The Colonial Revival style building housed two separate companies, a total capacity of 240 men. The latrines, storage rooms, and other functional spaces were located in the basement. The kitchen, mess halls, and day rooms were on the first floor. The second floor had large, dormitory style sleeping quarters for the soldiers, with smaller, semi-private rooms for the officers. At one point, the attic housed an indoor shooting range."


Source:    Information sign outside the Artillery Barracks, visited May 2015.

For over 150 years, the U.S. Army trained, drilled, marched off to war, and recuperated at Vancouver Barracks. From the 1850s to the 1870s, troops were dispatched to fight the Indian Wars. In the following decades, they saw action in the Philippines, curbed labor riots in Tacoma, and attempted to keep order during the Alaska Gold Rush and strikes at Idaho mines.

Beginning in the 1800s, this parade ground became a gathering place for members of budding communities as well. 'The regular dress parades at the barracks continue to attract large crowds ever evening. Every [street] car and steamer in the afternoon is crowded with visitors from Portland' wrote a reporter in The Oregonian newspaper in 1899.

By World War I, as troops, spruce lumber for aircraft, mules, and supplies were shipped out to support the war effort, Fort Lewis, near Olympia, WA, was under construction. Although Fort Lewis soon overshadowed Vancouver Barracks in military importance, this post remains home to the U.S. Army Reserve 104th and 396th Divisions, and the Washington National Guard, continuing the rich tradition of military service."


Source:    Information sign outside the Vancouver Barracks Parade Grounds, visited August 2006.

The construction of this building, a unique adaption to standard plans, was completed in only four months due to the efforts of local trade unions and widespread community support.

The convalescent house at Vancouver Barracks was dedicated in February of 1919, and for a time continued its role in patient care. It was furnished with locally-made wicker furniture and the flags of World War I allies.

The last hostess for the convalescent house was E.B. Hamilton, after whom the main hall is now named. As the activities of the Red Cross diminished, the building was transferred to the Army and became a Non-Commissioned Officers' Club offering a variety of recreational activities, including movies, parties, and dances."


Source:    Information sign outside the Red Cross Convalescent House, visited May 2015.

At that time, Vancouver Barracks was to serve as a training center for soldiers enroute to the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and to that end, infantry regiments stationed at the post were removed to make room for the thousands of "spruce" soldiers. ... However, early in 1918, the Barracks also became the site of the Cut-up Plant, the principal spruce mill of the Division, built and operated by spruce soldiers. ... Ultimately, there were six districts and sub-districts of the Division, located in Oregon and Washington, and many dozens of soldier camps, most of which were near lumber company camps, logging or building the miles of railroads necessary to reach remote stands of the premium Sitka spruce.

The mill and its associated structures at Vancouver Barracks eventually covered fifty acres south of old Upper Mill Road, including the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver site. Operations began on February 7, 1918; it had taken forty-five working days from ground-breaking to opening ceremonies. ...

The impact of the mill and the thousands of spruce soldiers that descended upon Vancouver Barracks was significant: a cantonment was built north of Officers' Row to house soldiers, and, as the mill geared up into production, tents and support buildings were erected around the mill on the historic lower plain to house and care for the spruce soldiers. ... by July of 1918, there were 2,400 troops housed at the mill site. ...

When the armistice was signed in November of 1918, the Cut-up Plant had been in production for less than a year. Operations in the woods ceased on November 12, and all contracts with private mills were cancelled. Any timber already felled, or cants already manufactured was shipped to Vancouver. ... Demobilization of the spruce soldiers began on December 3. When the war ended, the Cut-up mill at Vancouver Barracks had over four million feet of select airplane stock ready for shipment, and a portion of between twenty-five and thirty million feet of the commercially-suitable by-product ready for delivery. Eight hundred soldiers were kept at Vancouver Barracks to inventory and store the materials and equipment at the plant and those being shipped to the plant from the forests. The Division formed a Sales Board to market all major equipment and materials through sealed bid. ...

