The Fight to Keep Fort Walla Walla Alive
Military leaders move to shutter the historic post, leaving local officials scrambling to prove its worth to the federal government.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
As announced exclusively in the Statesman last Saturday, General Frederick Funston, commanding the department of the Columbia, has recommended in his annual report to the war department that Fort Walla Walla be abandoned, because, in his opinion, it has outlived its usefulness. A similar recommendation was made by General Otis six or seven years ago and it took strenuous efforts on the part of the Commercial Club to prevent the recommendation from being carried into immediate effect. It has long been plain that the war department is opposed to the retention of the garrison here. No improvements worth mentioning have been made at the fort for years and comparatively few troops have been quartered there. Nothing but a strong pull, a long pull and a pull all together on the part of the citizens of Walla Walla can save the fort. Now that Walla Walla has a really live United States senator it should have a strong pull at the war department, but it remains to be seen whether Senator Ankeny or General Funston has the stronger pull with the Roosevelt administration. If we are to judge from the turndown given the senator by the president in making land office appointments, the former's pull is nothing to boast of, but it is all Walla Walla has to depend on now.
“Nothing but a strong pull, a long pull and a pull all together on the part of the citizens of Walla Walla can save the fort.”
The transition of Fort Walla Walla from a military installation to a community asset (it is now a public park) reflects the common 20th-century challenge of repurposing federal infrastructure after it loses its strategic necessity. The anxiety felt by the 1903 editors mirrors modern concerns when large institutions or major employers contemplate leaving a town.
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