Fort Lawton

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Fort Lawton
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Fort Lawton post exchange and gymnasium
Location:	Seattle, Washington
Built/Founded:	1900–1917
Architect:	Unknown
Architectural style(s):	Colonial Revival
Added to NRHP:	August 15, 1978
NRHP Reference#:	78002752

In the Historic District, looking toward Puget Sound. The visible buildings are, left to right, the Band Barracks, Guard House and Quartermasters Stables.

Fort Lawton is a United States Army fort located in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The fort was included in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure list.

In 1896, the Secretary of War selected what would later be Fort Lawton for construction of an artillery battery intended to defend Seattle and the south Puget Sound from naval attack. Local citizens and governments donated 703 acres land to the United States Army for the installation the next year.

Fort Lawton was named after Major General Henry Ware Lawton (1843-1899), a veteran of the American Civil War, the Indian Wars, and Spanish-American War campaigns who was killed in action in the Philippines. The fort opened on February 9, 1900 on a 1,100 acre (4.5 km²) site, which was redesigned in 1902 for infantry use. In 1910 a design overhaul, to include housing for officers and enlisted men, was prepared by landscape architect John C. Olmsted. Then in 1938 the Army offered to sell Fort Lawton back to the city of Seattle for the cost of one dollar, but the city declined, citing maintenance concerns.

At least 20,000 troops were stationed at Fort Lawton at a time during World War II, with over 1 million troops passing through both before and after the war. The base was also used as a Prisoner of War (POW) camp, with over 1000 Germans imprisoned there and approximately 5,000 Italians passing through en route to Hawaii for imprisonment. On August 15, 1944 an Italian POW, Guglielmo Olivotto, was found murdered at Fort Lawton after a night of rioting between Italian POWs and American soldiers. Twenty-eight African-American soldiers were later court-martialed, convicted of the crime, and sent to prison. The convictions were set aside in 2007. Two were still alive.^[1]

In the 1950s, anti-aircraft missiles and radar were in use at Fort Lawton, but in 1968 the site was rejected for proposed defense upgrades. The Army surplussed 534 acres in 1971, which was given back to the city in 1972, and dedicated as Discovery Park in 1973. Fort Lawton still exists within the park as headquarters of the U.S. Army Reserve's 70th Regional Readiness Command and a military housing site. However, this may also soon be closed due to the 2005 Base realignment and closure act.

1 The Historic District
2 The Chapel
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links

[edit] The Historic District

The Fort Lawton Historic District (FLHD) in the heart of the Fort Lawton grounds contains numerous historic buildings and structures; numerous other buildings and structures have stood there in the past. The following list includes only buildings and structures that survived at least into the 1980s.

Official structure number	Structure	Constructed	Comments	Image
417	Administration Building	1902
640	Double Officers Quarters	1904
642	Double Officers Quarters	1904
644	Double Officers Quarters	1904
653	Air Defense Operations Building	1960
654	FAA Radar Building	ca. 1959		Radar buildings Building 672 and 670 can also be seen at left, and 640–644 at right.
655	FAA Radar Antenna Dome	ca. 1959
670	Single Officers Quarters	1904		670-area housing
672	Double Officers Quarters	1899
676	Double Officers Quarters	1899
679	Double Officers Quarters	1899
681	Reviewing Stand	1900
730	Double Barracks	1904	Destroyed by fire February 13, 1983
731	Double Barracks	1899
S-732	Post Gymnasium	1942
733	Post Exchange and Gymnasium	1905
734	Band Barracks	1904
735	Bakehouse	1902	Bakery until ca. 1938, offices until ca. 1960
754	Quartermaster Shops	1905
755	Civilian Employees Quarters	1908
T-756	Commissary Warehouse	1939
757	Quartermaster Storehouse	1899
759	Guard House	1902
T-760	Storehouse	1938	Used at some point as a garage for a fire truck
T-761	Bus Stop	1949
901	Double NCO Quarters	1933		900-area housing
902	Double NCO Quarters	1933
903	Double NCO Quarters	1904
904	Single Family NCO Quarters	1930s
905	Double NCO Quarters	1899
906	Single NCO Quarters	1902	Former hospital steward's quarters; moved from another location within the Fort Lawton grounds ca. WWII
907	Double NCO Quarters	1899
909	Double NCO Quarters	1904
915	Quartermaster Storehouse	1905
915A	Addition to Quartermaster Storehouse	1939
915B	Bulk Storage Warehouse	1938
916	Quartermaster Stables	1908		Building 916
917	Quartermaster Stables	1902		Building 916
S-918	Post Engineer Facility and Vehicle Storage Building	1904	Later turned into a groundskeeper's building

Source for buildings, construction dates, comments:^[2]

[edit] The Chapel

In addition, the chapel, which is outside the Historic District, has the status of a city landmark.^[3]

[edit] Notes

^ Yardley, "1944 Conviction of Black G.I.’s Is Ruled Flawed"
^ Steve Wilke and Karen James, An Archeological Evaluation of the Fort Lawton Historical District, Seattle, Geo-Recon International (Seattle), July 1984. A report submitted to the City of Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation. p 43–47.
^ Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for F, Individual Landmarks, Department of Neighborhoods, City of Seattle. Accessed 28 December 2007.