf (Building 605) was built in 1864, extending 460 feet into Little Bay with all necessary facilities for unloading vessels. Portions of this pier structure survive.5
Although the battery was obsolete as planned, the Army Engineers enhanced the defensive capability of the Fort at Willets Point in several phases ~ 1868, 1872, and 1883; the main magazine was constructed of concrete and masonry with walls from 17 to 36 inches thick for the storage of gun powder in the hillside behind the battery in several phases — 1868, 1872, and 1883. A barrel-vaulted vehicular access tunnel of concrete was built through the hillside in 1870, linking the batteiy with the rest of the post. Adjacent to the magazine and tunnel are vaulted masonry and concrete casemates, built into the south slope of the hill, for storing torpedo mines. Building 129, constructed sometime between 1871 and 1879 as a fireproof torpedo storehouse, is the oldest brick building at the post and the only surviving structure from the Army Engineers' initial period of research into torpedo technology and development of torpedo defense.
The Queen Anne style and domestic appearance of Building 317, constructed in 1882-83, belies its initial use as a photographic laboratory; it is one of the oldest surviving frame buildings at Fort Totten and is the earliest surviving frame building constructed specifically for the purposes of this Army post, namely one of the technical and research functions carried out by the Army Engineers.
Endicott Board and Taft Board Period. 1885-1914
The major period of improvement and expansion at the fort occurred in 1885-1914, resulting in much of the historic character that survives today. This work was in part the outcome of recommendations for improved harbor defense for the New York area (in addition to other strategic locations in the United States) from two Congressionally-authorized boards of experts, the Endicott Board, issued in 1886, and the Taft Board, issued in 1906, as well as a locations of these two structures has not been determined; they were demolished prior to 1890. See Trieschmann and Gettings, vol. 1, 37.
While the fortifications were upgraded by the Army Corps of Engineers, other improvements to the fort were undertaken by the Office of the Quartermaster General. Some 80 structures were built during this period, including housing for the soldiers and officers who were stationed there.6 Many of these replaced earlier wood-frame structures. The first major building from this period is Building 208, a castellated Gothic Revival style wood frame structure built as the Officers Mess and Officers Club in 1887, facing the parade ground at the west. Now a designated New York City Landmark, it is leased to the Bayside Historical Society. Brick barracks with Colonial Revival details, Buildings 322, 323, and 325, were built at the south end of the parade ground between 1892 and 1894. (These three barracks were enlarged in 1904.)
Building 405, a slightly later barracks dating from 1900 but similar in design to the earlier ones, was built north of the parade ground. Building 331, a brick and frame fire engine house, was erected in 1892 near the new barracks. A new bungalow style guardhouse, Building 103, was constructed in 1892, just inside the grand Romanesque Revival style entrance gates that had been installed in 1889. Building 637, the brick Engineers' Museum, was built in 1890-98 with Romanesque Revival detail, facing what is now Totten Avenue. Building 333 was constructed in 1897-98 near the barracks as the post mess hall for non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel. Building 222, built sometime between 1890 and 1898 as offices and a storehouse for the commissary, is located southwest of the intersection of Murray Avenue and Sgt. Beers Avenue.
The Quartermaster's storehouse (Building 107), built in 1897, is located near the guardhouse, while another commissary storehouse, Building 601, dating from 1896-97, is on the shore of Little Bay. The bakery, Building 309, was built that same year, and is close to the barracks. Building 502, built in 1900 as an ordnance shop strategically situated near the batteries (and later an artillery repair shop), is now the Fort Totten Historical Center. All of these non-domestic structures have a sturdy utilitarian character enhanced by Romanesque Revival detail.
A major building campaign beginning in 1905 brought many significant structures to the area adjacent to the parade ground as part of the campaign to improve and enhance the facilities at Fort Totten. This coincided with a change in the fort's mission after the Army Engineers were withdrawn and the Coast Artillery installed. All of the buildings constructed during this campaign are brick structures, designed in variants of the Colonial Revival style but with a common vocabulary of details that echo the details used on the somewhat earlier barracks structures and reinforce the architectural cohesion of the fort. Virtually all were constructed according to standardized plans from the Office of the Quartermaster General. Building 206, the Post Headquarters, displays the characteristics of high style Colonial Revival architecture with neo-Georgian details.
