Fort Benjamin Harrison Historic District | |
Location | E. 56th St.; also roughly bounded by Shafter Rd., Aultman Ave., and Glenn Rd., Lawrence Township, Marion County, Indiana |
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Coordinates | 39°51′50″N86°0′38″W / 39.86389°N 86.01056°W |
Area | 360 acres (150 ha) |
Built | 1908 |
Built by | Army Quartermaster Corps |
Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 93001581, 95001359 (Boundary Increase) [1] |
Added to NRHP | September 6, 1995, December 1, 1995 (Boundary Increase) |
Fort Benjamin Harrison was a U.S. Army post located in suburban Lawrence Township, Marion County, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis, between 1906 and 1991. It is named for the 23rd United States president, Benjamin Harrison.
In 1901, Russell Harrison, the son of former U.S. president Benjamin Harrison, facilitated the sale of a U.S. Arsenal near downtown Indianapolis. The U.S. Army used the proceeds to buy land in 1903 in a more remote area, where the fort is located today. [2] Secretary of War Elihu Root named the post for President Benjamin Harrison in honor of Harrison's hometown. [3]
Fort Benjamin Harrison saw its highest levels of activity during World War I and World War II. The Fort Benjamin Harrison Reception Center (for inducting draftees) opened in 1941 and by 1943 was the largest reception center in the United States. [4]
Within Fort Harrison was Camp Glenn, named in honor of Major General Edwin Forbes Glenn, who had served as Fort Harrison's commandant from 1912 to 1913, [5] and who had commanded the officer training that began at his camps in 1916. [6] Camp Glenn was a Citizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) that was also used to house Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers. [7] When the United States reestablished the Military Police Corps in 1941, an MP school was established at Camp Glenn and was in operation by early 1942. [8] The area was also used to detain Italian and German prisoners of war in 1944 and 1945. [8]
In 1947, the Army declared Fort Harrison to be surplus property, [9] but declined to completely close it due to a lack of adequate training space for the Indiana National Guard. [10] From 1948 to 1950, the post functioned as Benjamin Harrison Air Force Base. The Tenth Air Force was moved from Omaha, Nebraska, and headquartered at both Schoen Field on Fort Harrison and Stout Army Air Field in Indianapolis. [11] Overcrowding and inadequate facilities soon forced the 10th Air Force to move to Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, and the Army reacquired control of Fort Benjamin Harrison.
It became the home of the United States Army Adjutant General School in March 1951. In 1957, the school moved into the new Gates-Lord Hall along with the United States Army Finance School. At the time, this 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m2) building was the third largest owned by the Department of Defense. The Adjutant General School remained there until the Base Realignment resulted in its move to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, starting in 1991. By 1995, the Adjutant General School had completely vacated Fort Benjamin Harrison. [12] The Finance School also moved to Fort Jackson in 1995.
The Interservice Postal School was located at Fort Benjamin Harrison in the 1970s under the US Army Institute of Administration (USAIA), and was staffed by instructors from all four services. It also moved to Fort Jackson in 1995.
Beginning in 1965, Fort Harrison was also the home of the Defense Information School (DINFOS). This was staffed by enlisted personnel and officers from all branches of the US military along with members of allied military personnel. DINFOS trained service members and Department of Defense employees to become journalists in print, radio, television, and photography, as well as training them in advanced supervisory roles in editing, public affairs, and media and community relations. In 1995, DINFOS moved to Fort Meade, Maryland.
With the movement and creation of a number of training classes in financial, clerical, and information technology (most notably the Programmer/Analyst Course and the Computer Machine Operator Course) the fort was given the derisive moniker "Uncle Ben's Rest Home" implying that no real military training took place there.
The Fort was the site of the Athletes' Villages for the 1987 Pan American Games. Construction documents were created for new buildings to house the athletes, but the buildings were not built.
Fort Benjamin Harrison was closed as part of the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The site of the base has since been redeveloped, and includes residential neighborhoods, a golf course, and is the site of Fort Harrison State Park.
