Several building periods can be identified in the development of Fort
Robinson. The following description of the old post was written when it
was under construction in 1874.
The camp is 160 yards square. Officers’ quarters are on the north,
infantry barracks on the east and west and cavalry barracks, guard
house and storehouse on the south sides. The barracks are built of
logs, in panels of 15 feet each. For the infantry they are two in
number, each 150 by 24 feet by 9 feet high to the eaves, divided in
the center to accommodate two companies. They have a shed extension at
the rear, 12 feet wide, the length of the building, partitioned off
for mess-rooms, kitchens and wash rooms. The cavalry barrack is built
in the same way, but only 90 feet long, for the accommodation of one
company with mess-room and kitchen like the others. These buildings
are unceiled, have shingle roofs, log walls, window sashes and are
floored. One building 142 by 24 feet, 8¼ feet to eaves, and from eaves
to ridge 7½ feet, is built of logs, with shingle roof, and divided
into twelve sets of two rooms each, and occupied as quarters for
married soldiers and laundresses.
The officer’s quarters are to be all alike, six sets being authorized
each 38 feet long by 32 feet wide and 10 feet high, one for the
commanding officer and five for company officers. They have stone
foundations,[41] walls of adobe [bricks] and are to be ceiled by
boards and plastered. In each building there are to be four rooms, 15
feet square, with a central hall, four feet wide. The dining rooms and
kitchens in the rear are to be made of lumber.[42]
The warehouses, stables, and other buildings of the early post were
constructed of logs, log slabs, or boards. The first post hospital, a
log building, was not completed until November 1875, tents and dugouts
being used to house the sick and the post surgeon until that time. In
addition to the military buildings there was a post trader’s residence
and store-saloon, and next to it a small log building housing a
photographer’s studio.
The beginning of the new decade in the 1880’s saw some expansion of the
post with the construction of another log barracks, an adobe barracks
for the band, and a residence for the band leader. The replacement of
the log hospital by a concrete structure and other additions were all
made before 1886. In 1887 expansion of Fort Robinson, connected with
projected reduction of Fort Laramie, took place on a newly established
parade ground, northwest of the original one, along the north side of
which was constructed a series of duplex adobe brick officers’ quarters,
six in number. On the opposite side, adobe brick barracks were built,
and beyond them new frame cavalry stables. The post commander, Col.
Edward Hatch, wanted to use fired brick for the new quarters but was
overruled despite the equality of cost and the superior quality of fired
brick. Only a year later a forty hour storm caused the unprotected walls
of some of the adobe houses to collapse. However, once repaired, they
proved durable and are still in use today.
In the early 1890’s Fort Robinson was further expanded with the
construction of additional officers’ quarters in 1891, and the following
year more storehouses and a much needed replacement for the old
guardhouse were added. New gun sheds, quartermaster stables, wheelwright
and blacksmith shops also were built in the 1890’s.
During this period there were so many families of Ninth Cavalrymen at
the post that the old log barracks buildings as well as the original
laundresses’ quarters were being used as dwellings for enlisted men’s
families. Some new quarters for noncommissioned officers’ families were
also in use by this time, and the original 1874 officers’ adobes
eventually became noncom headquarters.
Construction and improvement continued in the early 1900’s with the 1904
addition of a post gymnasium, and in 1905 a frame headquarters building
was built. Today the headquarters structure is the Fort Robinson Museum,
a branch of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
In 1901 a brick hospital building was erected, and the old concrete
structure became the Post Exchange. Before the hospital was even
completed the surgeon asked for an additional wing, which was
immediately added, as well as a large annex at the rear to accommodate
the increasing garrison. Brick buildings built in 1906-1912 included
stables, stable guard quarters, blacksmith shops, fire station, bakery,
company barracks buildings, bachelor officers’ quarters and officers’
residences. At one time an elaborate plan to convert the entire post to
the new brick style was drawn up but was never carried out. Needless to
say, along with construction came the destruction of old and outmoded
buildings which were replaced. The only remnants of the original post of
the 1870’s standing today are the six adobe officers’ quarters.
In 1927 the Remount Service began new major construction, building
several elaborate horse stables. All buildings were repaired and several
recreational facilities were built by the CCC during the 1930’s.
Expansion during World War II included a large number of temporary
buildings for use by the War Dog Training Center and the Prisoner of War
Camp.
The temporary buildings were sold as surplus and removed after the war,
and more unused residences and other buildings were torn down in 1956.
There remains today an example of each major building period at the
post, although some types of structures and materials used are no longer
to be seen.