Fort D. A. Russell | |
Location | Laramie County, adjacent to west side of Cheyenne, Wyoming |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°09′59″N104°51′46″W / 41.16639°N 104.86278°W |
Area | 630 acres (250 ha) |
Built | 1867 |
NRHP reference No. | 69000191 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 1, 1969 [1] |
Designated NHLD | May 15, 1975 [2] |
Fort D. A. Russell, also known as Fort Francis E. Warren, Francis E. Warren Air Force Base and Fort David A. Russell, was a post and base of operations for the United States Army, and later the Air Force, located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The fort had been established in 1867 to protect workers for the Union Pacific Railroad. [2] It was named in honor of David Allen Russell, a Civil War general killed at the Battle of Opequon. In 1930, the fort's name was changed to Fort Francis E. Warren. In 1949, it became Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.
Over the years, the base served as home for numerous influential American military leaders such as Carl Spaatz, Black Jack Pershing, Billy Mitchell, Walter Reed, and Mark Clark. A portion of the base was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1975, for distinctively preserving many of the stages of its evolution from a frontier cavalry base to an Air Force base. [3]
Units of the 30th Infantry under Colonel John D. Stevenson began building the fort and nearby quartermaster depot (Cheyenne Depot) in August 1867. In September the first cavalry arrived, Company H of 2nd Cavalry [4] In 1884, it became a permanent base. It was the home to three Black regiments: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th Infantry (the famous Buffalo Soldiers) for much of the late 19th century.
By the turn of the 20th century, Fort D. A. Russell was one of the largest cavalry bases in the United States and several more expansions in the early 20th century further increased its size.
In 1919, the airfield became active and soon served as the home field for over 100 military aircraft. During the transition from cavalry to airplanes, the post was commanded by Edmund Wittenmyer, a veteran of World War I. [5] The last cavalry units on the post were deactivated in 1927. In 1930, the base was renamed Fort Francis E. Warren. Warren was a Medal of Honor recipient who served as Governor of Wyoming.
During World War II, Fort Francis E. Warren served as a training facility for the US Army Quartermaster Corps. A prisoner of war camp was also constructed on the site.
In 1949, the base was redesignated the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base and became part of the Strategic Air Command in 1958. The base became the headquarters for the 90th Strategic Missile Wing in 1963. The wing controlled over 200 ICBMs during the Cold War. The base was the only missile wing to have Peacekeeper missiles which were deactivated in October 2005.
On October 1, 1993, the Twentieth Air Force, which controls all of America's ICBM wings, relocated its headquarters to Warren.
The fort was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 15, 1975, while still Francis E. Warren Air Force Base. [2] [3]
The majority of the structures in the historic district have been maintained. [2] At least 88 housing units have been abated for lead and asbestos materials. Three buildings were renovated in accordance with standards of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. The Air Force was tasked to restore the two deck porches on many buildings in the district. [2]
Vandenberg Space Force Base, previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from the Western Range, and also performs missile testing. The United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 30 serves as the host delta for the base, equivalent to an Air Force air base wing. In addition to its military space launch mission, Vandenberg Space Force Base also hosts space launches for civil and commercial space entities, such as NASA and SpaceX.
Fort Caspar was a military post of the United States Army in present-day Wyoming, named after 2nd Lieutenant Caspar Collins, a U.S. Army officer who was killed in the 1865 Battle of the Platte Bridge Station against the Lakota and Cheyenne. Founded in 1859 along the banks of the North Platte River as a trading post and toll bridge on the Oregon Trail, the post was later taken over by the Army and named Platte Bridge Station to protect emigrants and the telegraph line against raids from Lakota and Cheyenne in the ongoing wars between those nations and the United States. The site of the fort, near the intersection of 13th Street and Wyoming Boulevard in Casper, Wyoming, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is now owned and operated by the City of Casper as the Fort Caspar Museum and Historic Site.
The Wyoming State Capitol is located in the city of Cheyenne. Cheyenne is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Wyoming, also hosting the workspace for the governor, and his staff; Mark Gordon. Built between 1886 and 1890, the capitol is located in Cheyenne and contains the chambers of the Wyoming State Legislature as well as the office of the Governor of Wyoming. It was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1987. The Capitol underwent an extensive three-year renovation and reopened to the public on July 10, 2019.
