Fort Leavenworth
History and Tour

Fort Leavenworth, the oldest active Army post west of the Mississippi River, has served the needs of our nation since 1827.

Col. Henry Leavenworth, with the officers and men of the 3rd Infantry Regiment from Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, Mo., established an Army post on the west bank of the Missouri river instead of the east bank where he was directed to.  As an experienced commander he knew the significance of using terrain that favored his mission.  Therefore he chose the formidable terrain on what is now the Kansas side of the river.

Fort Leavenworth played a key roll in the country's westward expansion and served as a forward destination for tens of thousands of Soldiers, surveyors, emigrants, Native Americans, preachers and settlers who passed through.
  

For 30 years, the post was the chief base of operations on the Indian frontier. In 1839, Col. S. W. Kearney marched against the Cherokees with 10 companies of dragoons, the largest U.S. mounted force ever assembled. Throughout the war with Mexico, Fort Leavenworth was the outfitting post for the Army of the West.
 
During these early years, Soldiers from Fort Leavenworth protected wagon trains hauling supplies over the Santa Fe, Oregon and other trails to most forts, posts and military camps of the West, some as far as the Pacific Ocean.

The United States Disciplinary Barracks was established in 1875.

The fort's first Catholic Church was built in 1871, and was later replaced by St. Ignatius Chapel in 1889. St. Ignatius Chapel was destroyed by fire in December 2001. The first Protestant chapel, Memorial Chapel, was built by prison labor in 1878 of stone quarried on post. 

In 1881, Gen. William T. Sherman established the School of Application for Cavalry and Infantry. That school evolved into the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

In 1946, the school was given its current name. In 1959, the college moved to the newly built J. Franklin Bell Hall on Arsenal Hill. In 1985, the Harold K. Johnson wing was added to house the Combined Arms and Services Staff School. Eisenhower Hall was dedicated in 1994. Classes for the School of Advanced Military Studies and the School for Command Preparation, as well as the Combined Arms Research Library, are located in Eisenhower Hall. In 2007, the Lewis and Clark Center became the new home to the Command and General Staff College.

Fort Leavenworth continues to be on the leading edge of the Army's future. The community's pride in its history of service to the Army and the nation is matched by its readiness to meet the challenges of the future.

Frontier Army Museum

The Frontier Army Museum, located at 100 Reynolds Avenue on Fort Leavenworth, provides insights to Army life on the frontier.  It is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  For more information call (913) 684-3186, leav-fam@conus.army.mil.
 

National Cemetery

The Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery is one of the first 12 national cemeteries established by Abraham Lincoln on July 17, 1862. Veterans since the War of 1812 have been laid to rest in the cemetery. One veteran of the War of 1812 is the cemetery's most famous occupant, Col. Henry Leavenworth, who gave his name to the fort, the town, the county and the cemetery. Others buried in the cemetery include 8 Medal of Honor recipients, seven Confederate prisoners of war, two Soldiers killed in Operation Desert Storm, and Soldiers killed in the War on Terror.  Although there is no longer space for new burial sites, burials frequently take place for those who already have family members interred in the cemetery.

Fort Leavenworth is considered as one of the most significant historic military installations in the Department of the Army, as well as to the Nation. The fort's 5,634 acres contain a 213-acre National Historic Landmark District (NHLD), which was established in 1974.

 

A number of historic preservation investigations have been conducted over the past few decades at Fort Leavenworth. In 1970, for example, two historic sites were listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP): the Main Parade Ground and the Santa Fe Trail Ruts.

 

The Fort Leavenworth's National Historic Landmark District is nationally significant as the oldest active army post west of the Mississippi River. From the time of its founding in 1827 unto the present, it has served as a front-ranking military installation. Centrally located on the main westward travel routes in the nineteenth century, the post's initial missions were to protect trade caravans over the Santa Fe Trail, to serve as a base of exploration of the West and to assist in the federal government's relocation of American Indians onto reservations.

 

While Fort Leavenworth was declared a National Historic Landmark in December 1960, the designation was a general characterization and no specific boundary was delineated. The first boundary delineation occurred in the 1974 National Historic Landmark nomination by the National Park Service and it excludes a large number of nationally significant historic building structures and sites. The 1974 nomination did not create a comprehensive list of properties within the district, nor was there an attempt to distinguish between contributing and non-contributing buildings. Furthermore, the nomination did not address the issue of historic significance adequately and, as was typical of nominations of this period, it did not establish significance in any historic context(s).

 

A 1995 National Park Service (NPS) study reduced the number of buildings from 251 to 237 contributing buildings (1832-1940s), and included 3 Historic Structures, 2 Historic Objects, and 22 Significant Archeological Sites, but increased the NHLD size from 107 to 213.1 acres. This expansion continues to protect and preserve some of the most valuable historic military architecture in America.

 

One hundred percent of the Fort's historical buildings and structures have been inventoried since 1979 for cultural resources. Examples of these Structures and Objects include: a 1922 Bandstand, a 1910 Gazebo, a 1840-1860 Fortress Wall, and the 1889 Grant Statue, designed and built by the famous American Sculptor, Lorado Taft.

 

The Fort Leavenworth NHLD encompasses the historic core of Fort Leavenworth's built environment, which possesses a high degree of integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association to significant events in the history of the nation. The district is significant under National Historic Landmark Criteria due to its association with events that have made a significant contribution to, are identified with, and outstandingly represent broad national patterns of United States history.

 

The fort's long and varied history in the nineteenth century epitomizes the successive stages by which Euro-Americans conquered and settled the immense territory stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific. As such it is significant in the following National Historic Landmark themes and sub-themes: "Political and Military Affairs, 1783-1860" ("Mexican War, 1846-1848," "The Army and Navy." and "The Rise of Sectionalism") and "Westward Expansion of the British Colonies and the United States, 1763-1898" ("British and United States Exploration of the West," "Military-Aboriginal American Contact and Conflict," and "Western Trails and Travelers"), In addition, the activities at the fort between 1861 and 1865 are significant in the context of the NHL theme, "The Civil War" ("War in the West").

 

The location of the U.S. Army's central military prison and establishment of its post-graduate officer training program in the latter half of the nineteenth century, missions which continued into the twentieth century, assured Fort Leavenworth's unique position in the nation's military history.

 

Other resources, which individually are not sufficiently significant to warrant individual recognition at the NHL level, contribute to the district's significance as a distinct entity. As such it is notable for demonstration of the onset and evolution of standardized designs and styles for military installations. The great majority of historic buildings in the district have been well preserved and maintained and the district as a whole retains an extremely high degree of integrity. The district's period of significance begins c.1827, the estimated construction date of the Main Parade and Santa Fe Trail river landing, and extends to 1945 the arbitrary fifty-year eligibility criteria consideration established by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.