History
Fort Harrison was opened in 1906 by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, honoring former President Benjamin Harrison, who came from Indianapolis. The idea came from Lieutenant Colonel Russell Harrison, son of recently deceased Benjamin Harrison, who wanted to keep a military facility in Indianapolis due to the legacy of such Indianapolis military facilities as Camp Morton. General Order #117 on June 28, 1904, ordered a land purchase for military use nine miles (14 km) from downtown Indianapolis.
The fort was finished in 1908, after the construction of brick barracks, headquarters, officer's houses, and hospital. Other support structures, such as horse stables, were finished at the time. The Tenth Infantry Regiment immediately moved in after these facilities were constructed.
The fort represented the first effort to make a national army using state militia forces. It acted as classrooms, soldier support, and troop reception for all United States military activities from World War I to Operation: Desert Storm. During World War II, the base had a Prisoner-of-war camp.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the area around Fort Harrison was attracting residents of Asian descent and, to a lesser extent, Hispanics.
The athlete village for the 1987 Pan American Games was built inside Fort Benjamin Harrison. Dining, lodging, nightclubbing, and practice facilities were constructed within the village.
Following the Cold War, the United States government began downsizing by closing bases. Thus, in 1991 Fort Harrison of Indianapolis was decommissioned. The base had several amenities, including an officers' club, three officers' homes, special housing for Very Important Persons, and an eighteen-hole golf course. It also featured one of the largest hardwood forests in central Indiana.
The United States Department of the Interior chose in 1995 to give 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) of Fort Harrison's 2,500 acres (10 km2) to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for use as a state park, similar to how Charlestown State Park started in Southern Indiana.
During the time that the Indiana State Governor's mansion was being redone in 2003 to make it accessible to handicapped individuals, Indiana governor Frank O'Bannon and his wife lived at the Harrison House, the park's inn, as their official residence. Prior to the formation of the park, it was a nurse's dorm during World War II and later a VIP residence. They spent most of the year living there. Once the state governor's mansion was finished, the O'Bannon's moved out and the Harrison House was once again available for the general public to use.
Current plans include moving the Bell Ford Bridge from Jackson County, Indiana, into the park, allowing an additional way for pedestrians and bikers to cross Fall Creek.
Read more about this topic: Fort Harrison State Park
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