Fort Randall was established by Brigadier General W. S. Harney in 1856 and named by him for Colonel Daniel Randall, Deputy Paymaster U.S. Army. Construction began on June 26, 1856 by First Lieutenants George H. Paige of the 2nd Infantry and D.S. Stanley of the 1st Cavalry, and Colonel E. Lee of the 2nd U.S. Infantry was its first permanent commander. In 1875, soldiers of the post and members of the I.O.O.F. lodge, wanting a lodge room, combined that idea with a church and library, and George Bush, the post carpenter and a discharged soldier, designed the structure. They built it from hand sawn chaulkstone from nearby quarries, with the U.S. Government aiding only in quarrying and transportation; otherwise it was entirely a private venture. The fort was finally abandoned in 1892, and the ruin of the church, lodge hall, and library is its outstanding vestige. Two devastating wind storms and a bolt of lightning wrecked the roof, and rain and frost completed the destruction. Detailed drawings were made in 1947 through cooperation of the Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service and filed in the Library of Congress, and the ruins were stabilized by the Engineers in 1953.