Mission
The mission of the Fort Harrison Reuse Authority is to aggressively facilitate the economic redevelopment of the former Fort Benjamin Harrison Army Base.
History
In 92 years as a military post, Fort Benjamin Harrison's fate waxed and waned. Infantry regiments came and went. So did training camps, schools and even prisoners. It all started in 1903 when appropriations were authorized for the purchase of land to become a military reservation near Indianapolis, the hometown of the 23rd president of the United States. In 1906 the post was officially named Fort Benjamin Harrison in honor of the former president. The first soldiers arrived later that year, and between 1906 and 1910 the first flurry of development activity become the parade field known as Lawton Loop. Forty-eight structures from this original period remain and are now being converted to civilian uses.
For a time in the 30's, Fort Ben served as a Civilian Conservation Corps camp and during World War II it housed, at various times, German and Italian prisoners of war and briefly served as an Army disciplinary barracks.
In fact, Fort Benjamin Harrison saw its highest level of activity during World Wars I and II. During World War II it became the largest reception center in the United States and literally thousands of young draftees earned their first taste of Army life at Fort Ben. For a short period, from 1948 to 1950, the facility functioned as Benjamin Harrison Air Force Base. The 50's saw another flurry of construction activity when both the Finance Center and Gates Lord Hall were constructed.
Through its history, scores of young soldiers were trained at Fort Ben. Army schools that operated at Fort Ben include the finance school, adjutant general school, chaplains' school, defense information school, administrative school, recruiting and retention school, music school, community activities school, NCO Academy, computer science school, and physical fitness school.
The fortunes of Fort Benjamin Harrison were sealed in 1991 when the Base Closure and Realignment Commission identified it for closure. Thus began a new era as the planning for civilian reuse began.
Today, the Department of Defense retains a small Army Reserve Center at Fort Harrison and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service continues its superior work in the Maj. Gen. Emmett Bean Center – the “Home of the Army Dollar.”