Forts In Fort Wayne's History

As you would expect from a city with the word "Fort" in its name, Fort Wayne has been home to several fortified settlements throughout its long, cold history. In those days, there was no wall mounted boiler to provide soldiers and settlers with hot water for baths, tea, and washing the dishes. You had to be hardy to live in the forts of Indiana, especially since at any moment they could be overrun by Native American forces or armies sent by foreign nations. To learn more about Fort Wayne's history with forts, read on as we trace the rise and fall of such settlements in the city.

The first fortified outpost was established in the very early years of the 1700s by French traders at the confluence of the Saint John and Saint Mary Rivers to protect trade routes in the area from British and Native American incursions. Their rudimentary structure may have been lacking in thermal insulation materials but Fort Miami, as it was named, lasted nearly fifty years until it was sacked in 1747. Two years later the fort was rebuilt, and even survived the French and Indian War, but when France lost the war they lost the fort as well, and ownership fell to the British.

Despite the fact that years of use and repeated attacks by enemy forces had left Fort Miami in dire need of some repairs and septic pump truck services, those sorts of amenities weren't available yet, so the new British soldiers had to make do with what they had. They took possession in 1760, at the close of the war, and held onto the fort for only three years before it was destroyed by Native American forces during Pontiac's Rebellion. It was rebuilt and briefly enjoyed success again as a trading post until the Revolutionary War, when the fort was sacked again and the entire area handed over to the new country known as the United States of America.

The French forces assisting the Americans helped set up a new fort near the intersection of Clay and Barry streets in modern Fort Wayne in 1794. The new fort was called Fort Wayne, after American General Anthony Wayne. There was no greenhouse supplier or fort town accompanying it at the time, it was a simple stockade intended to keep Native American forces at bay and deter the British from attempting to re-take the area. Nevertheless, the day of the fort's dedication, October 22nd, is considered the day the city of Fort Wayne was founded.

Beginning life with a staff of 100 the fort changed commanders several times before eventually expanding to a new location with a larger compliment of services like lagoon cleaning and trading posts in 1798. The fort was besieged once by Native Americans but never taken, not even during the War of 1812. At the conclusion of that war, the town which eventually evolved into a modern city began to spring up. With all obstacles to the settlement's continued existence removed, there was no longer any need for the fort and it was abandoned in April of 1819.