Fort Laramie was a significant 19th-century trading post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte Rivers. They joined in the upper Platte River Valley in the eastern part of the present-day U.S. state of Wyoming. The fort was founded as a private trading-post in the 1830s to service the overland fur trade; in 1849, it was purchased by the United States Army. The site was located east of the long climb leading to the best and lowest crossing-point over the Rocky Mountains at South Pass and became a popular stopping-point for migrants on the Oregon Trail. Along with Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, the trading post and its supporting industries and businesses were the most significant economic hub of commerce in the region.
Fort D. A. Russell is the name of an American military installation near Marfa, Texas, that was active from 1911 to 1946. It is named for David Allen Russell, a Civil War general killed at the Battle of Opequon, September 19, 1864.
Cheyenne Regional Airport is a civil-military airport a mile north of downtown Cheyenne, in Laramie County, Wyoming. It is owned by the Cheyenne Regional Airport Board.
Fort Washakie was a U.S. Army fort in what is now the U.S. state of Wyoming. The fort was established in 1869 and named Camp Augur after General Christopher C. Augur, commander of the Department of the Platte. In 1870 the camp was renamed Camp Brown in honor of Captain Frederick H. Brown, who was killed in the Fetterman Massacre in 1866.
The Cheyenne Depot Museum is a railroad museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States. It is located inside the 1880s Union Pacific Railroad depot. A National Historic Landmark, the station was the railroad's largest west of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and a major western example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture.
A private in the Fourth Infantry, Charles Howard served as photographer for the Stanton Expedition in 1877, traveling throughout eastern Wyoming, western Nebraska and into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory.
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistical area which encompasses all of Laramie County and had 100,512 residents as of the 2020 census. Local residents named the town for the Cheyenne Native American people in 1867 when it was founded in the Dakota Territory. Along with Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Topeka, Kansas, Cheyenne is one of three state capitals with an indigenous name in a state with an indigenous name.
Wyoming Highway 210 (WYO 210), also known as Happy Jack Road, is a 37.79-mile (60.82 km) state highway in Laramie and Albany counties in Wyoming, United States, that runs from Cheyenne to Interstate 80/U.S. Route 30 (I-80/US 30), 10 miles (16 km) east of Laramie.
During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Wyoming for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers.
The Boeing United Airlines Terminal, Hangar and Fountain in Cheyenne, Wyoming were built for Boeing Air Transport between 1929 and 1934. The Louis Sullivan-influenced designs form a consistent theme in a time when Cheyenne Municipal Airport was a major air transport facility. The 1930 hangar was designed by Cheyenne architect Frederic Porter, Sr. The 1934 Art Deco fountain was designed as a memorial to early aviation history.
Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, shortened as F.E. Warren AFB is a United States Air Force base (AFB) located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is one of three strategic-missile bases in the U.S. It was named in honor of Francis E. Warren in 1930. Warren AFB is home of the 90th Missile Wing, assigned to the Twentieth Air Force, Air Force Global Strike Command. The 90 MW operates the LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBM. It is also the home of Twentieth Air Force, which commands all U.S. Air Force ICBMs.
The 300th Field Artillery Regiment is a Field Artillery regiment of the United States Army.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church is a historic church in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Nagle Warren Mansion, also known as Cheyenne YWCA Building, is former residence and YWCA with three buildings located in Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming. The mansion is on the edge of Cheyenne's historic downtown section on Cattle Barons’ Row. It operated as a bed and breakfast ("B&B") establishment since 1997 with twelve guest rooms decorated in Victorian West style. One guest room is a suite and each room has its own bath. Six rooms are in the main house and six in the carriage house. There are three conference rooms. The B&B had an AAA four-diamond rating. Furnishings and decorations are authentic to the period of the American Old West and include furniture; wallpaper; brass, marble, bronze, or gas fireplaces; ornate staircases; cherry, mahogany, and oak woodwork; and stained glass windows, as well as some Moorish tile and a Moroccan chandelier. In 2019 it became a private residence.
The City and County Building, also known as the City-County Building, at 19th St. and Carey Ave. in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was built during 1917–1919. It was designed by architect William Dubois in Classical Revival style.
The Atlas Theatre, also known as the Atlas Building, at 213 W. 16th St. in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was dating from 1887 and was built out as a theatre in 1908. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Fort Steele, also known as Fort Fred Steele, was established to protect the newly built Union Pacific Railroad from attacks by Native Americans during construction of the transcontinental railroad in the United States. The fort was built in 1868 where the railroad crossed the North Platte River in Carbon County, Wyoming. Work on the fort was carried out by military and civilian labor. Fort Steele was one of three forts built on the line. Fort Sanders near Laramie and Fort D.A. Russell at Cheyenne were the other railroad forts. Fort Steele was named for the recently deceased General Frederick Steele.