The Fort Larned Blockhouse

The blockhouse was the first stone structure built at Fort Larned.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Larned, KS

Amenities

3 listed

Accessible Rooms, Cellular Signal, Wheelchair Accessible

Many frontier forts didn't have walls around them. Trees were scare on the prairies, making wood for a stockade too expensive. Instead, they built blockhouses, which provided a defensive structure in case of Indian attack.

Fort Larned's blockhouse was built in the of winter 1864-65 to strengthen the fort's defenses after a Kiowa raid in June of 1864. The Kiowas were able to steal 172 of the fort's horses and mules. This hexagonal stone building contained a powder magazine, two levels of rifle slits or loopholes, an underground passageway, and well. However, it was not needed for defense, so in 1867 it was converted into a guardhouse and served as the post jail.

The original structure was dismantled around 1900 by civilian owners who used its sandstone blocks to build other structures and to shore up the wooden porches on officers' row. When the building was rebuilt in in 1986, at least 200 of the original stones were used in the reconstruction.