Fort Hayes
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Fort Hayes
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Parade grounds and main buildings
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| Location | Columbus, Ohio |
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| Coordinates | 39°58′26″N 82°59′18″W / 39.97389°N 82.98833°WCoordinates: 39°58′26″N 82°59′18″W / 39.97389°N 82.98833°W |
| Built | 1863 |
| Architect | Bradford, Col. T.C. |
| Architectural style | Renaissance, Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 70000491 |
| Added to NRHP | January 26, 1970 |
Fort Hayes, a military post in Columbus, Ohio, United States, was created by an act of the United States Congress on July 11, 1862. Originally known as the Columbus Arsenal, in 1922 the facility was named after former Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, who was also the nation's 19th President. As of 2007, the property is primarily used for the Columbus School District's Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center and bus depot. Currently, the 391st Military Police Battalion and the 375th Criminal Investigations Division of the U.S. Army Reserve use the facility, but the last military presence on the property is expected to be gone by the end of 2009. The military is building a new army reserve center in Whitehall, which will end a century and a half of military presence at Fort Hayes.
The history of Fort Hayes as a military post spans from its establishment in 1863 to the expected departure of the remaining military presence by the end of 2009.
Ordnance Corps General C.P. Buckingham selected a site nearly two years after the congressional authorization of July, 1862. It was a tract of about 70 acres northeast of the city, an oak grove owned by Robert and Jannette Neil of Neil House fame. The need for an army arsenal in Central Ohio was acute soon after war broke out. The state arsenal was jammed with arms and equipment for the states’ first regiments, but that building was deemed unsafe and a fire hazard. The army needed a modern arsenal for the receipt and issuance of arms and equipment and the manufacture and storage of ammunition.
Captain J. W. Todd, of the U .S. Army Ordnance Corps, was the first commander of the Columbus Arsenal, as the post was first known. High command was nothing more than a field of oak stumps and some temporary shacks on land that Captain Todd also prepared the first arsenal master plan:
1 two-story brick workshop, 180′ X 60′
$27,758
4 storehouses, 200′ x 50′
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Wikipedia