Although the base has officially been inactivated, there is still a very significant military presence in the area. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service—Indianapolis, several United States Army Reserve, two United States Marine Corps Reserve detachments, United States Navy Reserve, Indiana National Guard units, the United States Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS), an AAFES post exchange and commissary are still located at the former post. [13]
Since 1999, the American Legion has had its John H. Geiger Operations Center located at Fort Harrison. The center houses the Membership Services staff who maintain the organization's membership database and provide direct-marketing services for membership renewal and new-member acquisition. It also houses the Emblem Sales Division which provides Legion merchandise, and the Fundraising Division which draws support for both national and department-level programs. [14]
On May 29, 2009, the Indiana National Guard held a ground-breaking ceremony for a new facility, the Lawrence Readiness Training Center, which opened in 2011. [15] The facility houses four units, including the 76th Brigade Combat Team headquarters. [16]
The Veterans of Foreign Wars maintains its headquarters for the Department of Indiana on the site at 9555 E. 59th Street. [17]
Fort Benjamin Harrison Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The district encompasses 100 contributing buildings, one contributing site (Parade Grounds), and three contributing structures (Water Tower, Kent Avenue Bridge, and Bandstand). It includes one and two-story Colonial Revival style brick buildings that were part of the original fort complex. They include residential and administrative buildings, service / utility buildings, and the hospital unit. [1] [18]
The 84th Training Command ("Railsplitters") is a formation of the United States Army. During World War I it was designated the 84th Division, American Expeditionary Forces; during World War II it was known as the 84th Infantry Division. From 1946 to 1952, the division was a part of the United States Army Reserve as the 84th Airborne Division. In 1959, the division was reorganized and redesignated once more as the 84th Division. The division was headquartered in Milwaukee in command of over 4,100 soldiers divided into eight brigades—including an ROTC brigade—spread throughout seven states.
The 100th Training Division (Leader Development) (formerly the 100th Infantry Division) is a division of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Knox, Kentucky. It currently serves as a major training command of the United States Army Reserve. It has been known as the "Century Division" owing to its "100th" designation.
The 76th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I, World War II and the Cold War. The division was inactivated in 1996 and has been reconstituted as the 76th US Army Reserve Operational Response Command in 2013.
The 38th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the United States Army and part of the Indiana National Guard. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, and contains Army National Guard units from across the Midwest.
The Jefferson Proving Ground, located near Madison, Indiana, is a former munitions testing facility of Test and Evaluation Command of the United States Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command. The grounds of JPG serve as a wildlife refuge, as well as a gunnery range. Department of Defense organizations and private contractors are assigned to the area.
Fort Harrison, sometimes called Fort Ben, is an Indiana state park located in Lawrence, Indiana, United States, and occupies part of the former site of Fort Benjamin Harrison. The park features a former Citizen's Military Training Camp, Civilian Conservation Corps camp, and World War II prisoner of war camp. There are also picnicking and walking/jogging trails including a connection to the Fall Creek Greenway. The park receives nearly 900,000 visitors annually.
The Defense Information School (DINFOS) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) school located at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. DINFOS fulfills the Department of Defense's need for an internal corps of professional journalists, broadcasters, and public affairs professionals. Members from all branches of the U.S. military, DoD civilians and international military personnel attend DINFOS for training in public affairs, print journalism, photojournalism, photography, television and radio broadcasting, lithography, equipment maintenance and various forms of multimedia. Since 1995, DINFOS is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education. The American Council on Education recommends college credit for most DINFOS courses.
The Indiana National Guard (INNG) is a component of the United States Armed Forces, the United States National Guard and the Military Department of Indiana (MDI). It consists of the Indiana Army National Guard, the Indiana Air National Guard, and the Adjutant General's Office.
Robert Henry Tyndall was a United States artillery officer in World War I, a major general, and mayor of Indianapolis during World War II.
Camp Mabry is a military installation in Austin, Texas, housing the headquarters of the Texas Military Department, Texas Military Forces, and Texas Military Forces Museum. Established in 1892, Camp Mabry is the third-oldest active military installation in Texas, behind Fort Sam Houston and Fort Bliss. It was named for Brigadier General Woodford H. Mabry, the Adjutant General of Texas when the camp was founded. The camp was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, previously known as the Benjamin Harrison Home, is the former home of the 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison. It is in the Old Northside Historic District of Indianapolis, Indiana. Harrison's 16-room house was built from 1874 to 1875. It was from the front porch of the house that Harrison instituted his famous Front Porch Campaign in the 1888 United States presidential campaign, often speaking to crowds on the street. In 1896, Harrison renovated the house and added electricity. He died there in a second-story bedroom in 1901. Today it is owned by the Arthur Jordan Foundation and operated as a museum to the former president by the Benjamin Harrison Foundation.
