Fort Stevens was a fort on Hallett's Point,

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, along the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

, constructed in 1814. The fort included a

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

on Mill Rock in the River at

Hell Gate Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in New York City. It separates Astoria, Queens, Astoria, Queens, from Randall's and Wards Islands in Manhattan. Etymology The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Low German or Dutch la ...

. Plans from February 1776 showed earlier forts on both sides of the East River including opposite Fort Stevens at Horn's Hook Battery.

History

Prior to the construction of the fort the location was used by the British during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

as a battery to bombard New York City after the

battle of long island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at and near the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn ...

. The fort itself was named after Ebenezer Stevens, its only commander. Stevens, a revolutionary general in service to

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

came out of retirement during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

with the fort being built during the war to protect the east river from a prospective

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

invasion. The fort's cornerstone was laid by then mayor

De Witt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and Naturalism (philosophy), naturalist. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the sixth governor of New York. ...

and the fort was designed to be temporary and consisted of 12 guns. Unlike other temporary forts from the time which were made of timber Fort Stevens was made of stone, however, due to the fort's low lying location right on the water of the East River, its practical defense capabilities were low as the fort was designed to thwart one-off raiders. Behind the fort, on the hill overlooking it, was another defensive structure, Castle Bogardus or "Halletts Point Tower", which would've protected the fort from a ground assault. The fort would be decommissioned after the war in 1815 when the British threat passed. By 1836 Hallett’s Cove Village a small settlement of about 20 to 30 dwellings was built around the abandoned fort including an

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

church. This village would eventually develop into the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. Part of the fort remained in operation as a light house complete with a lighthouse keeper's residence until 1982 when the last building of the fort had been demolished. Today the site of the fort is home to Whitey Ford Field, a park managed by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation named after

Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees. ...

. A navigational beacon continues to guide ships at the edge of the field. The former site of the fort, and the current baseball field, is the subject to redevelopment debates, with a 2,400 unit apartment complex being built adjacent to the site, and plans for a ferry service and major refurbishment at the field.

References

{{reflist Astoria, Queens East River Stevens Stevens 1814 establishments in New York (state)