Fort Amanda and the surrounding area stand atop a glacial moraine, and the area was used throughout prehistory for short- and long-term habitation. During the Archaic Period (8000 BC-500 AD), American Indians identified by archaeologists as the Glacial Kame culture used moraines and other glacial features called kames to bury their dead, and although not associated with the Fort Amanda site, three Glacial Kame cemeteries have been identified within 15 miles of it. Early 1800s historic records show that one of the first civilians in the area was John Chapman, known in folklore as Johnny Appleseed, who planted apple orchards throughout the region, and there is some speculation he was here prior to the construction of Fort Amanda. In 1814, the Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812; it took four weeks for news to reach Fort Amanda, but within seven days the fort was deserted, and soon the supply depots that had been critical to the war were decommissioned. Around 1817, some of the first settlers arrived and used the abandoned fort buildings as temporary homes, and the old fort also served as home for the first religious meeting house. In 1913, the site was preserved by the Fort Amanda Commission, which sold it to the State of Ohio for one dollar, and it became a State Memorial; a fifty-foot monument was constructed in 1915 at a cost of $4,500 to mark the site of the fort and honor those who served there. Between 1934 and 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps, part of President Franklin Roosevelt's Depression-era New Deal initiative to put the unemployed back to work, improved the site by constructing the shelterhouse, grill shelter, and restrooms that still stand today. Today, the site remains a place for the community to gather and enjoy nature and the nearby Auglaize River while reflecting on the sacrifice of those who fought in the War of 1812.