Fort Barry
Fort Barry (1904-1965) - Established as a fort on D27 Dec 1904 and named after Brig. Gen. William F. Barry, 2nd U.S. Artillery. Originally a part of Fort Baker.
Fort Barry History
The first detachment from Fort Baker arrived at the Point Bonita batteries in July 1903 and lived in the magazines of Batteries Mendell and Alexander. On 16 Jul 1904 the Secretary of War authorized construction of a permanent post for two companies of the Coast Artillery Corps.
The buildings were finished in the spring of 1907 and occupied 12 Feb 1908 by the 161st Company of the Coast Artillery Corps. The buildings included duplex officers' and noncommissioned officers' quarters, a twelve-bed hospital, two three-story barracks containing mess halls and kitchens, a guardhouse, a headquarters, and a complex of warehouses, stables, firehouse and other support buildings.
Additional structures were added to Fort Barry, Battery Elmer J. Wallace, constructed in 1917 for two long-range 12-inch guns each with a 360-degree field of fire (and later casemated in 1943, a balloon hangar built in 1921 which is the last of three such structures in the defenses of San Francisco to survive and Battery Construction No. 129 on the high summit to the east, completed in 1943 to contain two 16-inch guns, but never armed or named.
Fort Barry had no permanent garrison from 1922 to 1941, but was regarrisoned at the beginning of World War II. The final defense function was Nike missile site, SF-88.
Following the closure of the Nike missile site in 1974, the fort's last active military use was as a housing area for Army personnel stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco.
Current Status
Today the Fort Barry houses National Park Service personnel, the Marin Center for the Arts and Headlands' Institute.
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Location: At the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge next to Fort Baker Maps & Images Lat: 37.83111 Long: -122.52333 |
Sources:
- Hart, Herbert M., Tour Guide to Old Western Forts, Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder CO, 1980, ISBN 0-87108-568-2, page 22
Links:
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Fort Barry Picture Gallery
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