Last updated: September 5, 2024
Place
Fort Standish
Boston Public Library
Quick Facts
Location:
Lovells Island
Significance:
Part of Boston Harbor Defense System
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
One of the last forts constructed in Boston Harbor, Fort Standish on Lovells Island defended the entrance to the Harbor during the World Wars.
Though there was no permanent military presence on Lovells Island before 1900, it held strategic importance to the city of Boston and the United States. The US Army Corps of Engineers did construction and maintenance work there throughout the 1800s, constructing a seawall in 1843 and stone jetties in 1849.
In 1899, the Army broke ground on Fort Standish, named for colonial military officer and Mayflower passenger Captain Myles Standish. Construction on top of Lovells Island’s freshwater marshes took eight years, and Fort Standish was completed for use in 1907. The Fort’s initial complement of defenses consisted of six batteries of 10-inch, 6-inch, and 3-inch guns. Support buildings for the garrison included a barracks, officers’ and NCOs’ quarters, a hospital, an office, and an observation tower.
During World War I, the Fort Standish garrison installed several anti-aircraft guns for defense against aerial attack. Even with this outfitting of weaponry, the Fort saw little action during the war. By 1921, the 3-inch guns of Battery Vincent had been dismounted and removed, the first of many of the Fort’s defenses to be dismantled. Battery Wier’s 3-inch guns followed suit in 1926.
In World War II, Fort Standish had a garrison of over 800 officers and soldiers. Of the now largely obsolete batteries from the early 1900s, only Batteries Whipple and Williams remained active during the war. Fort Standish did receive new armament during this time in the form of four 90mm guns for a new battery, named AMTP (Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat) 943, completed in 1943. At the request of the Fort Standish garrison, the Lovells Island Range Lights were demolished during the war after a few years of disuse.
Like the rest of the Boston Harbor Islands fortifications, Fort Standish was decommissioned by the Army after the war in 1947. The state government acquired Lovells Island in 1958, and it is now part of the Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park. Some remnants of Fort Standish remain visible on Lovells Island today.
Contributed by: Raphael Pierson-Sante, SCA Historic Preservation Corps Crew Member
Sources:
Snow, Edward Rowe, The Islands of Boston Harbor: Their History and Romance, 1626-1935, The Andover Press, 1935.
Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Cultural Landscape Report: Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park, Volume 1: Historical Overview. National Park Service, 2017.
Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States. (10th ed.) Macmillan, 1988.