Historic Fort Snelling

Gallery: Historic Fort Snelling

For my readers not from Minnesota, Fort Snelling was built mostly in the early 1820s as a frontier fort at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Minnesota rivers. It was one of a number of frontier forts built in the era to exert United States control over its wide open territories and their waterways. Over time, Fort Snelling grew to be a hub for life in the upper Mississippi. In the 1830s, the fort was also home to Dred Scott, the slave whose time in Minnesota lead to the infamous Supreme Court case.

Over time, the fort’s buildings were altered, fell into decay, and eventually demolished along with the fort’s walls. But four structures survived in one form or another. Fort Snelling’s iconic round tower is the oldest standing building in Minnesota. The commanding officer’s quarters is most likely the state’s oldest standing house, although it was much altered over the years. During World War II, some 300,000 inductees were processed at Fort Snelling and many wartime activities took place there. In the 1950s, a plan to build a freeway through the old fort site threatened what remained, and efforts began to preserve the site.  Archeology, research and years of reconstruction and restoration culminated in the Minnesota Historical Society opening a rebuilt Historic Fort Snelling as a living history museum in 1979.

The slide show below is a sample of photographs from my recent visit to Fort Snelling. Please visit my gallery for more images.

Gallery: Historic Fort Snelling