Keeping America Safe

[butlersrangers]

Built and improved, during the 1830's & 1840's, Fort Wayne at Detroit was built as a formidable deterrent to British-Canadian Invasion of the U.S.
Subsequent Treaties made it unnecessary to install Cannon, although C.W. photos taken at Ft. Wayne, show Cannon in at least some bastions.

In 1966-1967, it was still a U.S. Army Base when my H.S. classmates and I reported to our local draft-board and were bused to the base for our draft physicals.
(The way we were treated that day, definitely clarified my thinking on voluntarily having a military career)!

About 1968, the Federal Government, decommissioned Ft. Wayne and deeded it to the City of Detroit.
The City utilized the residential buildings to house people, displaced by the 1967 Riots, (now being justified and called "The Insurrection").
The buildings were abused, vandalized, and stripped of valuable material.

From time to time, Detroit has put money and effort into preserving Ft. Wayne, as a Museum and Historic Site. But, priorities and budgets returned it to neglect and vandalism.

There is now the possibility of a partnership between the N.P.S., City of Detroit, and Private Corporations, for preservation and multiuse of the intact, strategic and historic location.
(That would be cool. The Fort is beautifully situated on the Detroit River)!

[Knute1]

Hopefully, some town fathers wise up and preserve the history. But history is being taught less and less in schools today, being replaced by other nefarious things I don't want to even mention.

[RicKrager]

As regards the fort. Some years back my wife and I took a ship across the Atlantic bound for Hamburg. A stop en route at Le Havre gave us a chance to walk the town. We spotted a directional sign, “Jardines Suspendes” (as I recall). Curious we followed the signs with an image of a pedestrian, indicating 8 min, then 6 min, and on until we arrived at a hilltop fort similar to the one in your story. This one had become an amazing botanical garden with different sections devoted to different climate zones. They had greenhouses for starts and developing/localizing new additions. The open air display of the various zones seemed to be faring well with the exception of the “Tropical” section. They had a sign explaining the difficulty in establishing tropicals to their area. The fort was well placed for views out to the Channel and well-cared for. It would be nice if your fort could be retained in a similar manner. A place people would visit. Even better if they could learn a bit about the reason it was constructed. Too many of our current crop are large children, clinging eagerly to their fears. Only about 1% of us have served. Despite the sissy-boys flouncing around the world of media, there are still plenty of squared-away guys willing to step up, raise their right hand and be ready to “Keep America Safe.” We should remember those who went before us and “gave all” on this Memorial Day. God Bless America.