FORT SNELLING UPPER POST |
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Headquarters
Photo by Mark Gustafson |
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Building #67 - Headquarters
Also known as the headquarters building, this grand structure was and still is the center of the post. It was built between 1879 and 1881 for a cost of $27,000 and the clock tower added in 1883 at a cost of $1000. The clock mechanism is still in good working order, although the faces are broken or missing. The building served as the headquarters for the Department of Dakota, which was responsible for overseeing and supplying forts as far west as Montana. In 1886 St. Paul donated land for a new building and #67 became Fort Snelling's headquarters. The clock will be restored in 2012. |
The barracks are in the background
Photo by Greg Hines |
Headquarters in 3/4 profile with the barracks once again in the background
Photo by Greg Hines |
From a little farther off showing the trees in front of HQ. The trees must have been saplings when the post was closed in 1946
Photo by Greg Hines |
An early 1900s post card showing infantry at inspection
From my collection |
This shot shows the sweeping half circle driveway in front of the building. You can just see the Telephone Exchange to the left of HQ
Photo by Greg Hines |
Plaque on the corner of the building commemorating Captain Wilkinson, killed in the Battle of Sugar Point. The plaque is currently in storage.
Photo by Greg Hines |
A close-up of the entrance and clock tower.
Photo by Greg Hines |
The entrance dead on. You can see they recently mothballed the second storey
Photo by Greg Hines |
The building from the opposite side of earlier photographs. The barracks are directly behind the photographer.
Photo by Greg Hines |
The clock seen through the trees.
Photo by Greg Hines |
Note this is before the clock was installed in 1883
From my collection |
Don't you just love the car? I can just imagine the couple out for a drive on a sunny Minnesota day.
From the Minnesota Historical Society |
Any early photo of the headquarters
From the Minnesota Historical Society |
This plaque has been stolen but was recovered a few weeks later in an alley. It's also safely in storage.
Photo by Eric Ferguson |
In 1898 a U.S. Marshall tried to arrest Bug-ona-gee-sting, a chief of the Pillager tribe.
He escaped to his home at Sugar Point on Leech in northern Minnesota, where one hundred soldiers were sent to
arrest him. Instead they found themselves ambushed by 19 Natives who killed 7 soldiers and wounded another 16.
Photo of the funeral procession. This photo was probably taken from a window in HQ. From the Minnesota Historical Society |
Funerary carriages.
From the Minnesota Historical Society |
This picture depicts the crowd that has gathered around the headquarters building for the funeral for some of the soldiers
From the Minnesota Historical Society |
Door to the commander's office
Photo by Greg Hines |
Offices on the first floor
Photo by Greg Hines |
Fireplace in the commander's office
Photo by Greg Hines |
I just love the art deco lights
Photo by Greg Hines |
HQ when it was used by the 88th US Army Reserve Command in the 1970s & '80s.
From Brad Spear's collection |