Fort Point National Historic Site

Fort Point National Historic Site. . , What is Fort Point? , Once called the "Pride of the Pacific" and "Gibraltar of the West Coast," Fort Point is a brick and granite coastal defense fortification built by the U.S. Army between 1853 and 1861. It was part of a seacoast defense system created to keep enemy warships out of San Francisco Bay. It never engaged in battle but served as a deterant through the Gold Rush period. During the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), the fort's 102 cannon defended Union interests from attacks by local Southern sympathizers. Over 300 men lived at Fort Point during the Civil War, many from immigrant backgrounds. , , After the war, numbers dwindled until the fort stood vacant in the early 1900s. During World War II, soldiers' voices again echoed at Fort Point. Stationed at searchlights and rapid-fire cannon around the clock, the men protected San Francisco harbor's anti-submarine net. , , In 1793, the Spanish built Castillo de San Joaquin to defend the Golden Gate from the top of a cliff where Fort Point stands today. The U.S. Army removed the earlier fort and cliff to defend the gate with newer military technology. , , Fort Point narrowly escaped destruction to make way for the Golden Gate Bridge in 1933. But when the bridge's chief engineer saw its magnificent masonry, he saved it. , , "While the old fort has no military value now, it remains nevertheless a fine example of the mason's art...In the writer's view it should be preserved and restored as a national monument..." , , Joseph P. Strauss, 1932 , Chief Engineer, Golden Gate Bridge