The use of such elaborate detail can be seen to convey the importance of the headquarters as the command post of the Fort Totten military installation, by then the home of the Coast Artillery. Housing for commissioned officers was built in single-family and twin-dwelling units in the area north and west of the parade ground, forming an enclave known as Officers' Row. This group includes Buildings 203, 400, 401, 402, 409, 411, 413, 415, 418, and 420. Field officers (with the rank of major or colonel) occupied the single-family dwellings, while lieutenants and captains occupied with twin dwellings.7 Twin-dwelling units for noncommissioned officers were built off Shore Road, south of the parade ground (Buildings 306, 308, 309, 310, 312, and 314 (the last remodelled in the 1930s)). Building 207, a multi-unit dwelling to house enlisted officers, was constructed west of the parade ground between the post headquarters and the officers' mess.
The last major barracks structure, Building 330, which is similar in architectural character and detail to the earlier barracks, was built in 1907-08 southeast of the parade ground. A new imposing neo-Georgian Commanding Officer's Quarters, Building 422, was constructed among the other houses of Officers Row in 1909.
The Colonial Revival style Hospital, Building 304, built in 1906 and enlarged in 1911-12, is located east of the parade ground along Shore Road facing Little Neck Bay. While the hospital is much larger in size, its details are similar to those of the contemporary houses as well as the earlier brick barracks. The somewhat more architecturally elaborate annex, Building 326, dates from 1914. During this period the mission of the fort was expanded to include research into and development of medical equipment and care for military personnel. Building 305, a modest Colonial Revival style dwelling, was built in 1907 to house the hospital steward. Building 319, the gymnasium, was built in 1905 south of the parade ground. Colonial Revival in form and detail, it complements the nearby residential structures.
The more utilitarian buildings constructed prior to 1914 are situated on the periphery of the fort. Building 128, built in 1907-08 as a stable, is located southwest of the noncommissioned officers' housing; Building 604, Building 607, and Building 614 are storage facilities situated close to Little Bay. Building 105 was constructed in 1910 as the permanent electric sub-station for Fort Totten, which connected the army base with the municipal power supply at Bayside, Queens.
The Period between World War I and World War II. 1920-1940
While the 1920s saw little new construction at Fort Totten, a number of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century utilitarian structures were converted for other uses.8 The YMCA, Building 318, a neo-Georgian style brick building, situated next to the gymnasium, was built in 1926-27. The YMCA had a presence at Fort Totten prior to the construction of this building.9
Another building campaign to improve housing facilities at Fort Totten (as well as many other Army posts) took place beginning in 1933. This resulted in the construction of several Colonial Revival twin dwellings; Buildings 316 and 634 are within the boundaries of the historic district. Building 314, a frame twin dwelling, was remodeled in the Colonial Revival style to be more compatible with other nearby houses. Two other major structures date from 1938-39. Building 332, the theater, was constructed south of the barracks area, east of the gymnasium and the YMCA. The chapel, Building 638, is situated north of the parade ground, between Officers' Row and the Post Headquarters. Both were built according to standardized plans that display characteristics of the Colonial Revival style.
Among the secondary structures constructed at Fort Totten in 1937-38 are the many one-story garages set behind the officers' housing and the small brick transformer structures throughout the grounds. Both are evidence of continuing technological change at the fort.
Open Space and Landscape Features
Fort Totten is located on a small ridge that forms a peninsula jutting into Long Island South that is protected by a stone sea wall. Historically the peninsula was known as Thome's Point, subsequently Wilkins Point, and then Willets Point, after the major owners prior to acquisition by the U.S. government. The portions of Long Island Sound surrounding the peninsula on three sides are more specifically identified as Little Bay, Little Neck Bay, and the Hast River Channel, while the land side was historically wetlands, much of which has been filled in. The ridge rises to the northeast to a high point of 68 feet above sea level, but it drops abruptly at the north end at the site of the granite fortifications and on the west facing Little Bay. The road system of Fort Totten generally follows the topographical terrain of the ridge, creating a series of circular drives that focus attention on the parade ground and allow for vistas overlooking Long Island Sound.
The rising slope at the intersection of Bay side Street and Totten Avenue, in front of Building 635, contains the simple granite grave marker of Charles A. Willets, the property owner who gave the point its name. The steep slope rising to the south of Totten Avenue remains open.
The major open space at Fort Totten is the parade ground, which had been established after the Civil War.10 It was originally oriented in a north-south direction and fronted by buildings with the post gardens behind at the north and south. As part of the major building campaign in the early twentieth century, the parade ground was reoriented from a north-south to an east-west direction. It is likely that the trees surrounding the periphery date from that period. The parade ground is bisected by a pedestrian path, and the eastern section is sometimes called the park. Many of the major buildings of the fort continue to front the parade ground on the north, south, and west. Current plans to expand the parade ground into parklands include the demolition of several of the 1959 houses northeast of the parade ground (Buildings 406-408, 423-431, 504-514).
