Fort MacArthur

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500 Varas Square--Government Reserve, aka Fort MacArthur
(U.S. Registered Historic District)

Nearest city:	San Pedro, California
Built/Founded:	1916
Architect:	US Army,Quartermaster General
Architectural style(s):	Bungalow/Craftsman, Mission/Spanish Revival
Added to NRHP:	March 12, 1986
NRHP Reference#:	86000326 ^[1]
Governing body:	U.S. Air Force

Fort MacArthur is a former U.S. Army installation in San Pedro, California (now the port community of Los Angeles), named for General Arthur MacArthur, Jr.

In 1888 President Grover Cleveland designated an area overlooking San Pedro Bay as an unnamed military reservation intended to improve the defenses of the expanding Los Angeles harbor area. Additional land was purchased in 1897 and 1910, and Fort MacArthur was formally created on October 31, 1914. The fort was a training center during World War I, and the first large gun batteries for harbor defense were installed in 1917. The effectiveness of these fixed gun emplacements was debated for many years, and test firings were extremely unpopular with nearby residents. By the end of World War II the large guns were already being removed, with the last decommissioned in 1948. Battery Osgood-Farley is probably the best preserved example of a United States coastal defense gun emplacement, and it was placed it on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. A second site, Battery John Barlow and Saxton, was added to the Register in 1982.

During the early years of the cold war, Fort MacArthur became a key part of the west coast's antiaircraft defenses, becoming the home base of the 47th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade. A Nike surface-to-air missile battery was activated at the fort in 1954, remaining in service until the early 1970s.

In 1975 Fort MacArthur became a sub-post of Fort Ord, and the Army soon transferred ownership of the fort's Upper and Lower Reservations to the City of Los Angeles. The Upper Reservation is now a city park -- San Pedro's Angels Gate Park, home of the Korean Bell of Friendship and the Fort MacArthur Military Museum (at the site of Battery Osgood-Farley). The Lower Reservation was dredged and is now the city's Cabrillo Marina.

Fort MacArthur's remaining Middle Reservation was transferred to the Air Force in 1982, and is still being used as base housing for the Los Angeles Air Force Base.