Fort Howard (1830s)
After the War of 1812, the American Government sought to better control their northwestern territory. The young country stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. But American Indian tribes and denizen fur traders in the old Northwest had fought with the British during the late war. To create a substantial American presence in the Upper Midwest, the U.S. Government built a series of forts along strategic waterways. The forts served to control the fur trade and oversee relations with American Indian tribes, in preparation for the imminent influx of white American settlement. In 1816, Fort Howard was constructed on the Fox River’s west bank in present-day Green Bay. It protected the strategic Fox-Wisconsin Waterway, connected forts on the eastern Great Lakes to western posts on the Mississippi River, and linked the settled east with the untamed frontier. From 1820 to 1822, troops at Ft. Howard temporarily moved to Camp Smith, where Heritage Hill State Historical Park now stands. Ft. Howard was closed by the War Department in 1852. It’s building were relocated, auctioned off, or destroyed to make way for the incoming Chicago and Northwestern Railway.
Fort Howard Guard House
The guardhouse was originally built by the U.S. Army in 1833. After Ft. Howard closed, the building was moved off military grounds to the north side of Bond Street between Broadway and Chestnut Streets in Green Bay. It was relocated to Heritage Hill in 2010. The construction style is in the Greek Revival style.
The guardhouse complex served as the main entrance to Fort Howard. Anyone visitor wanting to visit the stockade, 3-acre garrison entered through the lower sally port. The upper story rooms served as the Commanding Officer’s office, on-duty guards’ room, light prison, and post library. In the lower portion of the guardhouse is the full prison, where serious offenders were confined and served out their sentences.
Fort Howard Gallery, a Permanent Heritage Hill Exhibit
located in the sally port under the Commanding Officer’s Office.
Explore the timeline of Fort Howard’s construction and how its use changed over time and view original artifacts associated with the military history of the area.
Fort Howard Hospital
The historic Fort Howard hospital was originally built by the U.S. Army in 1834-1835. After Fort Howard closed, it was moved to the corner of Kellogg and Chestnut Streets in Green Bay, and relocated to Heritage Hill in 1975. The construction style is a timber frame in the Greek Revival style.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the hospital was designed by U.S. Army Surgeon William Satterlee and built outside the walls of the fort. After being moved to the corner of Kellogg and Chestnut Streets, it became a private residence, but was opened as a museum in 1934. The building design is a timber frame construction with dormer windows and columned porticos, modeled after the Greek Revival architectural style. The hospital was constructed in two phases, essentially making it two separate buildings that were attached.
Fort Howard Officer’s Quarters
The OQ was built in 1982 at Heritage Hill in the Greek Revival style.
This building is a reproduction built to historic specifications of an 1830s surgeon’s residence and other officer’s quarters at Fort Howard. The unique design permits rooms to be compartmented off to assigned officers and their families. Interpreted as the Officer’s Quarters, it showcases how officers and their wives lived during their time at Fort Howard. This building also houses our education department.
Fort Howard Post School
The schoolhouse was built in 1982 at Heritage Hill in the Greek Revival style.
The first school recorded at Fort Howard was in 1824 when Colonel John McNeill, post commander, organized instruction for the children of officers and local residents. School sessions were first held in a room of a fort building. Eventually, a building outside of the fort walls was converted into the school. The construction and architecture of this original school is unknown, but it is assumed that it would have been similar in design to other fort buildings.
Detached Kitchen
This small building was originally built by the U.S. Army in 1834. After being moved from Ft. Howard, it came to rest on the corner of Kellogg and Chestnut Streets in Green Bay. There, it served as a museum next to the Fort Howard Hospital. The building was relocated to Heritage Hill in 1975. The construction style is timber frame in the Greek Revival style.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an officer’s quarters, the detached kitchen was built in 1834 and sat immediately behind the commanding officer’s quarters at Ft. Howard. Brevet Brig. Gen. George M. Brooke of the 5th Infantry Regiment was first to use the building. Plans by the quartermaster indicate that the main floor had a kitchen and washroom for the C.O. and his family. Today, we interpret the building as a Company Kitchen and Orderly Room, which you will see noted on our map.