Fort Sheridan, Illinois

On Sunday, the Marathon Pundit family traveled a few miles north on US Route 41 to the town of Highwood, Illinois and while there we spent some time at Fort Sheridan.

It's now a sprawling neighborhood, but from 1889 until 1993, it was an army base, named for Union General Phil Sheridan.

Fort Sheridan was built as labor unrest grew in Chicago. Concerned businessmen donated the land for the fort, and shortly after the base was established, troops from there were used to end the Pullman Strike in 1894.

As strikes became less violent, the role of Fort Sheridan changed. For soldiers from the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, it was often their first stop after joining the Army.

The military shrank after the end of the Vietnam War, and so did Fort Sheridan's importance. When its closing was announced in 1989, the fort, outside of Army Reserve usage, served one purpose: It was the headquarters of the US Army Recruiting Office. Well, the Army could have placed that anywhere, and did.

Fort Sheridan closed in May, 1993. Two weeks prior, the last time I was inside the fort's property lines, I ran through it as a participant in the Lake County Marathon.

110 acres of the 632 acres of the fort were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1984, most of the homes and buildings on the base, including the ones pictured here, were built with bricks made from the limestone bluffs that dominate Chicago's North Shore.

Over the next few days, I'll have more photographs of Fort Sheridan.

One more thing: Perhaps Fort Sheridan's biggest claim to fame is that it was George S. Patton's first assignment after graduating from West Point. It was there the young cavalry officer received his first nickname, "Sabre George."

For more on Patton, visit ThirdWaveDave's tribute.

Related post:

My Kansas Kronikles: The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum

Technorati tags: travel history military Chicago North Shore Patton photography photos architecture Fort Sheridan army