Fort Dawes (Deer Island, Winthrop/Boston, Massachusetts)

Deer Island, Winthrop/Boston · Massachusetts · World War II

Quick BriefFort Dawes was a World War II Coast Artillery fort on Deer Island in Winthrop/Boston that served the Harbor Defenses of Boston. By late 1942, the fort housed target detection radar and Battery Taylor, two 3-inch guns moved from Fort Strong. All military facilities were demolished in the early 1990s to clear space for the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, destroying all vestiges of the fort.

Coastal defense

History & Significance

The site's military history began in 1906 as the Deer Island Military Reservation under the Taft program for fire control and mine field management. Fort Dawes received its formal designation in 1941 in preparation for World War II.

During the war, the fort initially featured target detection radar and Battery Taylor (two 3-inch guns from Fort Strong), both completed by late 1942. A Harbor Entrance Control Post (HECP) was built in 1942, staffed by Army and Navy personnel to monitor all ships passing in or out of Boston Harbor.

Construction began in 1942 on ambitious new batteries, including Battery 105 (a bunker for two 16-inch guns completed in 1944) and Battery 207 (for two 6-inch guns), but neither was armed before the war's conclusion made them unnecessary. Battery 944, the 90mm anti-motor torpedo boat battery, was the only Fort Dawes battery actually made operational. Following WWII, the fort remained staffed through the Cold War, but by the 1980s served only for exercises before being decommissioned and demolished in the 1980s and 1990s to make way for the water treatment plant.