# What is the oldest active United States military base? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116 "2009-12-13T17:28:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/1 "2009-12-13T17:28:15Z")
I live near the [Carlisle Barracks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlisle_Barracks), which prides itself on bring the second-oldest active military base. So what’s the first? ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/2 "2009-12-13T17:42:39Z")
[West Point](http://www.usma.edu/history.asp) - Established in 1779. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/3 "2009-12-13T18:14:43Z")
I thought of that, but Carlisle’s claim goes back further than that. I suppose that the official date of establishment could be later than that, though. ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/4 "2009-12-13T18:38:10Z")
It’s West Point. Carlisle was not an active military base in 1879, when control of it passed to the Interior Department. I believe control was given back to the Army in 1918. Cite: [http://carlislebarracks.carlisle.army.mil/about/history.cfm](http://carlislebarracks.carlisle.army.mil/about/history.cfm) ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/5 "2009-12-13T18:45:35Z")
If that’s the case, then that casts doubt upon their claim as the second-oldest, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/6 "2009-12-13T18:46:38Z")
I was going to see if the Presidio of Monterey in California might count (founded in 1770 as El Presidio Real de San Carlos de Monterey by the Spanish), but as I recall, it hasn’t been in continuous service over the centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/7 "2009-12-13T18:52:11Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > If that’s the case, then that casts doubt upon their claim as the second-oldest, doesn’t it? Bear in mind that something like three different places consider themselves the birthplace of the US Navy, including a town on the Great Lakes. IIRC, the US Marines claim their origins to the Continental Marines in 1775, even though the US Marine Corps didn’t itself exist until the late 1790’s, around ten years after the Continental Marines were disbanded. Historical tradition is funny that way. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/8 "2009-12-13T19:32:17Z")
I can’t see any realistic sense in which West Point is older than Carlisle. West Point wasn’t occupied by the Continental Army until 1778, and not fortified until 1779. Carlisle was officially declared an ordnance center in 1776, home to the artillery school in 1777. (While it had been a British base since 1757, I don’t think that counts.) Thomas Jefferson bought the land in 1801, but surely that’s not the touchstone, is it? Because Jefferson also enacted the academy at West Point in 1802, and Fort McNair in DC counts itself third, dating from 1791. Nevertheless, West Point does claim to be the “oldest continuously occupied military post in America.” Maybe there were gaps in occupation for Carlisle and McNair. Maybe it’s just The Army Way: West Point is oldest, because it is. EDIT: Well, I didn’t see the bit about the transfer of Carlisle – but in that case, they’re not even second oldest by a long shot. And The SF Presidio isn’t a military base, it’s a park. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/9 "2009-12-13T19:39:13Z")
Never mind, Presidio Monterey, not SF. Nonetheless, the US Army doesn’t count Spain or Mexico in its antecedents. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/10 "2009-12-13T19:50:59Z")
Ft. Lauderdale in Florida is the oldest military base in the contiguous US that is still active. And it is still manned by its original soldiers. Yuck, yuck. (Just kidding about the whole thing.) ---
**Author:** ![wdouglas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f07891/32.png) [@wdouglas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wdouglas)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/11 "2015-08-31T14:51:30Z")
The longest active fort was Fort Mifflin commissioned in 1771 and decommissioned in 1954. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/12 "2015-08-31T15:20:15Z")
Its hard to say that “Active” when it was decommissioned 61 years ago. How many pre-US military and naval installations are there around? Where were the British troops of the Boston Massacre quartered? St Augustine was a pretty big port in Spanish Florida, does it still have an active Naval base? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/13 "2015-08-31T16:40:00Z")
[El Morro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_San_Felipe_del_Morro) in Puerto Rico was a military base of some kind from the 1500’s until the 1960’s, but was only a _US_ military facility for about 60 years, after which it became a national park. ---
**Author:** ![infoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@infoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/14 "2017-11-25T05:30:08Z")
I believe the oldest continuously manned military installation in the United States was Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York which was established by the Dutch in 1663 and closed by the US Army in 1994, a span of 331 years. The Presidio of Monterey CA was established by the Spanish in 1772, but by the time Commodore John Sloat landed unopposed and claimed it for the US in 1846, it had been abandoned several times by Spain and Mexico. To me, that leaves the revolutionary war fortifications and later Military Academy at West Point NY, established at the order of George Washington in 1778 as the oldest continuously manned US military base. If there is another, let us know. I am interested in continuous military operation, regardless of nationality. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/15 "2017-11-25T07:05:18Z")
As a bit of interesting trivia, Francis E. Warren Air Force Base has the honor of being the oldest continuously-operating installation in the US Air Force, having been in operation since 1867. I want to say it’s also the longest continuously-operating US military installation west of the Mississippi. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/16 "2017-11-25T09:02:18Z")
[Ft. Riley](http://www.mybaseguide.com/army/23-3528)is older than Warren AFB ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-active-united-states-military-base/521116/17 "2017-11-25T09:49:37Z")
It is usually given as West Point. Fort Miffln (in Philadelphia) is no longer in use, but was established earlier. But to go really back you would have to find some military facility in Puerto Rico or the American Southwest where military installations were certainly established well before those two. One of them, I suppose has to still be in service.