Fort Wayne

Fort Wayne is located in the city of Detroit, Michigan, at the foot of Livernois Avenue in the Delray neighborhood. The fort is situated on the Detroit River at a point where it is under half a mile to the Ontario shore. The original 1848 limestone barracks (with later brick additions) still stands, as does the 1845 fort (renovated in 1863 with brick exterior facing). On the grounds but outside the original fort are additional barracks, officers quarters, a recreation building, a theater, commissary, guard house, garage, and stables. A large warehouse and the post fire station were torn down in 1976 and the two-story hospital was torn down in 2007. The fort sits on . Since the 1970s, , including the original fort and a number of buildings, has been operated by the city of Detroit. The remaining area is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a boatyard. The fort was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1958 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Background Fort Wayne is Detroit's third fort. The first, Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit, was built by the French in 1701 near current day Hart Plaza. This fort, constructed shortly after Cadillac landed, was manned by the French until they surrendered it to the British in 1760 during the French and Indian War. The British constructed the second fort, Fort Lernoult, a few years later, centered on current day Fort and Shelby streets. They manned the post until 1796 when the United States assumed control over the site and renamed it Fort Shelby. Following the end of the War of 1812, Fort Shelby fell into disrepair, and in 1826 the City of Detroit purchased and demolished it. The site of Fort Wayne originally consisted of a high sand mound with freshwater springs along the marshy waterfront of the Detroit River; it is from this geography that Springwells Township (later annexed into the City of Detroit) took its name. The site has a history going back to about the year 1000 A.D. Approximately 19 Native American burial mounds were present in the immediate area, as well as a larger mound at the mouth of the Rouge River. The present bastioned fort was built atop one of these burial mounds. In the early 20th century, the sole remaining burial mound at Fort Wayne was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Michigan and was found to contain human remains dating over 900 years old.