After border tensions developed between the United States and Canada in 1837, Congress appropriated funds to build Fort Wayne at a major bend in the Detroit River, 3.5 miles south of the intersection of Jefferson and Woodward avenues. The square stronghold is surrounded by a massive masonry wall with triangular corner redoubts and is reached through a tunnel. It contains a barracks, parade grounds, and a powder magazine. Outside the fort are the brick administrative buildings constructed after 1870. Fort Wayne served as a troop training center during the Civil War and as an induction center in every conflict from then through the Vietnam War. Today the City of Detroit operates a military museum here.
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Fort Wayne
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