Fort Dupont: Military Life a Century Ago

Fort Dupont parade grounds, looking east

Fort Dupont has served many roles in its 120-year-old life: a coastal defense fort, headquarters for U.S. Army engineers, an Army training facility, prisoner-of-war camp, long-term care facility, storage facility for surplus state property, and now a "lifestyle community." Today Fort Dupont has buildings and structures from all these roles, making it a great place to learn about military life in the first half of the 20th century and how military installations have evolved as defense and regional needs have changed. The River View Trail along the Delaware River is also an opportunity to observe local wildlife.

First, a little more on Fort Dupont's history, because it helped us understand and appreciate the buildings and structures we saw...

In the late 1800s, the United States realized that its coastal defenses were severely neglected. Not only was there inadequate protection, but the forts and bases that existed weren’t using modern technologies such as concrete and state-of-the-art armaments. So coastal defenses were expanded and improved.

 

Fort Dupont was part of this initiative, constructed between 1898 and 1915 to help protect the Delaware River, Wilmington, and Philadelphia from naval attack. And during World War I, it stood ready to provide this defense, although it never had to attack anything coming up the river.

 

By the end of World War I, longer-range guns had been developed that could be used to attack enemy ships farther south in the wider Delaware Bay. The US Army constructed Fort Saulsbury near Slaughter Beach in the 1920s as its new coastal defense fort, and Fort Dupont was no longer needed for coastal defense. Fort Dupont became headquarters for the US Army’s First Engineer’s Regiment. In 1939, as World War II loomed, it became a training facility. Toward the end of the war, it became a prisoner-of-war camp for German prisoners.

 

By the end of World War II, attacks were more likely coming from missiles and planes rather than ships. This made coastal forts obsolete and they, including Fort Dupont, were decommissioned. The State of Delaware acquired Fort Dupont and transformed some of the facilities into Governor Bacon Health Center, a long-term care facility that still operates today. Other parts of the property have been used by Delaware’s Surplus Property Division to store vehicles and other items. The land near the Delaware River became Fort Dupont State Park in 1992, and most of the fort property became a National Historic District in 1999.

 

Despite these uses, many of Fort Dupont’s buildings sat vacant and deteriorating after World War II, and most have been torn down. There were 273 structures in 1943, but only 74 in 1999, and even fewer today. To revitalize the property, the State of Delaware recently allowed a developer to transform Fort Dupont into a “lifestyle community” of homes, offices, shops, restaurants, and a marina. So far the developer has rehabilitated some of the historic buildings and added some new homes.

 

If you’re driving south on DE Route 9 through Delaware City, look for a fork in the road on the southern edge of town, immediately after you cross the Delaware City Branch Canal. Don’t take either fork. Instead, turn left at the new sign for “Fort Dupont Lifestyle Community.”

 

Fort Dupont entrance sign

The first thing you’ll see is a large open area on your right. This was the fort’s parade grounds and will be left as a town green.

Fort Dupont parade ground, looking west

On your left is the fort’s chapel, built in 1941.

Fort Dupont chapel

 Straight ahead, intruding a bit on the parade grounds, is the Commanding Officer’s Quarters, built in 1910.

Fort Dupont Commanding Officers Quarters

Turn left at the Commanding Officers Quarters onto Officers Row. Three of the houses here are original officers’ quarters, built between 1906 and 1945 and now rehabilitated.

One of Fort Dupont's original officers' quarters, now a private home

One of the oldest of Fort Dupont's original officer's quarters, now a duplex of two private homes

Two of the officers’ quarters were floated over from Fort Mott in New Jersey in 1932. Apparently Fort Dupont needed more housing than Fort Mott. 

One of the officer's quarters floated to Fort Dupont from Fort Mott in 1932

UPDATE 11/2022: Click here for a one-minute 1933 film of one of the houses being floated down the river!

At the end of Officer’s Row, turn right. The vacant land in front of you is planned to be the hub of Fort Dupont Lifestyle Community, with a hotel, restaurants, marina, multi-story condos, and offices. There’s also supposed to be a pedestrian bridge across Delaware City Branch Canal to connect the development to historic Delaware City.

Will this someday be the hub of the Fort Dupont Lifestyle Community?

Someday there may be a pedestrian bridge across the canal connecting Fort Dupont to Delaware City.

Loop back toward the Commanding Officer’s Quarters. The white frame house behind it is the Post Headquarters or Administration Building, built in 1901 in Colonial Revival style. It’s now a single-family home. 

1901 Fort Dupont Post Headquarters/Administration Building

Next to the Administration building is the War Department Theater, built in 1933 in Colonial Revival Style.

Fort Dupont's 1933 War Department Theater

 

The theater entrance still has a lovely pressed tin ceiling.

Entrance to Fort Dupont's War Department Theater

 Past the theater is the Post Exchange or PX, built in 1906. It had a dance hall in the rear and two bowling alleys in the basement.

Fort Dupont's 1906 Post Exchange (PX)

 On the streets beyond the PX are some duplex NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) Quarters, all built between 1931 and 1945. These have been rehabilitated and are now private duplex homes.

NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) Quarters at Fort Dupont

 A block past the PX on Sussex Avenue (the street that fronts the Theater and PX) is the Guard House, built in 1904 to incarcerate soldiers who committed infractions. Yes, there are plans to rehabilitate it.

Fort Dupont's 1904 guard house

 

Past the Guard House on Sussex Avenue are two white 1 ½ story buildings, both built between 1898 and 1905, and an unpainted wooden building. One of them (I’m not sure which) was Fort Dupont’s first official headquarters, built in 1899 and one of the oldest structures in Fort Dupont. Its later roles were Commandant’s House, Quartermaster’s House and the Warrant Officer’s Quarters. Please post a comment if you know what any of these three buildings are!

Old building #1 on Sussex Avenue in Fort Dupont

Old building #2 on Sussex Avenue in Fort Dupont

Old building #3 on Sussex Avenue in Fort Dupont

The two large, beautiful buildings facing the parade grounds were originally barracks. The larger one, now housing Governor Bacon Health Center, was originally built in 1909, heavily damaged by fire, and rebuilt in 1936 as the Engineers’ Barracks.

Fort Dupont's 1936 Engineers' Barracks, now Governor Bacon Health Center

 The smaller barracks is the Paynter Building, built around 1940, and between the two barracks is the Medical Center, built between 1906 and 1922. German POWs were housed in barracks at Fort Dupont toward the end of World War II, but they may have been in temporary barracks, not these.

Fort Dupont's circa 1940 Paynter Building

Fort Dupont's Medical Center, built between 1906 and 1922

Behind the barracks are six more NCO Quarters. The two behind the Governor Bacon Health Center were built between 1898 and 1905.

One of Fort Dupont's NCO Quarters on Washington Avenue built between 1898 and 1905

Another of Fort Dupont's NCO Quarters on Washington Avenue built between 1898 and 1905

The other NCO Quarters were built between 1906 and 1922. Obviously the NCO Quarters on this street have yet to be rehabilitated. Notice that the NCO Quarters are all duplexes.

One of Fort Dupont's NCO Quarters on Washington Avenue built between 1906 and 1922

Another of Fort Dupont's NCO Quarters on Washington Avenue built between 1906 and 1922

Yet another of Fort Dupont's NCO Quarters on Washington Avenue between 1906 and 1922

 

Three buildings are across the street from the six NCO Quarters. The one on the left was the Quartermaster’s Storehouse, built between 1906 and 1922.

Fort Dupont's Quartermaster's Storehouse, built between 1906 and 1922

The Storehouse still has signs for the Receiving Warehouse and Supply Warehouse—the latter with a horseshoe someone tacked up for luck.

"Receiving Warehouse" sign on Fort Dupont's Quartermaster's Storehouse

"Supply Warehouse" sign--and a horseshoe for luck--on Fort Dupont's Quartermaster's Storehouse

The middle building of the three was the Bakery, also built between 1906 and 1922.

Fort Dupont Bakery, built between 1906 and 1922

 

The only two buildings in the southern half of the fort property that I was able to identify are the Stable and Guard Tower, both built during World War II.

Fort Dupont stable

Fort Dupont guard tower

I’m not sure if the building below was once the Filling Station or Pump House. If you know, please add a comment!

Was this Fort Dupont's filling station or pump house?

We’re saving the River View Trail for another trip.

 

As you leave Fort Dupont, if you like, turn left and you’ll come to Grass Dale, another part of Fort Dupont State Park. There’s a shaded picnic area behind the conference center, and the road ends at the C&D Canal, with a nice view of Reedy Point Bridge. There’s talk of turning this tract into an RV campground.

Reedy Point Bridge

A note as you prepare to visit: As far as I can tell, there is currently no online source of comprehensive information on Fort Dupont’s historic structures; I pieced all the info here from a variety of online sources. I think the best resource for understanding the fort before you visit is a wonderful slide show with lots of old photos that's been posted by the organization developing Fort Dupont. The best map I could find of the historic structures is on page 17 of the 2013 master plan for the development of Fort Dupont, although most buildings are not identified. (UPDATE 8/1/2021: The master plan appears to be no longer available online.) Fort Dupont State Park has a Facebook page that occasionally posts information on some of the buildings. Please post a comment if you know of any other useful online resources!

UPDATE 1/31/2021:

Many people on Facebook have shared already more information on Fort Dupont. I don't share names because of privacy concerns, but I'm grateful to you all for your generosity!

Some shared information on Fort Dupont's gun batteries. The remains of some of the gun batteries can be seen along the River View Trail, so I'm hoping to cover guns, batteries, etc., in a separate blog post after it warms up enough for us to walk that trail.

Here's the first page of a magazine clipping on the buildings floated across the Delaware River from Fort Mott to Fort Dupont in 1932:

Click here and here for short films of life in Fort Dupont in 1941. Among other things, they gave me an appreciation of how many buildings are now gone. This was a huge fort in those days!

One expert in seacoast fortification thinks the guard tower may have been one of a pair of aiming stations for the big guns. But someone else thinks it was a guard tower from the days when this was a POW camp.

Speaking of POWs, someone shared this photo of German POWs at Fort Dupont: