Fort Douglas, Utah
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Fort Douglas (initially called Camp Douglas) was established in October 1862, during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, as a small military garrison about three miles east of
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
,
Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
. Its purpose was to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the
Central Overland Route The Central Overland Route (also known as the "Central Overland Trail", "Central Route", "Redden's Way", "Simpson's Route", or the "Egan Trail") was a transportation route from Salt Lake City, Utah south of the Great Salt Lake through the mounta ...
. It was officially closed in 1991 pursuant to BRAC action. At one time, the Post contained 10,525 acres; today the military occupies just 58 acres ), operating as the Stephen A. Douglas Armed Forces Reserve Center. The center will be fully shut down by 2026 and the land will be given to the University of Utah for future development. Most of the fort's former property has been turned over to the
University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...
and many of its buildings are preserved and used by the university for a variety of purposes. The Fort Douglas Military Museum is housed in two former barracks buildings. The fort was designated a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 1975, for its role in the Civil War and in furthering the settlement of Utah.


History


Establishment

Early in the Civil War, the threat of violence increased with the withdrawal of Federal troops from the West for use against the
Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...
. Colonel Patrick Connor was ordered to reestablish a military presence with volunteer soldiers in the
Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th st ...
. He selected a site east of
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
, and Camp Douglas, named after Senator
Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...
, was officially established there on October 26, 1862. Connor's men were Union volunteers from both California and Nevada. The post served as headquarters for the District of Utah in the
Department of the Pacific The Department of the Pacific or Pacific Department was a major command ( Department) of the United States Army from 1853 to 1858. It replaced the Pacific Division, and was itself replaced by the Department of California and the Department of O ...
.


Regular Army arrives, 1866–1874

Following the end of the Civil War, between 1866 and 1898, the fort was part of the
Department of the Platte The Department of the Platte was a military administrative district established by the U.S. Army on March 5, 1866, with boundaries encompassing Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota Territory, Utah Territory and a small portion of Idaho. With headquarters in Oma ...
. Its importance increased when the
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
and Central Pacific railroads joined rails at
Promontory Summit Promontory is an area of high ground in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, 32 mi (51 km) west of Brigham City and 66 mi (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City. Rising to an elevation of 4,902 feet (1,494 m) above s ...
, Utah, on May 10, 1869, completing the
Transcontinental Railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous rail transport, railroad trackage that crosses a continent, continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the Ra ...
.


1878–1902

Through the efforts of Utah's U.S. Sen.
Thomas Kearns Thomas Kearns (April 11, 1862 – October 18, 1918) was an American mining, banking, railroad, and newspaper magnate. He was a US Senator from Utah from 1901 to 1905. Unlike the predominantly Mormon constituents of his state, Senator Kearns was ...
, the camp became a regimental post and was renamed "Fort Douglas."


World War I

During World War I, the fort was used as a camp during German American internment, and as a camp for
Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...
POWs. One of the crews kept there was from the SMS ''Cormoran'', which had left the German colony of
Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, at the beginning of the war and stopped at
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in December 1914 to refuel and take on provisions. Denied the coal needed for their boilers, the German captain reluctantly submitted to detention. When the United States entered the war on the Allied side in 1917, the crew were made prisoners of war and were sent to Fort Douglas.


Interwar period

In 1922, the fort became the base of the 38th Infantry, which remained there until August 1940.


World War II

Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Fort Douglas became an Army Air Field in conjunction with Salt Lake City Municipal Airport and housed the 7th Bombardment Group operating
B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...
es. However, Fort Douglas proper was taken over by the Army ground forces when fears of a Japanese attack of the U.S. mainland caused the Ninth Service Command Headquarters to move from Utah to the
Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part ...
.


Final years, 1945–1991

After
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Army began disposing of its land, transferring it to the
University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...
, located adjacent to it. However, it maintained Army Reserve functions there for decades, notably with the 96th Army Reserve Command under the command of Maj. Gen. Michael B. Kauffman, who had spent much of his Army career at the fort and was instrumental in keeping it alive well past its announced closing in the 1970s. The Fort Douglas Military Museum is housed in a building named after Maj. Gen. Kauffman, who founded the museum and built it into one of the United States' premier military museums featuring exhibits from all branches of the Armed Services. Between 1962 and 1973, Fort Douglas was the site of the Deseret Test Center (Buildings 103 and 105) with the responsibility of evaluating
chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
and
biological weapon Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and Toxin#Biotoxins, biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,2 ...
s, although no tests were actually performed on the base. On October 26, 1991, the fort closed officially, though the Utah National Guard maintained control of the museum, and the 96th ARCOM received the parts of the fort that were not deeded to the university.


1991–Present


Armed Forces Reserve Center

A small portion of the southwestern section of the original fort remains in use by the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR). This portion of the fort is designated the Stephen A. Douglas Armed Forces Reserve Center. The reserve center consists of 51 acres, and includes the historic Soldier's Circle, along with several sub-installation buildings. The center hosts offices, along with training and support space for 'headquarters staff for two Army Reserve commands, and staff from other Army, Navy and Marine Reserve units'. In 2023, the
Utah State Legislature The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term ...
allocated $100 million, via Senate Bill 2, to facilitate the relocation of the reserve center from Fort Douglas to land near the Utah National Guard’s Camp Williams in Bluffdale. The appropriated funds were to be used to acquire property, and for the design and construction of facilities at the new site. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new reserve center at Camp Williams was held in August 2024, which, at the time, was expected to be completed in 2026. After the relocation is complete, the historic reserve property will be transferred to the university for continued development of their campus.


=Commands hosted

= As of 2023, the commands hosted at the reserve center include: * 76th Operational Response Command *
807th Medical Command (Deployment Support) The 807th Theater Medical Command (TMC), formerly the 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support) (MC(DS)), is headquartered at Fort Douglas, Utah, Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah. It manages all U.S. Army Reserve deployable field medical un ...


University of Utah Campus

In 1991, the University of Utah received a significant portion of the fort's remaining property. During the
2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...
held in Salt Lake City, much of the university's campus was used to host events. The Olympic Organizing Committee and university built the
Olympic Village An Olympic Village is a residential complex built or reassigned for the Olympic Games in or nearby the List of Olympic Games host cities, host city for the purpose of accommodating all of the delegations. Olympic Villages are usually located clos ...
to house participating athletes on former fort property; the village housing now serves as on-campus housing for university students. Stilwell Field is used as a parking lot during special events, such as football games. The Officers' Club building is used as a conference center by the university, and several of the officer's quarters house university departments (such as the American Indian Resource Center). There has been some controversy surrounding the university's stewardship of the historic fort property. In 2015 it was revealed that during construction work to upgrade the university's electrical system, buried period artifacts had been removed and discarded at a landfill.


Cemetery

A cemetery was established in 1862 about a mile south of the original parade grounds. In 1864, the soldiers at the post improved the cemetery significantly. They erected a monument in the center dedicated to the memory of the soldiers killed during the Bear River Massacre. They also constructed a red sandstone wall around the cemetery, with a steel gate located at the north end. The following year, a smaller monument was added for Utah Gov. James D. Doty following his death and burial in the cemetery. Later, the cemetery was expanded to accommodate a larger number of burials, not only from the fort, but also from Fort Cameron following its closure. A special section of the cemetery was also added for the German prisoners of war who died here during World War II. The Fort Douglas Cemetery was transferred from the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
to the National Cemetery Administration in 2019. The Cemetery is actively maintained, but is closed to new internments. A list of cemetery burials is available through the Utah History Research Center'
cemetery database
The cemetery was damaged during the 2020 Utah windstorm, during which hurricane-force winds knocked down large trees, damaging headstones and other historic features of the cemetery.


See also

* List of National Historic Landmarks in Utah * National Register of Historic Places listings in Salt Lake City, Utah * Camp Floyd * List of military installations in Utah * Statue of Patrick Edward Connor


Notes


Sources

*Madsen, Brigham D. ''The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre'' (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1985) *Hibbard, Charles G. ''Fort Douglas, Utah: A Frontier Fort'' (Vestige Press, 1999)


External links


Historic Fort Douglas
University of Utah (''archived website'')

a story map created by the Utah Division of State History and Fort Douglas Military Museum
Fort Douglas Military Museum Association
* * {{Authority control American Civil War army posts Douglas Military and war museums in Utah Museums in Salt Lake County, Utah University of Utah Former installations of the United States Army Formerly Used Defense Sites in Utah Utah in the American Civil War Utah Territory 1862 establishments in Utah Territory Douglas Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah Internment of German Americans National Historic Landmarks in Utah National Register of Historic Places in Salt Lake City Historic American Buildings Survey in Utah University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah World War I prisoner-of-war camps in the United States World War I internment camps