Fort Lawton and Discovery Park Historic Buildings

Fort Lawton and Discovery Park Historic Buildings occupy the western tip of the Magnolia neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, around 3801 Discovery Park Blvd. The city purchased about 700 acres in 1898 and donated the land to the federal government, and the Army established Fort Lawton in 1900, naming it for Major General Henry Ware Lawton, who died in the Philippines in 1899. The post was a coastal defense and staging ground, and during World War II it processed hundreds of thousands of soldiers headed to the Pacific, and held Italian and German prisoners of war. A riot in 1944 and the trial of soldiers that followed is a documented episode in the fort's history. The Army declared much of the base surplus in the 1960s, and the city opened Discovery Park in 1973 on about 534 acres, with the historic Fort Lawton district listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The preserved buildings include a parade ground surrounded by brick and wood officers' houses and barracks in the Colonial Revival style, a chapel, and a guardhouse, most of them built between 1900 and 1910, and many of them still used as housing or offices. The park also contains the West Point Lighthouse, built in 1881 on a low spit, the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, opened in 1977 by United Indians of All Tribes, and miles of trails across bluffs, forest and beach. The site is not a museum, so the interpretation is mostly signs and self-guided walks, along with occasional tours organized by the park. Restoration is ongoing, and preservation groups and the city work to maintain the buildings, though some are in need of repair. The park's grounds, with views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, add a natural setting to the historic structures, and visitors can easily combine a history walk with a hike.