I recently had an opportunity to visit Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. I had heard for years that it was a remarkable complex with many historic structures. I must admit, however, that I did not have high expectations for a U.S. Army base, knowing that historic preservation was not generally considered "mission critical" to the military.
I was amazed. It is one of the largest and finest collections of historic buildings that I have seen. There are, by their accounting, approximately 900 historic structures, many of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, Fort Sam Houston is a National Historic Landmark. This is a big deal, a designation signifying that the Fort is one of the nation's most important and valuable historic sites. Fewer than 2500 sites across the US have achieved this designation. Once I saw the base and became familiar with it, it was easy to understand why.
The following information was taken from the Fort Sam Houston website.
The U.S. Army has had a significance presence in San Antonio since 1845 when they occupied, among other buildings, the Alamo. By 1876, the first buildings were constructed on 92 acres on the present site of Fort Sam Houston. Always an important post, it controlled fully 25% of the Army's forces prior to the Civil War. Robert E. Lee, among others, was stationed there during this period. By 1920, the post had grown to become the Army's largest in the continental United States, a distinction that lasted until the end of World War II. Since that time, Fort Sam Houston has been designated as the Army's principal medical training facility and is now the largest and most important military medical training facility in the world. Over the years, 13 Army Chiefs of Staff and 2 US presidents have been stationed there.
Despite my reservations, the military has done a pretty good job of recognizing and protecting their historic assets, from compiling a comprehensive survey to developing standards and guidelines. I was able to visit with post's long time cultural resource manager, David Brigham, who gave me an overview of preservation efforts at the base and showed me how effective application of the Secretary of the Interiors Standards continues to be an evolving effort.
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