PARC, GGNRA

This photo from around 1910 shows the commanding officer's residence (left) and the post headquarters building (right).

Fort Baker is a historic army post located in the Marin Headlands. The post, built between 1902 and 1910, is one of the park’s best examples of the army’s “Endicott Period” military construction, named after the late 19^th century Secretary of War, William C. Endicott. The “Endicott Period” refers to the peace time years, between 1865 (the end of the Civil War) and 1898 (prior to the Spanish-American War), when the army had the time to look inward and make improvements to many of its existing military systems. By the 1860s, many of the Army’s “modern” defense systems had become outdated and the War Department expressed growing concerns about the dilapidated condition of the country’s seacoast fortifications. As a response, in the 1890s, the Secretary of War, William C. Endicott, made sweeping recommendations for all existing U.S. seaports and proposals to modernize and re-arm all the seacoast forts. In addition to improving its seacoast defenses, the Army now turned its energy toward improving the living conditions of enlisted soldiers, in order to stem desertion, boost moral and attract a better class of recruits. 

Here at Fort Baker, the army built many new state-of-the-art fortifications, including Batteries Yates, Spencer, Kirby, Duncan and Orlando Wagner. Once the soldiers arrived to man the newly constructed batteries, the army began a major construction campaign to provide permanent housing for the newly organized Coast Artillery Corps. The new army post included barracks, a commanding officers’ residences, a post headquarters, officers’ quarters and a 12-bed hospital. Most of the original Fort Baker buildings were designed in the Colonial Revival architectural style. The style is often characterized by large, stocky symmetrical buildings with classical elements, such as columns, wrap-around porches and decorative windows. The soldiers’ barracks at Fort Baker represent the army’s new interest in providing its soldiers with a healthier environment. Unlike the dark, cramped and often infested 19^th century frontier barracks, the large and well ventilated barracks at Fort Baker provided clean running water, ample interior space and modern, indoor toilet facilities. The post also contained important recreational facilities like a gymnasium, a reading room, a post exchange (which functioned as both a small-scale store and lunch room), even a bowling alley.

In order to adequately protect the valuable San Francisco Bay, the army continued to build more batteries along the coast line. The construction of Battery Mendell and Battery Alexander, in 1905, prompted the establishment of the Fort Barry military post in 1910. By the 1930s, Fort Baker as well as Fort Barry (and eventually Fort Cronkhite) became part of the Harbor Defenses of San Francisco. During World War II, the Harbor Defenses of San Francisco, tasked with guarding the harbor with underwater minefields and shore batteries, constructed a mine depot at Fort Baker. Fort Baker was an active military post up through World War II.