Just Like A Small Town

Fort Hancock was established in 1895 as an Army coastal defense post, and its huge concrete gun batteries were designed to protect New York Harbor from attack by sea. Although it was never attacked, the fort’s garrison stayed busy with work details, guard duty, drilling, training, and target practice with the big guns, and the post functioned like a small town. As military operations expanded, a school, movie theater, two chapels, a YMCA, and even a baseball team became part of life there. In 1900, the fort consisted of thirty-six buildings centered around the post headquarters and parade ground, with barracks, officers’ quarters, the post hospital, bachelor officers’ quarters, noncommissioned officers’ quarters, a guardhouse, and numerous support buildings nearby. The garrison grew from 400 officers and enlisted men to over 18,000 during World War II. Because of new technologies in coastal defenses, Fort Hancock was deactivated in 1974, and many of its buildings now serve as offices and classrooms for the National Park Service and environmental monitoring and educational groups.

New Jersey · United States