Two sections of the parade ground have been identified as containing archeological deposits and recommended as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Section A at the southwest corner is bordered by Story Avenue and Murray Avenue and may contain intact structural remnants from the 1866-1885 period. Section B is at the northwest corner of the eastern section (the park) bordered by Weaver Avenue and the pedestrian path; it contains intact foundation remnants and the possible remains of a storehouse from the period of the 1860S-1910.11
Historic cast-iron lamp posts edge the roads throughout the fort. These presumably were installed after 1910 when the first permanent electric sub-station was constructed. The posts have fluted shafts set on molded bases with stylized acanthus caps surmounted by octagonal lanterns.
Additional open space is located near the north end of the fort on top of Battery King (Building 500), now a baseball field bounded by Abbott Road and North Loop Road.
HISTORY OF FORT TOTTEN
Local Settlement to Government Acquisition. 1639-1857
The peninsula occupied by Fort Totten was taken from the Matinecock Indians by the Dutch in 1639. William Kieft, Governor General of New Netherlands, transferred the land by patent to the Englishman William Thome, who had been forced to Long Island from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for assisting religious dissenters. The land became known as Thome's Point, and his farmstead was called "one of the most valuable and handsome" in the area.13 The property, some 152 acres, was held by the Thome family until 1788, when Ann Thome married William Wilkins and the peninsula became known as Wilkins Point. In 1829, Charles A. Willets (1781-1832), an area nurseryman, purchased the Wilkins farmland and changed the name of the peninsula to Willets Point. Possibly Willets hoped to sell the property to the Army, as the Army Board of Engineers had recommended fortifying various points in the New York Harbor, including Willets Point and Throgs Neck, in a report issued in 1821.
A property transfer did not take place, so Willets established a nursery and built a Greek Revival style house near the north end of the peninsula. This house, now known as Building 211, was subsequently moved and remodeled in the fashionable Gothic Revival style in 1867. Presumably other service buildings were constructed by either Wilkins or Willets, but none survive. Charles Willets died in 1832 and was buried on the property down the slope from the original site of the house. His simple granite grave marker survives near the intersection of Bayside Street and Totten Avenue. Willets's heirs sold the property in 1857 to George Irving, a New York broker and land speculator.
The Fort at Willets Point: Third System. Civil War, and Reconstruction Periods (1857-1885)
The defense of New York Harbor had been a matter of continuing interest to the United States government from the time of the Revolutionary War on. Initial efforts had focused on the inner harbor utilizing the First and Second Systems of fortifications; the result was the construction of Fort Jay (later Fort Columbus), Castle Williams and the South Battery on Governors Island, Castle Clinton at the southern tip of Manhattan, Fort Wood on Bedloe's (now Liberty Island), and Fort Gibson on what is now Ellis Island.16 Following the War of 1812, the Federal government established a board to create a permanent system of defenses and fortification, which came to be known as the Third System. Organized in 1816, the board was headed by Simon Bernard, a French military engineer, Capt. J.D. Elliott of the Navy, and Maj. William McKee and Lt. Col. Joseph G. Totten of the Army Engineers.
Totten proved to be the most influential figure in the advancement of the Third System, serving for 26 years as Chief Engineer of the Army Engineers. In this capacity he was responsible for the design of most of the forts built in the United States between the 1820s and the 1860s; the Third System is often called the Totten system, in recognition of his achievement. Third System forts are generally polygonal in plan with one or more arched tiers of casemates on the seaward fronts and roof tiers of barbette emplacements (platforms from which guns were fired over parapets) surmounting the exterior walls, which were built of brick or stone or both materials. Casemate emplacement and the size and shapes of the embrasures (gun openings) were a major focus of Totten's innovations.18 In addition to the Fort at Willets Point, two other forts were named after him, one in North Dakota and the other in North Carolina.
The Bernard Board was initially charged with dealing with seacoast defense "as an activity involving the efforts of several interrelated elements—a navy, fortifications, avenues of communication in the interior, and a regular army and well-organized militia."19 The Board's first report was submitted in February 1821 and listed 18 defensive works as a top priority, followed by 32 for future construction as lesser priorities. However, by 1850, the Board envisoned a major scheme of harbor defense for the United States, with nearly 200 separate works, from the East Coast, to the Gulf of Mexico, to the Pacific Coast. In fact, because of the limitations of cost and manpower, far fewer fortifications were actually constructed.
