Grant both played in the earliest history of Vancouver Barracks.Īfter the Civil War, military activities in the West increased in order to resolve conflicts between American Indians and settlers. The house continues to be called the "Grant House" as a tribute to the role that the stately old building and Ulysses S. It is of historical note that the road in front of Officers' Row, now known as Evergreen Boulevard, was named Grant Avenue for many years. He was assigned to the Quartermaster's Depot, near the Columbia River (which no longer exists), and maintained his residence there. However, he was not the Commanding Officer, and did not live in the Grant House. Grant was posted at Vancouver Barracks with the 4th Infantry in 1852. James Cathedral and the Colonel became close friends, and deBonneville was supportive of the improvement and extension of the mission facilities.īrevet Captain Ulysses S. DeBonneville, who had recently been confirmed as a Catholic at Vancouver, maintained a good relationship with both the Hudson's Bay Company and the Church. Army, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Catholic Church were uneasily occupying the same site. Colonel deBonneville was a French-born officer and a renowned explorer of the American West, having conducted a fur trading expedition, financed by John Jacob Astor, to the Pacific Northwest, in the 1830s.Īfter serving in the Mexican-American War, he took command of the Vancouver post when the U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin deBonneville was Post Commander from September 1852 to May 1855, living and working in the Grant House. Originally, there were three rooms on the main floor and four rooms on the second floor. The architectural style of the building, with its wraparound double verandah, has been characterized as reminiscent of a southern plantation house. The siding may also have symbolically set the house apart from the other post structures, lending it a more finished look. Not long after the building was completed, it was faced with wood lap siding, as the cold and wet had a tendency to creep through the spaces created as the logs weathered and shrank. The Grant House, built in 1849, is constructed of hand-hewn logs. That building, now known as the Grant House, is the oldest standing building in Vancouver Barracks. Hatheway, and his company of 76 soldiers, served as both Headquarters and Commanding Officer's residence. The first building erected by Captain and Brevet Major John S. Immediately upon arrival, nine buildings were constructed on the terrace above the north bank of the Columbia River, in the location of the current Parade Ground. The area had been established as an American territory in 1846. The United States Army arrived at Fort Vancouver, a Hudson's Bay Company fur trade depot, in 1849. Officers Row Overlooking the Columbia River
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