Fort Crockett, named after David
Crockett, was a United States military reservation on Galveston
Island. It was built in 1897 for coast artillery training and harbor
defense. Its batteries, which fronted the Gulf of Mexico, held
ten-inch guns, mortars, and rapid-fire guns. It was first occupied
by Battery G, First Artillery, and relieved by Battery C in 1900. A
seawall constructed along the Gulf shore of the military reservation
in 1904-05 tied into the gun emplacements. After the Galveston
hurricane of 1900, Fort Crockett's batteries were transferred to the
United States Army Corps of Engineers. The fort was not garrisoned
again until 1911.
Between 1917 and 1926 Battery G,
Thirteenth Coast Artillery, organized as the Third Company, manned
the fort. The installation eventually became headquarters for the
Sixty-ninth Coast Artillery, and Battery G was transferred to the
Twentieth Coast Artillery. Both were harbor-defense units. When the
Third Attack Group was stationed at Fort Crockett in the mid-1920s,
an aerodrome was built nearby. Until 1940 the fixed batteries at
Fort Crockett remained on caretaker status. The next year the
Twentieth and 265th Coast Artillery units were activated to man the
defenses. A number of German prisoners of war were interned at the
post from 1941 to 1946. Adjunct operations during World War II
included a laundry, a bakery, and a hospital, as well as signal
corps, engineer, and ordnance detachments.
From the late 1940s to the
mid-1950s Fort Crockett served as a recreational facility for active
and reserve military personnel and their families. In 1955 the
General Services Administration declared the post surplus and began
disposing of its property and buildings. Only one of the batteries,
completed in 1942, remained in 1986.