In New York, the system of harbor fortification gradually moved to the outer harbor. While the Narrows had been guarded initially by Fort Richmond and Fort Tompkins on the Staten Island side and Fort Lafayette on the Brooklyn side, these 1812 fortifications were replaced in 1847 and 1825 respectively by the present Fort Richmond and Fort Hamilton. Throgs Neck in the Bronx acquired Fort Schuyler, beginning in 1833, to guard the entrance from Long Island Sound. Finally, the last piece of New York harbor defense under the Third System was put into place with the acquisition of 110 acres of Willets Point from George Irving in 1857.
The price, $200,000, brought forth accusations of profiteering and an abortive congressional investigation. Even though Congress appropriated some $155,000 to have plans drawn for a fortification, reputedly by Robert E. Lee, the work was not carried out despite continued calls for improving New York Harbor defenses.
With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, a temporary camp known as Camp Morgan was set up at Willets Point to train military recruits and to accommodate volunteer units, among them the 15th New York Volunteers (Engineer), the 2nd Marine Volunteers (Infantry), and the 9th Indiana Volunteers (Infantry). With fears that Confederate troops might attack New York Harbor from Long Island Sound, Congress appropriated $200,000 in 1862 for fortifications work at Willets Point. The land area of the fort was increased in 1863 with the purchase of an additional 26 acres. Work on the pentagonal casemated fortification had begun in 1862 at the north end of the peninsula. The Quartermaster's Wharf, jutting into Little Bay, was constructed at the same time to accommodate materials and supplies needed during construction.
The fortification called for four tiers of casemates on the water side and two tiers on the land side with foundations extending twelve feet below sea level and walls eight feet thick. Guns and cannon were to be mounted in the casemates. Even as construction was underway, the fortification was made obsolete by advances in military technology.22 The Rodman cannon could smash fort walls with heavy iron balls, while rifled guns and cannons could be fired with great accuracy over long ranges. Rifled projectiles could penetrate the masonry walls of fortifications and then explode inside. Only two tiers of casemates were completed at Fort Totten, and the work was subsequently abandoned.
The other major construction at the fort during the Civil War was the General Grant Hospital, completed in 1865 in the southern section of the site. Containing 1,410 beds in 37 wards, the hospital treated 5,283 soldiers in its one year of existence.23
Following the Civil War, three of the Army's four companies of Engineers were sent to the Fort at Willets Point because of existing storage facilities for the engineering materials remaining from the war. This was the first permanent garrison at the Fort where they were initially commanded by Gen. J.C. Duane and then, beginning in 1868, for some twenty years by Maj. Henry L. Abbot (1831-1927). The relocation and remodelling of the original Willets house occurred in 1867-68 in conjunction with the establishment of this permanent garrison.
Prior to 1866, the Army Engineers had headed the program at West Point. When this connection ended, a group of officers founded the Essayons Club at Willets Point to perpetuate the study of engineering in the Army.24 This became the Engineer School for Application. The Engineer Depot for the eastern United States was established at Willets Point in 1870, and a torpedo school was set up in 1873.
Under Abbot's leadership, the Engineer School of Application carried out experiments and training in engineer reconnaissance, military bridges, weaponry, astronomy, photography, submarine mines, torpedoes, submarine rockets, and searchlights, beginning in 1872. Abbot's report on a system of coastal defense by submarine mines was published in 1881 as No. 23 of the Professional Papers of the Army Corps of Engineers.25
Few of the structures that were built between 1865 and 1885 survive. Those that do include the batteries behind the Civil War battery, the seacoast mortar battery, the torpedo research and storage facilities, as well as the photo laboratory (Building 317).
While frame barracks and other housing were constructed for enlisted men and officers, none of these survive. The frame officers quarters were of the type still seen on Governors Island around Nolan Park (located within the Governor's Island Historic District). Other structures built during this period included the observatory, library and theater, the first officers mess (designed in the Gothic Revival style and later replaced by the barracks on the south side of the Parade Ground), and the first chapel, also built in the Gothic Revival style 26
Endicott Board and Taft Board Period. 1885-1914
By the 1880s, coastal and harbor defense had again become a national issue. In 1885, Congress authorized a board of experts to examine what defenses were needed at what ports. This became known as the Endicott Board after its president, Secretary of War William C. Endicott. As a result, New York was identified as one of five harbors most in need of new fortifications, and as part of the New York Harbor defense, the Fort at Willets Point was classified as one of the most essential on the East Coast .29
As the result of Congressional appropriations in the 1890, more facilities were constructed in the 1890s, especially a first phase of more permanent barracks and related service structures. The fort had been supplied with water from the Town of Flushing in 1886. The Engineers' Museum was also constructed in the 1890s.