"In 1917-18, construction of the spruce mill and its related structures had an enormous impact on the area south of old Upper Mill Road (today East Fifth Street), but very little effect on the garrison area between Officers' Row and old Upper Mill Road. Despite the need to house, feed and service thousand of "spruce soldiers" at the site, construction activity in the heart of Vancouver Barracks during this period was limited, no doubt due to the haste with which the program was put into effect and to the recognition of its temporary nature. Instead, a cantonment, erected in 1917 by Grant, Smith and Company of Chicago, which featured tent cabins and temporary structures, was built a mile north of the site, above Officers' Row, to house a regiment of engineers recruited at Vancouver, and the Vancouver District's military headquarters were located there; when the size of the Division was upped, hundreds of tents were erected on the site of the mill below old Upper Mill Road, and a variety of support buildings, including offices, mess halls, and latrines, were erected around the mill to service them."

"The former Hudson's Bay Company fields and pastures south of old Upper Mill Road were greatly affected by construction of the spruce mill on the site. The only logical location for the mill at Vancouver Barracks was on lower Fort Plain, which was already served by the S P& S railroad spur, and only had a few structures located along the spur towards the west end: the polo grounds were sacrificed to the war effort. By December 20, construction of the Cut-up Plant was underway, supervised by an Oregon mill owner, H.S. Mitchell, whose mill on the Columbia at Wauna, Oregon, was considered a model sawmill. Local mills supplied construction materials, and machinery was shipped in at great expense, and with haste, from all over the country. By January 7 the local newspaper was reporting that the mill was "...growing so rapidly and in such large proportions that the landscape is changed almost every twenty-four hours." At that time four of the mill's six units were "well along;" the frame for the fifth was in place, and the foundation was being poured for the sixth.

Operations at the mill began on February 7, 1918, complete with opening ceremonies featuring local politicians and army officials. It had been forty-five working days from the time ground was broken at the plant. It was a huge building, 358 by 288 feet; each of the six units contained two circular saw rigs, two table edgers, two re-saws and eight trim saws. The plant turned out between four and six hundred thousand feet every twenty-four hours, processing four to six inch flitches or cants shipped there from the region's forests: the milled lumber was then shipped to aircraft production plants out of state. At its peak, the mills saw between thirty-five and forty railroad cars of rived cants and sawn timber arrive daily. About seventy percent of the timber processed at the plant ended up as useful for aircraft; the remainder was used for smaller airplane parts, or was sold for commercial use.

The Spruce Division also extended a series of railroad spurs across the site to service the mill and kilns. Before the mill was completed, the Spruce Division approved the construction of a battery of drying kilns--the kilns covered an 100 by 350 foot area, and the drying sheds were 300 by 350 feet in size--on the site to season the cants, built within a two-month period. Those parts of the fifty acre site not covered by the mill, the kilns, timber sheds, and the thousands of tents and dozens of support buildings housing spruce soldiers, were devoted to storage of milled lumber and timber awaiting processing. Major facilities built on top of the Hudson's Bay Company stockade site included a planing mill, part of a loading platform, and several railroad spurs. A second major railroad spur (Spur B), was installed, beginning at the west edge of the original spur's curve, and crossing the site from west to east, dividing into additional spurs at various sheds and buildings. The original spur (Spur A), divided into seven lines, four of which ran parallel to old Upper Mill Road, across the north edge of the site.

At the end of the war, after less than a year of operation, the mill was closed, and acres of both processed and raw materials were auctioned. Later, the remaining equipment and real property was sold. The cantonment north of Officers' Row remained standing, and was later used for Civilian Military Training camps. The Cut-up plant and its related structures stood on the site until 1925, when it was disassembled. In the 1920s, four of the Spruce Mill buildings were moved further east, to house reserve air squadron and other army air services that began after the war.

"In 1917, a cantonment of tent cabins north of Officers' Row was built to house units of the Spruce Division. West of the cantonment, just north of Officers' Row, the Victory Theater was built in 1918, which, during World War II, served as a recreation building. An athletic field north of Officers' Row was upgraded and used by the spruce soldiers: it was later named Koehler Field."