{"nrhp_refnum":"05000247","name":"Fort Travis","other_names":["Fort Travis Seashore Park"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"TX 87 at Loop 108","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Bolivar","county":"Galveston County","state":"TX","lat":29.364750917000038,"lon":-94.75823024940236,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-03-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A coastal artillery fort district on 70 acres at the southern tip of the Bolivar Peninsula in Port Bolivar, Galveston County, Texas, built between 1898 and 1943 and now operated as Fort Travis Seashore Park.","why_significant":"The nomination presents Fort Travis as the most complete concentration of coastal artillery batteries on the Texas Gulf Coast. Its four batteries (Davis, Ernst, Kimble and No. 236) represent three distinct periods of American coastal defense, from the Endicott era through World War I and World War II. The form notes that the siting and construction of the batteries reflect changing military strategy and technology.","narrative":"Fort Travis occupies 70 acres at the southern end of the Bolivar Peninsula, facing the entrance to Galveston Bay. The federal government bought the site in 1898, and the fort grew over the following decades into the most complete group of coastal artillery batteries on the Texas Gulf Coast. Four batteries survive. Davis and Ernst date from 1898, Kimble from 1925, and Battery 236 from 1943. Each reflects the defensive thinking of its time, moving from exposed concrete emplacements with disappearing guns to batteries covered in earthworks for protection against ships and aircraft. After the 1900 hurricane, the whole fort was raised about 17 feet and a seawall was built, which partly buried the earliest batteries. Other surviving features include an anti-aircraft gun emplacement, a forward observation station, and a keeper's house, while most barracks and support buildings are gone. Condition varies from badly deteriorated to very good. The grounds now serve as a public seashore park.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Now used as a public seashore park. The historic batteries are deteriorated to varying degrees, and no restoration or stabilization has been done for lack of funding. Battery Davis is unsafe to enter, and Battery 236 is in very good condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:24.021986-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/68/9720/40972068/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/05000247.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000247/8439ad8667-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000247/8439ad8667-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jim Evans","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortTravis.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Evans</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortTravis.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972068","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Travis_Seashore_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q49490784"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/galveston-county/fort-travis-05000247/"}