Last updated: June 11, 2024
Place
Parade Ground Tour Stop 1: Introduction
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Amenities
14 listed
Benches/Seating, First Aid Kit Available, Gifts/Souvenirs/Books, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information, Information - Maps Available, Information - Ranger/Staff Member Present, Parking - Auto, Restroom, Restroom - Accessible, Toilet - Flush, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Water - Bottle-Filling Station, Wheelchair Accessible
This is the starting point for a self-guided tour of the Vancouver Barracks Parade Ground. The tour begins at the Fort Vancouver Visitor Center.
Established in 1849 as the first Army outpost in the Northwest and used by the US military until 2012, Vancouver Barracks (first named Camp Columbia, then Columbia Barracks, Fort Vancouver, and finally Vancouver Barracks) contains layers upon layers of history. With buildings built, rebuilt, moved, and demolished, circulation changes, and boundary shifts, the landscape of the Barracks has changed significantly over the past 150 years. However, the large rectangular field centrally located—the Parade Ground—has remained the heart of the post since the first soldiers arrived, used for everything from official drills to baseball games. The buildings around it hold diverse and complex stories, from the stately homes of Officers’ Row where Chinese cooks in the 1880s worked to build a life for themselves in a new country, to the infantry barracks where soldiers prepared to fight in both local and global campaigns. This tour encourages you to consider connections between the stories of the past and your own life. Come discover a place of work, struggle, and community.
Established in 1849 as the first Army outpost in the Northwest and used by the US military until 2012, Vancouver Barracks (first named Camp Columbia, then Columbia Barracks, Fort Vancouver, and finally Vancouver Barracks) contains layers upon layers of history. With buildings built, rebuilt, moved, and demolished, circulation changes, and boundary shifts, the landscape of the Barracks has changed significantly over the past 150 years. However, the large rectangular field centrally located—the Parade Ground—has remained the heart of the post since the first soldiers arrived, used for everything from official drills to baseball games. The buildings around it hold diverse and complex stories, from the stately homes of Officers’ Row where Chinese cooks in the 1880s worked to build a life for themselves in a new country, to the infantry barracks where soldiers prepared to fight in both local and global campaigns. This tour encourages you to consider connections between the stories of the past and your own life. Come discover a place of work, struggle, and community.