From the foothills overlooking the young city of Salt Lake, soldiers carved a place for themselves in Utah lore. They prospected for ore, fought American Indians and kept a watchful eye on the Mormon settlement in the valley below.
After its establishment in 1862, the fort encompassed a tidy corner of the Salt Lake Valley?much larger than it now does. An initial survey drew the fort’s borders beyond the U’s campus in all directions. At that time, the fort covered about four square miles, according to Charles “Chuck” Hibbard, the museum’s historian.
With the acquisition of Red Butte Canyon, the fort later grew and then shrank.
About the time of the Civil War, the United States was split in two?not just politically, but geographically. The frontier rested just west of the Mississippi River, but young states had already sprung up along the Pacific Coast.
Protecting the connection between these two areas was essential for the survival of the Union, according to Hibbard.
So in 1862, Col. Patrick Edward Connor and his troops arrived with instructions to protect the telegraph and mail routes.
However, the American Indians were not the sole source of aggravation for Connor.
“There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Connor felt that one of his jobs was to keep his eye on the Mormons,” Hibbard said.
Connor ultimately became an influential anti-Mormon political voice.
Though no outright clashes erupted, the two sides fought each other through their newspapers, Hibbard said. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wielded the Deseret News, countering the “Gentile” newspaper established at the fort?the first daily paper in the territory.
The passage of time has embellished the conflict.
According to Hibbard, an “old story” tells of a Fort Douglas cannon pointed at Brigham Young’s house. It’s obviously untrue?a cannon from that era could not shoot a mile, and the city was about three miles away.
But the city crept closer as time went on.
Prior to World War I, citizens rallied against attempts to close the fort, which had become a powerful economic force in the region.
The fort reached its high point during World War I, Hibbard said.
The fort established a large general hospital where victims of mustard gas were treated. But the flu epidemic that swept the country filled most of the hospital beds.
Prisoners of war arrived too. And eventually the fort housed “enemy aliens,” considered seditionists and agitators by the U.S. government. It incarcerated and deported some of these people without allowing them legal recourse?setting historical precedent for the government’s actions at home during today’s “war on terrorism,” Hibbard said.
During World War II, the fort became an Army air base for non-combat functions.
But as soon as the war ended, the fort began to shrink away, Hibbard said.
“The fort was not big enough for modern armies to train because by that time the city surrounded the fort,” he said.
The fort’s land was broken off piecemeal?to form what is now the Health Sciences Center, Research Park and other areas.
In 1991, the U acquired 51 acres?much of the remaining fort and decided to expand its use as a residential area. The arrival of the Olympics jump started these plans.
Twenty-one new buildings, including the Heritage Center, have joined the historical ones left by the military.
The military still occupies the southern end of the fort, which functions as a reserve center.