Fort MacArthur Museum in San Pedro

Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army installation in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. Named after Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, the fort's history began in 1888 when President Grover Cleveland designated an area overlooking San Pedro Bay as an unnamed military reservation. Additional land was purchased in 1897 and 1910, and the fort was formally created on October 31, 1914.

The fort served as a training center during World War I, with the first large gun batteries for harbor defense installed in 1917. During World War II, it served as a Harbor Defense Command Post for the seacoast defense of shipbuilding factories and oil fields. By the end of the war, the large guns were being removed, with the last decommissioned in 1948. Battery Osgood-Farley remains a well-preserved example of a United States coastal defense gun emplacement and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

During the early years of the Cold War, the fort became home to the 47th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade. On January 1, 1951, the 669th Radar Squadron was assigned to the fort to provide radar surveillance. The Fort MacArthur Direction Center was established in 1960 and used a solid-state Hughes AN/TSQ-51 Air Defense Command and Coordination System starting in 1967. The 19th Artillery Group (Air Defense) replaced the 47th Artillery Brigade in command of the Direction Center on November 15, 1968.

In 1975, Fort MacArthur became a sub-post of Fort Ord, and ownership of the Upper and Lower Reservations was transferred to the City of Los Angeles in 1977. The Lower Reservation is now the Cabrillo Marina. The Middle Reservation was transferred to the United States Air Force in 1982 for use by Los Angeles Air Force Base. Today, the Fort MacArthur Military Museum is located at the site of Battery Osgood-Farley, displaying exhibits on the fort's history and its role in defending the Los Angeles area.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons