Fort Barry

 park, fortification, draw only border, closed / former military

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The polygon outline more or less shows Ft. Barry's historic boundaries. Pt. Bonita to the south belonged to the US Coast Guard, and Ft. Baker is to the right of Ft. Barry.

"At the end of the 19th Century, when modem artillery of greatly increased range and calibers came into use, the line of defenses that protected San Francisco Bay shifted westward to a line stretching from Point Bonita to Point Lobos. North of the Golden Gate at Point Bonita, this would require a whole new series of gun emplacements on the Marin Headlands. It would represent an attempt to match the size and range of the heaviest guns that could be carried on an enemy warship, and by locating batteries on the westernmost points of land north and south of the strait and west of San Francisco Bay, keep enemy warships beyond a range from which they could shell the city and its harbor.

"But it was not until after the beginning of the 20th Century that, spurred by the recent Spanish-American War of 1898, army engineers actually began construction of large gun emplacements north of the Golden Gate at new locations to the west, toward the ocean. This land was technically the western end of Fort Baker, which in 1897 had replaced the Lime Point Military Reservation of 1850, but it was known unofficially at first as the Point Bonita Military Reservation. Here, the Corps of Engineers constructed, more or less concurrently, five batteries:

"BATTERY MENDELL - First of the batteries to be built in Fort Barry, it was commenced in July 1901 and mounted two 12-inch breech-loading rifles, Model 1895, on Buffington-Crozier "disappearing" carriages Model 1897. Colonel George Mendell, the engineer officer who had supervised construction of post-Civil War and early Endicott-type batteries around San Francisco Bay, had died in San Francisco in 1902, and on November 22, 1902, the new Marin County battery was named for him.

"BATTERY ALEXANDER - Commenced in October 1901, this eight-mortar battery, smallest mortar battery in the defenses of San Francisco, was armed with breech-loading 12-inch mortars, all Model 1890 mounted on model 1896 Mark I carriages. The battery was named on November 22, 1902 in honor of Colonel Barton S. Alexander of the Corps of Engineers, an associate of Colonel Mendell's and the senior engineer on the Pacific Coast, who had died in 1878.

"BATTERY EDWIN GUTHRIE - This battery of four six-inch rapid-fire guns, Model 1900, mounted on barbette carriages, Model 1900. The emplacement was named on December 27, 1904 in honor of Captain Edwin Guthrie, 15th Infantry, who died in the Mexican War in 1847.

"BATTERY SAMUEL RATHBONE - The second six inch barbette battery, this one contained Model 1900 weapons, on Model 1900 barbette carriages. The battery was named on December 27, 1904 in honor of a lieutenant of artillery killed in action in Canada in the War of 1812.

"BATTERY PATRICK O'RORKE - It was built to mount four 15-pounder, 3 inch guns on Model 1903 pedestal mounts. It was not armed until 1909. The battery was nevertheless named on December 27, 1904 in honor of Colonel Patrick Henry O'Rorke, killed at Gettysburg during the Civil War in July 1863.

"All of the above batteries were transferred to the Coast Artillery Corps on June 8, 1905."

Read more here: www.militarymuseum.org/FtBarry.html
www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/bak.htm