Officers Row

When the U.S. Army arrived in 1849 to establish a new post on the western frontier, few officers could afford to bring their families to such a remote and lonely command. As the region gained importance, a thriving community of soldiers, officers, wives, and children grew there. The early log cabin style quarters on Officers Row were eventually replaced with larger and more elegant residences better suited to the status of their occupants. From the last decades of the 19th century until World War II, it was the setting for a vibrant social scene. Isabelle Sparks Kress, recalling her life there as a young woman in the 1870s and 1880s, said that the social life was very fine, the social activities were many, and the great garrison, with over one hundred children and young people, was like one big family. By the early 1900s, visitors praised the luxurious ambience of the tree-lined boulevard before the handsome dwellings, with beautifully kept grounds, roses in bloom, and jets of water playing on the lawns.

Vancouver, Washington · United States