| Fort Point National Historic Site | |
|---|---|
 Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge | |
  Fort Point  Fort Point  Fort Point  Fort Point | |
| Nearest city | San Francisco,California, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°48′38″N122°28′38″W / 37.81056°N 122.47722°W /37.81056; -122.47722 |
| Area | 29 acres (12 ha) |
| Established | 16 October 1970 |
| Visitors | 1,682,041 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Fort Point National Historic Site |
Fort Point | |
Fort Winfield Scott | |
| NearSan Francisco,California in United States | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Harbor defense installation |
| Owner | United States Army |
| Controlled by | 6th Air Defense Artillery Regiment |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1861 (1861) |
| Fate | Decommission 1970 |
| Official name | Castillo De San Joaquín[1] |
| Reference no. | 82 |
| Designated | 10/16/1970 |
| Reference no. | 70000146[2] |
Fort Point, known historically as theCastillo de San Joaquín (Spanish for "SaintJoachim's Castle") is a masonryseacoast fortification located on the southern side of theGolden Gate at the entrance toSan Francisco Bay. It is also the geographic name of thepromontory upon which the fort and the southern approach of theGolden Gate Bridge were constructed.[3]
The site was originally fortified by theSpanish in 1794 as a complementary defense outpost to thePresidio of San Francisco. The current structure was completed by theUnited States Army after theU.S. conquest of California and just before theAmerican Civil War, to defend San Francisco Bay against hostile warships. The fort is now protected asFort Point National Historic Site, aUnited States National Historic Site administered by theNational Park Service as a unit of theGolden Gate National Recreation Area. It is now popular as a tourist viewing point of the Golden Gate Bridge directly on top of it.
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In 1769 Spain occupied the San Francisco area and by 1776 had established the area's first European settlement, with amission and apresidio. To protect against encroachment by the British and Russians, Spain selectedPunta del Cantil Blanco, a promontory with a high white cliff (cantil blanco) located at the narrowest part of the bay's entrance,[4] to construct a fortification. TheCastillo de San Joaquín was constructed in 1794, subordinate to the nearby Presidio de San Francisco. It was anadobe structure housing nine to thirteen cannons.[5]
Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, gaining control of the region and the fort, but in 1835 theMexican army moved toSonoma leaving the castillo's adobe walls to crumble in the wind and rain. On July 1, 1846, after theMexican–American War broke out between Mexico and the United States, U.S. forces, including CaptainJohn Charles Fremont,Kit Carson and a band of 10 followers, captured and occupied the empty castillo andspiked (disabled) the cannons.
Sometime during the Spanish and Mexican eras, thePunta del Cantil Blanco came to be known as the "Punta del Castillo" ("Castle Point"),[6] which was carried over into the era of U.S. sovereignty, in rough translation, as "Fort Point".
Following the United States' victory in 1848,California was annexed by the U.S. and became a state in 1850. Thegold rush of 1849 had caused rapid settlement of the area, which was recognized as commercially and strategically valuable to the United States. Military officials soon recommended a series of fortifications to secure San Francisco Bay. Coastal defenses were built atAlcatraz Island,Fort Mason, and Fort Point.
The U.S.Army Corps of Engineers began work on Fort Point in 1853. Plans specified that the lowest tier of artillery be as close as possible to water level so cannonballs could ricochet across the water's surface to hit enemy ships at the water-line.[7] Workers blasted the 90-foot (27 m) cliff down to 15 feet (4.6 m) above sea level. The structure featured seven-foot-thick walls and multi-tiered casemated construction typical ofThird System forts. It was sited to defend the maximum amount of harbor area. While there were more than 30 such forts on the East Coast, Fort Point was the only one on the West Coast. In 1854 Inspector GeneralJoseph K. Mansfield declared "this point as the key to the whole Pacific Coast...and it should receive untiring exertions".
A crew of 200, many unemployed miners, labored for eight years on the fort. In 1861, with war looming, the army mounted the fort's first cannon. ColonelAlbert Sidney Johnston, commander of the Department of the Pacific, prepared Bay Area defenses and ordered in the first troops to the fort. Kentucky-born Johnston then resigned his commission to join theConfederate Army; he was killed at theBattle of Shiloh in 1862.
Throughout the Civil War, artillerymen at Fort Point stood guard for an enemy that never came. TheConfederate raiderCSSShenandoah planned to attack San Francisco, but on the way to the harbor the captain learned that the war was over; it was August 1865, months afterGeneral Lee surrendered.
Severe damage to similar forts on the Atlantic Coast during the war –Fort Sumter inSouth Carolina andFort Pulaski inGeorgia – challenged the effectiveness of masonry walls against rifled artillery. Troops soon moved out of Fort Point, and it was never again continuously occupied by the army. The fort was nonetheless important enough to receive protection from the elements. In 1869 a granite seawall was completed. The following year, some of the fort's cannon were moved to Battery East on the bluffs nearby, where they were more protected. In 1882 Fort Point was officially named FortWinfield Scott after the hero of the war against Mexico. in 1886, it reverted back to its original Fort Point name with the establishment of a new fort within the Presidio of San Francisco that was then named Fort Winfield Scott.
In 1892, the army began constructing the newEndicott System concrete fortifications armed with steel, breech-loading rifled guns. Within eight years, all 103 of the smooth-bore cannons at Fort Point had been dismounted and sold for scrap. The fort, moderately damaged in the1906 earthquake, where the fort was used as a temporary refugee camp by the U.S. Army, was used over the next four decades forbarracks, training, and storage, however, in 1913, part of the interior wall was removed by the army in their short-lived attempt to make the fort the army detention barracks using soldier and prisoner labor[citation needed]. The detention barracks were later built on Alcatraz Island and was used until becoming a federal prison. Soldiers from the6th U.S. Coast Artillery were stationed there duringWorld War II to guard minefields and the anti-submarine net that spanned the Golden Gate.
New quarters and administrative buildings were constructed on the higher ground, behind the new Endicott batteries, moving Fort Scott to this location.
In 1926 theAmerican Institute of Architects proposed preserving the fort for its outstanding military architecture. Funds were unavailable, and the ideas languished. Plans for theGolden Gate Bridge in the 1930s called for the fort's removal, but Chief EngineerJoseph Strauss redesigned the bridge to savethe fort.[8] "While the old fort has no military value now," Strauss said, "it remains nevertheless a fine example of the mason's art.... It should be preserved and restored as a national monument." The fort is situated directly below the southern approach to the bridge, underneath an arch that supports the roadway.
Preservation efforts were revived afterWorld War II. On October 16, 1970,President Richard Nixon signed a bill creating Fort Point NationalHistoric Site.[8]
Fort Point is designated asCalifornia Historical Landmark #82, officially listed under the site's original name, Castillo De San Joaquín.[1]
The rocky point north of the fort produces waves, in the winter months, that are popular with surfers.[9]
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Fort Point is a popular filming location. It is also mentioned in other media.
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