Qualla: Fort Douglas

Fort Douglas: Introduction

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, CC0. The German sailors of the SMS Cormoran had sailed from Qingdao, China, in 1914. They stopped at Guam hoping for coal but found only detention. When America entered World War I in 1917, they became prisoners of war shipped to a place none could have imagined: a military fort three miles east of Salt Lake City, surrounded by mountains and desert, about as far from the sea as any spot on the continent. Some of those sailors died there and still rest in a special section of the Fort Douglas Cemetery, their graves marked among soldiers who fought wars these Germans never knew.

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Image: Unknown author | CC0

Fort Douglas: Connor's Watchpost

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Charles Roscoe Savage, Public domain. Colonel Patrick Connor established Camp Douglas on October 26, 1862, with Union volunteers from California and Nevada. The official mission was protecting the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. But Connor positioned his camp on a bench overl...

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Image: Charles Roscoe Savage | Public domain

Fort Douglas: Rails and Regimental Colors

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. The fort's importance grew on May 10, 1869, when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads joined at Promontory Summit, completing the Transcontinental Railroad. Fort Douglas suddenly sat along the main artery connecting East and West. Through the efforts of Utah Senator Th...

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

Fort Douglas: Bombers Over the Benches

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AnonymousUnknown author, but presumably engraved by John Bartholomew & Son or by William & Alexander Keith Johnston, Public domain. After Pearl Harbor, Fort Douglas transformed into an Army Air Field working alongside Salt Lake City Municipal Airport. The 7th Bombardment Group flew B-17 Flying Fortresses from here, their engines rumbling over the Wasatch Front. But fears of Japanese attack on the mainland soo...

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Image: AnonymousUnknown author, but presumably engraved by John Bartholomew & Son or by William & Alexander Keith Johnston | Public domain

Fort Douglas: The Cemetery Endures

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Beneathtimp, CC0. The cemetery predates the fort's permanent buildings, established in 1862 about a mile south of the parade grounds. In 1864, soldiers constructed a red sandstone wall around it with a steel gate at the north end. Utah Governor James D. Doty lies here, buried in 1865. German POWs ...

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Image: Beneathtimp | CC0

Fort Douglas: From Garrison to Campus

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mangoman88, CC0. Fort Douglas officially closed on October 26, 1991, exactly 129 years after its founding. Most of the land transferred to the University of Utah, whose campus had grown up beside it. The Fort Douglas Military Museum now occupies two former barracks buildings, named for Major Gene...

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Image: Mangoman88 | CC0