Citizens' Military Training Camps (CMTC) were military training programs of the United States. Held annually each summer during the years 1921 to 1940, the CMTC camps differed from National Guard and Organized Reserve training in that the program allowed male citizens to obtain basic military training without an obligation to call-up for active duty. The CMTC were authorized by the National Defense Act of 1920 as a compromise that rejected universal military training. In its nearly two decades of operation, the CMTC trained some 400,000 men in at least one season from 1921 to 1940. Overall the program was disappointing, as only 5,000 officer commissions were awarded to men who completed the required four summers of training.
The 205th Infantry Brigade, was first formed as part of the United States Army Reserve's 103rd Division. It was active from 1921 to 1942 and then from 1963 through 1994, and then reformed in 2006.
The 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is a modular infantry brigade of the United States Army National Guard of Indiana. It is headquartered in Lawrence Readiness Training Center, on the grounds of Fort Benjamin Harrison.
During the American Civil War, Indianapolis, the state capital of Indiana, was a major base of supplies for the Union. Governor Oliver P. Morton, a major supporter of President Abraham Lincoln, quickly made Indianapolis a gathering place to organize and train troops for the Union army. The city became a major railroad hub for troop transport to Confederate lands, and therefore had military importance. Twenty-four military camps were established in the vicinity of Indianapolis. Camp Morton, the initial mustering ground to organize and train the state's Union volunteers in 1861, was designated as a major prisoner-of-war camp for captured Confederate soldiers in 1862. In addition to military camps, a state-owned arsenal was established in the city in 1861, and a federal arsenal in 1862. A Soldiers' Home and a Ladies' Home were established in Indianapolis to house and feed Union soldiers and their families as they passed through the city. Indianapolis residents also supported the Union cause by providing soldiers with food, clothing, equipment, and supplies, despite rising prices and wartime hardships, such as food and clothing shortages. Local doctors aided the sick, some area women provided nursing care, and Indianapolis City Hospital tended to wounded soldiers. Indianapolis sent an estimated 4,000 men into military service; an estimated 700 died during the war. Indianapolis's Crown Hill National Cemetery was established as one of two national military cemeteries established in Indiana in 1866.
The Adjutant General School and the Soldier Support Institute (SSI) are located at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The school was formerly located at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, until its closure. These provide training and development of doctrine and organization for Army personnel and administrative operations. Along with the U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM), United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) was created from the Continental Army Command (CONARC) located at Fort Monroe, VA on 1 July 1973. Today, TRADOC is the overseer of training of the Army forces, the development of operational doctrine, and the development and procurement of new weapons systems. The reconstructed Adjutant General Corp Regiment (AG) was created in 1987. The U.S. Army administration and finance specialists are trained at the Adjutant General School located at Fort Jackson. Today's AG Corps serves as human resource (HR) managers for the Army.
The 151st Infantry Regiment is an infantry unit in the Indiana National Guard, part of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Separate).
Walter Lawrence Reed was a major general in the United States Army who served as Inspector General of the Army from 1 December 1935 to 23 December 1939. His father was Army Medical Corps officer Major Walter Reed, namesake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was born in Fort Apache, Arizona, and moved to Washington, D.C., where he spent most of his early life. Reed fought in the Spanish–American War and traveled across the country and to the Panama Canal Zone. He then began working as an inspector during World War I and became the inspector of Base Section Number 5 in February 1919 then worked in the American Expeditionary Forces office. For his work he earned the Distinguished Service Medal. Reed attended various military schools before returning to the Inspector General's department. In 1935 he became the inspector general of the United States Army. He retired in 1940, but was recalled to active duty during World War II, filling a role in the War Department until 1946. Reed died in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1956.
Camp Edwin F. Glenn is a national historic district located at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana. It encompasses 19 contributing buildings and 360 contributing structures in a former military camp. The district developed between about 1925 and 1941. It originally served as a Citizens' Military Training Camp from 1925 to 1941, a camp for the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1933 to 1941, and a Prisoner of War camp from 1944 to 1945. The district includes six warehouses, five mess halls, five lavatories, a branch exchange, butcher shop, latrine, and 360 concrete tent pads.