1639: | Dutch assume control of peninsula |
1640: | Land deeded to William Thorne ("Thorne Neck") |
1788: | Ann Thorne (heir to William Thorne) marries William Wilkins ("Wilkins Neck") |
1820-1860: | Third System of Fortifications |
1821: | Government survey concludes that the property would be useful for coastal defense |
1829: | Land sold to Charles and Martha Willet ("Willet's Point") |
1829: | Charles Willet farmhouse constructed |
1857: | 110 acres of land purchased from George and Robertina Irving (heirs of the Willet family) for $200,000 |
1857: | Congress appropriates $15,000 for the building of the "Fort at Willet's Point" |
1860s: | (late 1860s) Commander's Quarters constructed |
1861: | Civil War begins |
1861: | "The Fort at Willet's Point" officially designated Camp Morgan after Governor Edwin D. Morgan of New York |
1862: | Start of Quartermaster's Wharf and Water Battery construction |
1863: | 26.35 acres of adjoining land bought from Henry Day and his wife for $57,000 |
1864: | Water Battery construction halted. New rifled guns and pointed rounds could penetrate masonry coastal defenses, making them obsolete. |
1864: | Brevet Major General Joseph Totten dies |
1865: | Camp Morgan's first permanent garrison, three companies of engineers, arrives. |
1865: | Grant General Hospital (first) completed |
1865: | Civil War ends |
1866: | Army Engineer School moves to Camp Morgan |
1868: | Charles Willet farmhouse relocated and renovated |
1870: | Officers' Club constructed |
1870: | Camp Morgan designated Engineers Depot for the East |
1870: | Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs begins index of buildings at military posts |
1870: | Tunnel constructed from the torpedo magazines to the Water Battery |
1871: | Post Chapel (first) began construction |
1872: | Torpedo School established at Camp Morgan |
1878: | War Department begins upgrading living conditions and consolidating Army posts |
1879: | Post Chapel (first) completed |
1885: | Endicott Board recommends new type of coastal artillery battery for strategic coastal locations |
1885: | Engineer School of Application established at Camp Morgan |
1889: | Main Gate relocated to present location |
1892: | Firehouse constructed |
1892: | Guardhouse at new main gate constructed |
1896: | Post Hospital (second) constructed |
1887: | Officers' Club expanded |
1898: | Renamed Fort Totten, after Brevet Major General Joseph Totten |
1898: | (Feb) Battleship Maine explodes in Havana harbor |
1898: | (Apr-Aug) Spanish American War |
1898: | First minefields off Willet's Point |
1900s: | Brick officers quarters constructed |
1901: | School of Submarine Defense and Torpedo School established at Fort Totten. |
1901: | Army Engineer School moves from Ft. Totten to Washington Barracks (DC) |
1902: | Quartermaster Dept. adds non-military buildings to posts, such as exchanges, schools, libraries, gyms, and bowling alleys |
1902: | Engineering Supply Depot closed |
1905: | Secretary of War William Howard Taft continues Endicott Board as Taft Board |
1905: | Post Gymnasium constructed |
1906: | Walter Reed Hospital (third) constructed |
1909: | Commanding General's Quarters constructed |
1910: | Post Hospital (second) demolished |
1911: | Walter Reed Hospital Building (third) expanded |
1914: | Walter Reed Hospital Annex (third) constructed |
1917: | US enters World War I |
1919: | Treaty of Versailles: World War I ends |
1922: | Fort Totten's first anti-aircraft unit arrives |
1926: | YMCA Building constructed |
1935: | Coastal Artillery removed |
1938: | Post Chapel (second) completed |
1938: | Post Theater constructed |
1941: | US enters World War II |
1941: | Fort Totten made headquarters of the Anti-Aircraft Command of the Eastern Defense Command |
1944: | Fort Totten becomes headquarters of the North Atlantic region of the Air Transport Command |
1945: | (May) World War II ends in Europe (V-E Day) |
1945: | (Aug) World War II ends in Asia (V-J Day) |
1947: | Armed Forces Medical Research Laboratory established |
1950s: | Fort Totten becomes headquarters for over half the Nike missile sites in the country |
1953: | Chief Warrant Officer Jacob (Jack) Fein, (US Army, Retired) appointed Official Curator for Military History at Fort Totten |
1955-1962: | Capehart (housing) Program |
1962: | New York City fireboat JOHN GLENN arrives at Fort Totten |
1967: | Air Defense Command headquarters moved out of Fort Totten |
1971: | New York City fireboat JOHN GLENN departs Fort Totten |
1971: | Job Corps moves onto base |
1976: | Coast Guard opens small boat station on Fort Totten |
1977: | Fort Totten declared surplus property |
1981: | Federal government almost puts Fort Totten on sale for private development |
1983: | Ernie Pyle Army Reserve Center completed |
1995: | Congress approves the closing of Fort Totten as an economizing measure |
2004: | 49.5 acres turned over to the Parks Department by the National Parks Service and Defense Department |
2005: | Fort Totten Park opens to the public |