The Fort at Willets Point was renamed in honor of Maj. Gen. Joseph G. Totten in 1898 by direction of President William McKinley.30 However, the Engineer School of Application relocated to Washington in 1901, and the Engineering Depot closed in 1902.
The mission of the fort changed as five companies of the Coast Artillery Corps were moved there. There was a major influx of personnel between 1902 and 1913 with the establishment of the Eastern Artillery District, New York, in 1906, and the Coast Defense of Eastern New York and the North Atlantic District in 1913. The building campaign that began in 1905 coincided with this change as there were many more officers on site who needed housing.
President Theodore Roosevelt appointed the Taft Board, named after Secretary of War William Howard Taft, in 1905 to review and update the harbor defense programs. By this time, emphasis had shifted from fortifications to ever increasing attention to weapons and firepower. Fort Totten was the site of innovations and experimentation with searchlights, electrification, and precision methods of fire control for greater accuracy of artillery, all under the jurisdiction of the Coast Artillery stationed there.31
World War I period
No structures built at Fort Totten during this period survive. During the war, Fort Totten served as a training and administrative post. Units of the Coast Artillery, Infantry, Engineering, Field Artillery, Army Medical Corps, Signal Corps, Anti-aircraft, and members of the First Reserve Engineers were trained at Fort Totten before going to Europe. Company A of the First Reserve Engineers, sailed for France on July 14, 1917, becoming the first unit to leave the United States for the front.
The Period between World War I and World War II. 1920-1945
A new Torpedo Depot was established in 1921 which focused on improved torpedoes, naval mines, and anti-aircraft technology. The 62nd Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) was stationed there in 1922. The batteries were abandoned completely in 1938. Many temporary structures were erected in 1940s for barracks, storage, etc. Few survive, and most are not within the boundaries of the historic district.
The first radar installation used in Anti-Aircraft Command on the east coast was constructed at Fort Totten in 1941. Fort Totten became the Headquarters of the Anti-Aircraft Command of the Eastern Defense Command. In 1944 the Eastern Defense Command Headquarters and the 1378 AAF unit of the North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command moved to Fort Totten. Fort Totten also served as the processing point for troops departing through La Guardia Field Terminal until 1947.
Post World War II to Present. 1945 on
Following World War II, Fort Totten remained in active service as the home of the 1362nd Service Unit in 1947 and the New York-New Jersey Sub-Area Headquarters for Civilian Component Activities in 1949. It housed the Fort Totten Medical Center for army personnel in 1947-49. The Development Branch of the Army Service Medical Program Agency moved to Fort Totten in 1948, being reorganized in 1957 as the U.S. Army Medical Equipment Research and Development Laboratory under direction of Army Surgeon General. The laboratory had the sole responsibility for conducting engineering research and development leading to new items of military equipment for the Army, including surgical, veterinary, dental, and optical equipment, hospital utensils, medical sets and kits, x-ray equipment, devices for insect and rodent control, and equipment for a combat casualty evacuation system.
The First Regional Army Air Defense Command was organized in 1954 to provide overall anti-aircraft defense for New England, New York, New Jersey, and Greenland. Its mission was expanded in 1961 to the defense of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington. First Anti-Aircraft Regional Command remained at Fort Totten until 1967 and included the 23 rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group; the 41st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (with 90-millimeter guns); the 66th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Missile Battalion (which monitored the Nike/Ajax and Nike/Hercules missile systems). The construction of additional housing, beginning in 1959, to the north and south of the earlier officers' housing, coincided with this command. These houses, most of which are outside the boundaries of the historic district, are of the so-called Capehart type, built in double and quadruple units.36
In 1967, Fort Totten was placed on inactive status as a sub-installation for Fort Hamilton, after the First Regional Army Air Defense Command was relocated. It continued to provide housing for military personnel in the New York City area and to serve as the headquarters of the 77th Regional Support Command (RSC), stationed at Fort Totten in 1969. The United States Coast Guard took over 9.6 acres with its related buildings near the shore of Little Bay in 1969. The parade ground and Buildings 322 and 323 were transferred to the United States Department of Labor in 1971 for use as a Job Corps Training Center. The Army Reserve remained an active presence, and the Ernie Pyle U.S. Army Reserve Center was dedicated in 1983. This building is outside the boundaries of the historic district. Other buildings at Fort Totten have been leased to various units of New York City government and non-profit entities.
- From the 1999 NYCLPC Historic District Designation Report
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