Post to Park Transfer

As the post became a park, National Park Service rangers raised the flag for the first time over Vancouver Barracks.

NPS Photo

Visiting Fort Vancouver National Historic Site today, you’ll see history spanning hundreds of years and countless cultures. One sight you can’t miss is the former United States Army Barracks, around 20 buildings collected to the north and west of the fur trade era Fort.

Built in 1849, Vancouver Barracks was initially home to 240 soldiers brought to encourage American settlement and development of the Pacific Northwest; soldiers were sent to fight in conflicts against Indigenous peoples and forcibly remove them to reservations. The barracks also served as a major headquarters, supply depot, and training and mobilization center for the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine War, World Wars I and II, and other foreign engagements. It’s one of our nation's most historic military posts.

But after World War II, the Army had less use for the buildings – they served as a training center for the Army Reserve and Washington National Guard for the next 65 years. In 1961, Congress passed legislation ensuring the National Park Service would protect the historic East and South Barracks once the Army vacated the site, and on Memorial Day 2012, these portions of Vancouver Barracks were transferred to the NPS.

The American People look to the National Park Service as keepers of our histories. Due to their complex history and sensitive heritage resources, the East and South Barracks are clearly nationally significant and merit inclusion into the national park system.

—Tracy Fortmann, Superintendent of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

Image credit: NPS Photo / M. Huff

A public event officially marked the transfer of East and South Vancouver Barracks from the US Army to the National Park Service in 2012.

NPS Photo

Vancouver Barracks, then and now

Inside the residential barracks, soldiers stayed in dormitory-style sleeping quarters on the second floors – officers had small, semi-private rooms. Mess halls and kitchens were on the first floors, and latrines, storage, and other functional spaces were in the basements. Other buildings were used exclusively for gathering, training, equipment maintenance and storage, as offices, a gymnasium, and more. The military canteen was the first soldier-run canteen in the nation and served as a store, café, and lounge for the residents. The Post Hospital was considered one of the most modern in the nation, with open verandas to provide light and fresh air to ailing soldiers and injured lumber workers (this was also the site of the largest lumber mill in the world during World War I).

Some of the people who spent time at Vancouver Barracks include:

• U.S. Army Generals Ulysses S. Grant, Philip H. Sheridan, George B. McClellan, George Pickett, George Crook, Oliver O. Howard, and Nelson Miles.
• Sarah (Shell Flower) Winnemucca, an interpreter, negotiator, writer, and activist from the Paiute tribe who advocated for the Native prisoners of Vancouver Barracks.
• Monimia Travers, the only Black enslaved woman at the Fort while Black exclusion laws were in full effect in the Oregon Territory.
• Louis Grell, an artist who taught art to a young Walt Disney.
• The “Tree Troopers” of the Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided relief for those affected by the Great Depression.
• Chinese and Irish immigrants who worked as cooks and servants for the officers.

Now, many of the buildings have been restored with original architectural elements and modern updates, like seismic support and security and accessibility features. Since 2012, the staff of Fort Vancouver NHS have worked with the community to create a dynamic, sustainable public service campus where the history of the post is preserved and interpreted, and to serve as a model in integrating sustainability with historic preservation and rehabilitation. Read more about how Fort Vancouver NHS worked with the community to develop this plan.