Historic Fort Steuben

The blockhouses for the enlisted men, the officers quarters, the quartermaster and the artificer�s shops, and the newly opened hospital depict the daily life of the men who helped open up the new territories to settlement.

Reconstructed Historic Fort Steuben, originally built in 1787, opened the door to the Northwest Territory as it protected government surveyors while they laid out the first Seven Ranges.

Historic Fort Steuben was built in 1786 by the First American Regiment for the protection of surveyors who had been sent by the Continental Congress to map the Northwest Territory. At this time the Indians in the area were hostile.

The site was selected as most desirable for a military defense since it was bounded on the east by the Ohio River and lay on a slope of land that was uniform and drained toward the river with hills to the west which formed a natural amphitheater around the perimeter. It was on this site that Captain John Francis Hamtramck of the First American Regiment built a small blockhouse for the protection of his provisions while he and his men constructed the fort.

By February 1787, Hamtramck and his men had completed construction of the fort and named it after Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian army officer who had ably assisted General Washington in the Revolutionary War. The town that subsequently developed on the site still carries his name.

Two hundred years later, the non-profit Old Fort Steuben Project, Inc. was formed to reproduce the fort on its�original site and to offer historical and educational programs.

Today, the reconstructed Fort Steuben is open to the public. The blockhouses for the enlisted men, the officers quarters, the quartermaster and the artificer's shops, and the newly opened hospital depict the daily life of the men who helped open up the new territories to settlement.

Historic Fort Steuben now includes a park with the Veterans Memorial Fountain and a Visitors Center which houses a Museum Shop and Exhibition Hall. The Louis Berkman Amphitheater is now complete and offers concerts and other programs.

From May through October, the Fort hosts tours, school field trips, and special programs.