Fort Wadsworth

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Fort Wadsworth
Staten Island, New York
Fort Wadsworth 01.jpg
Battery Weed at Fort Wadsworth
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Type National Recreation Area unit
Site information
Controlled by U.S. Army until 1979 (?)
U.S. Navy 1979-1995
National Park Service 1995-present
Site history
Built 1663 (blockhouse)

Fort Wadsworth is a former United States military installation on Staten Island in New York City, situated on The Narrows which divide New York Bay into Upper and Lower halves, a natural point for defense of the Upper Bay and Manhattan beyond. Prior to closing in 1994 it claimed to be the longest continually manned military installation in the United States. Fort Wadsworth is now part of the Staten Island Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, maintained by the National Park Service.

History

A view of Fort Wadsworth from across the Narrows by Seth Eastman, commissioned by the U.S. Army in 1870
Fort Wadsworth (foreground) on the Narrows, under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

The first use of the land for military purposes was as the site of a blockhouse in 1663. During the American Revolution it became known as Flagstaff Fort; captured by the British in 1776, it remained in British hands until the war's end in 1783. It became the responsibility of New York State in 1806, and reverted to federal control during the War of 1812. Divided into several smaller units, including Fort Tompkins and Fort Richmond, its present name was adopted in 1864 to honor Brigadier General James Wadsworth, who had been killed in the Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War.

In 1910, the fort fired a 21-gun salute to former President Theodore Roosevelt as his ship passed through the Narrows on his return from a nearly year-long trip to Africa and Europe.[1] In 1913, ground was broken by President William Howard Taft for a proposed National American Indian Memorial that was to be built on the site of Fort Tompkins. The monument was to include a 165-foot-tall (50 m) statue of an American Indian on the bluff overlooking the Narrows, but difficulties in fundraising and the advent of World War I precluded fruition of the plan.[2]

By 1924, Fort Wadsworth had become an infantry post. From 1948 to 1952 Fort Wadsworth was the Headquarters of the 102nd Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade (New York National Guard) for the Air Defense of New York City. From 1952 until 1960 it was the Headquarters of the 52nd Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade when the Brigade moved to the Highlands Air Force Station. It then was the site of the United States Army Chaplain school before being turned over to the United States Navy in 1979,[citation needed] which used it as the headquarters of Naval Station New York. As a result of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission process, the Navy left and the property was transferred to the National Park Service as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area in 1995. With 1996 the closure of the United States Coast Guard Atlantic Area headquarters and base at Governors Island, their New York-based operations moved to Wadsworth, taking over some of the buildings and housing previously occupied by the Navy. As of 2007, they are occupied by the United States Coast Guard's Sector New York[3] and Maritime Safety and Security Team 91106. The United States Army Reserve occupies several buildings on the fort. Other buildings house administrative and educational facilities for the National Park Service as well as operations for the United States Park Police.

Historic structures include Battery Weed, directly on the harbor, and Fort Tompkins on the bluff above. Both were built in the mid-19th Century and are open to the public on guided tours only. There are several smaller early 20th Century coastal artillery batteries and an overlook with panoramic views of the Upper Bay, Brooklyn and Manhattan. The National Park Service maintained a visitors' center on site until 2013 and offered ranger-led tours of the facilities.

Extract of NPS Map of Fort Wadsworth, circa 2011

Annual events

The New York City Marathon, an annual marathon (42.195 km or 26.219 mi) that courses through the five boroughs of New York City, starts on Fort Wadsworth. The Five Boro Bike Tour is an annual recreational cycling event in New York City that starts at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan and ends with a festival in Fort Wadsworth.

Neighborhood

The name "Fort Wadsworth" is also sometimes used to denote the residential neighborhood surrounding the former fort, the neighborhood south of Rosebank, west of Shore Acres and north of South Beach. This neighborhood once had a station on the South Beach Branch of the Staten Island Railway; service on this branch ceased in 1953.

 Rosebank & Clifton Shore Acres & Upper New York Bay Bay Ridge & Fort Hamilton
Rosebank The Narrows & Atlantic Ocean
  Fort Wadsworth  
Grasmere Arrochar South Beach & Lower New York Bay

In popular culture

In the G.I. Joe comic book, G.I. Joe's elite United States military counterterroism unit operated from "The Pit," a secret underground base concealed beneath the Motor Pool of the Army Chaplains' Assistants School at Fort Wadsworth. After The Pit was destroyed by a Cobra surprise attack, G.I. Joe relocated the headquarters to an undisclosed location. Although written in 1982, the book still depicted the fort as the home of the "Chaplain's Assistants School", due to Larry Hama's memories of the fort from his years in the service. Also, Ft. Wadsworth did not actually have a proper motor pool; its equipment was serviced at Fort Hamilton.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Staten Island Register, May 5, 1998, p. 5
  3. ↑ http://homeport.uscg.mil/mycg/portal/ep/portDirectory.do?tabId=1&cotpId=2

External links

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