Located just 5 miles south and west of Holy Cross, in the community of Lawrence, Fort Benjamin Harrison has become the premiere residential location in Marion County. It also includes the new downtown for the City of Lawrence, a new State Park and one of the finest golf courses in the state.

Until 1996, Fort Benamin Harrison was one of our nation’s military installations, providing a place for training and development of our nation’s soldiers. It also, even to this day, houses the nation’s military finance headquarters.

In 1996, the Fort was officially closed, and the community of Lawrence decided that it should become a state park, as well as the new downtown for the city of Lawrence.

The Fort is located at the north end of Post Road, with 56th Street as the central cross street.

The U.S. Congress gave approval for the purchase of land and the establishment of a fort near Indianapolis in 1904. Lt. Col. Russell Harrison convinced President Theodore Roosevelt to name the new fort after his grandfather, Benjamin Harrison. A total of 2,415 acres were set aside, the purchase price being $279,000.

Most of the fort’s buildings were completed in 1908. The Army Quartermaster Corps used standardized plans for the layout and the buildings with the intention of erecting permanent, quality structures. Using the focal point of the military parade grounds, brick barracks were constructed for enlisted men on its east side. Imposing and more palatial housing for the regimental officers line the west side. The American victory over the Spanish in the Spanish American War was celebrated by naming major thoroughfares after familiar war heroes, such as Wheeler, Schafter, and Funston. Lawton Loop, encircling the parade ground, was named for Major General Henry Ware Lawton, a Hoosier from Fort Wayne.

A total of 49 buildings in the south-central portion of the fort have been designated as a complete district and listed as such with the National Register of Historic Places. These Adams-style, Colonial buildings look, on the exterior, much as they did when constructed, many even retaining the same function. The cost of the homes on Lawton Loop was $2.50 per square foot. Construction of entire post totaled $1,000,000. Lawton Loop has 18 Officer’s Family residences, using three set plans. Major George Penrose, construction quartermaster, supervised the entire building project. It was his idea to plant more than 400 maple trees along the sidewalks of the Loop.

In its early days, travel from the fort to Indianapolis was via the interurban train station. The post had the biggest and best stables in Indiana, a 1,000 ton hay shed, a hospital, wagon sheds, a blacksmith shop, a 3,000 ton coal shed, barracks, water and power systems, providing the necessities for the entire regiment.

During World War I, the population of the fort grew to 12,000. It was a mobilization center for national defense and a training center for 10,000 railroad specialists.

Between the world wars, the fort served as a Civilian Conservation Corps center for reforestation and soil conservation work.

The gazebo/bandstand was added in 1939.

During World War II, the fort became a Midwest induction and logistical support center. Billings Hospital, the Finance School, the Chaplain School and the Cook & Baker Schools were located there, as well. In 1944, 250 Italian and 300 German POWs from Rommel’s Afrika Korps arrived. The Midwest Disciplinary Barracks ultimately housed 6,200 prisoners.

The Fort was abandoned in 1947 but reopened in 1948-50 as the Fort Benjamin Harrison Air Force Base.

In 1949, Fort Benjamin Harrison became the Administrative and Training Center for the Army. The Finance Center was dedicated in 1953 and the Defense Information School in 1966. Over the next 30 years, the Army established many different functions for the fort but it was slated for closure in 1991.

While the Bean Finance Center remains, the rest of the fort has been turned over to others in the private sector, for municipal use and as a state park.

There remains, in the Fort area, wonderful residences, that for 90 years have been home to people and families who came to Indiana to serve in our military heritage. These families savored the tranquility of wonderful porches that gave commanding views of the post in its early years. They watched the comings and goings at the interurban train station in 1910, and later in the 1940’s, as planes took off and landed. The resounding firing of howitzers were often heard, leaving minute cracks in all the walls and ceilings of these houses. Residents fondly remembered waking up in the morning to a herd of deer in the back yard, or sitting in the sun on the porch, listening to the horses in nearby stables. The sound of the finest marching bands, like Pershing’s own, drifted across the parade ground.

 Fort Benjamin Harrison Historical Society
 President Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis
 Military Site about Ft. Harrison
 More Military Info about Ft. Harrison

Fort Harrison State Park
5753 Glenn Road
Indianapolis, IN 46216
317-591-0904
 

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