Fort Benjamin Harrison Historic District | |
 Graduates of the U.S. Army Chaplain School at Fort Benjamin Harrison pose for a photograph, April 1942 | |
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| Location | E. 56th St.; also roughly bounded by Shafter Rd., Aultman Ave., and Glenn Rd.,Lawrence Township, Marion County, Indiana |
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| Coordinates | 39°51′50″N86°0′38″W / 39.86389°N 86.01056°W /39.86389; -86.01056 |
| Area | 360 acres (150 ha) |
| Built | 1908 (1908) |
| Built by | Army Quartermaster Corps |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 93001581, 95001359 (Boundary Increase)[1] |
| Added to NRHP | September 6, 1995, December 1, 1995 (Boundary Increase) |
Fort Benjamin Harrison was aU.S. Army post located in suburbanLawrence Township, Marion County, Indiana, northeast ofIndianapolis, between 1906 and 1991. It is named for the 23rdPresident of the United States,Benjamin Harrison.
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In 1901,Russell Harrison, the son of former U.S. president Benjamin Harrison, facilitated the sale of aU.S. Arsenal near downtown Indianapolis. The U.S. Army used the proceeds to buy land in 1903 in a more remote area, where the fort is located today.[2]Secretary of WarElihu Root named the post for President Benjamin Harrison in honor of Harrison's hometown.[3]
Fort Benjamin Harrison saw its highest levels of activity duringWorld War I andWorld War II. The Fort Benjamin Harrison Reception Center (for inducting draftees) opened in 1941 and by 1943 was the largest reception center in the United States.[4]
Within Fort Harrison wasCamp Glenn, named in honor of Major GeneralEdwin Forbes Glenn, who had served as Fort Harrison's commandant from 1912 to 1913,[5] and who had commanded the officer training that began at his camps in 1916.[6] Camp Glenn was aCitizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) that was also used to houseCivilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers.[7] When the United States reestablished theMilitary Police Corps in 1941, an MP school was established at Camp Glenn and was in operation by early 1942.[8] The area was also used to detain Italian and Germanprisoners of war in 1944 and 1945.[8]
In 1947, the Army declared Fort Harrison to be surplus property,[9] but declined to completely close it due to a lack of adequate training space for theIndiana National Guard.[10] From 1948 to 1950, the post functioned as Benjamin Harrison Air Force Base. TheTenth Air Force was moved fromOmaha, Nebraska, and headquartered at both Schoen Field on Fort Harrison andStout Army Air Field in Indianapolis.[11] Overcrowding and inadequate facilities soon forced the 10th Air Force to move toSelfridge Air National Guard Base inMichigan, and the Army reacquired control of Fort Benjamin Harrison.
It became the home of theUnited States Army Adjutant General School in March 1951. In 1957, the school moved into the new Gates-Lord Hall along with theUnited States Army Finance School. At the time, this 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m2) building was the third largest owned by the Department of Defense. The Adjutant General School remained there until the Base Realignment resulted in its move toFort Jackson,South Carolina, starting in 1991. By 1995, the Adjutant General School had completely vacated Fort Benjamin Harrison.[12] The Finance School also moved to Fort Jackson in 1995.
TheInterservice Postal School was located at Fort Benjamin Harrison in the 1970s under theUS Army Institute of Administration (USAIA), and was staffed by instructors from all four services. It also moved to Fort Jackson in 1995.
Beginning in 1965, Fort Harrison was also the home of theDefense Information School (DINFOS). This was staffed by enlisted personnel and officers from all branches of the US military along with members of allied military personnel. DINFOS trained service members and Department of Defense employees to become journalists in print, radio, television, and photography, as well as training them in advanced supervisory roles in editing, public affairs, and media and community relations. In 1995, DINFOS moved toFort Meade, Maryland.
With the movement and creation of a number of training classes in financial, clerical, and information technology (most notably the Programmer/Analyst Course and the Computer Machine Operator Course) the fort was given the derisive moniker "Uncle Ben's Rest Home" implying that no real military training took place there.
The Fort was the site of the Athletes' Villages for the1987 Pan American Games. Construction documents were created for new buildings to house the athletes, but the buildings were not built.
Fort Benjamin Harrison was closed as part of the 1991Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The site of the base has since been redeveloped, and includes residential neighborhoods, a golf course, and is the site ofFort Harrison State Park.
Although the base has officially been inactivated, there is still a very significant military presence in the area. TheDefense Finance and Accounting Service—Indianapolis, severalUnited States Army Reserve, twoUnited States Marine Corps Reserve detachments,United States Navy Reserve,Indiana National Guard units, the United StatesMilitary Entrance Processing Station (MEPS), anAAFES post exchange andcommissary are still located at the former post.[13]
Since 1999, theAmerican Legion has had its John H. Geiger Operations Center located at Fort Harrison. The center houses the Membership Services staff who maintain the organization's membership database and providedirect-marketing services for membership renewal and new-member acquisition. It also houses the Emblem Sales Division which provides Legion merchandise, and the Fundraising Division which draws support for both national and department-level programs.[14]
On May 29, 2009, the Indiana National Guard held a ground-breaking ceremony for a new facility, the Lawrence Readiness Training Center, which opened in 2011.[15] The facility houses four units, including the76th Brigade Combat Team headquarters.[16]
TheVeterans of Foreign Wars maintains its headquarters for the Department of Indiana on the site at 9555 E. 59th Street.[17]
Fort Benjamin Harrison Historic District was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1995. The district encompasses 100 contributing buildings, one contributing site (Parade Grounds), and three contributing structures (Water Tower, Kent Avenue Bridge, and Bandstand). It includes one and two-storyColonial Revival style brick buildings that were part of the original fort complex. They include residential and administrative buildings, service / utility buildings, and the hospital unit.[1][18]
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