Historic Fort Snelling

Started by Lt. Col. Henry Leavenworth and the Fifth U.S. Infantry in 1820 and completed by Col. Josiah Snelling in 1825, Fort Snelling (originally named Fort Saint Anthony) was built to protect the American fur trade in the area and control the waterways that had been used by the British and their Indian allies during the War of 1812. The site was chosen in 1817 by Lt. Zebulon Pike, and the Fifth Infantry dispatched to the area in 1819. Fort Snelling was an active Army post through the 181240s, and then was deactivated and sold to a local developer named Franklin Steele when the frontier moved on to the west. When the American Civil War broke out, the Army repossessed the Fort to use as a recruit rendezvous. The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry shared the space with the sheep that were living there until it could be cleaned up and returned to military use. The Fort continued in this role through the Civil War, and became a headquarters location for military activities in the upper Midwest through the late 1800s. The Fort reprised it's role as a recruiting and training center for the Spanish American War, as well as both World Wars. After WWI, the post was greatly expanded to the south and west, and the old post was largely relegated to secondary uses. Today, the old Fort has been restored to an approximation of it's 1820s appearance, while much of the newer "Upper Post" languishes unused. In recent years much of the 20th century parade ground has been turned into public sports fields, and the Hippodrome, originally used for horse training, has been acquired by the Boy Scouts and converted into their Base Camp facility.