{"nrhp_refnum":"70000491","name":"Fort Hayes","other_names":["Columbus Arsenal","Columbus Barracks"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Cleveland Ave. and I-71","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbus","county":"Franklin County","state":"OH","lat":39.97457896350008,"lon":-82.98859110914916,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-01-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fort Hayes is a 70-acre military post near downtown Columbus, Ohio, at Cleveland Avenue and Interstate 71. It was established by the U.S. War Department in 1863 as the Columbus Arsenal and later became Columbus Barracks.","why_significant":"The nomination calls Fort Hayes the oldest federal military installation in continuous use in Ohio. It retains much of its nineteenth-century architectural and military atmosphere and is an environmental area worth preserving for Columbus. Its 1864 arsenal building is the oldest substantial, permanent U.S. military structure in Ohio and is believed to be the only surviving structure designed and built by T. C. Bradford in the nation.","narrative":"Fort Hayes is a military post of about 70 acres close to downtown Columbus, Ohio. Created in 1863 as the Columbus Arsenal for making and storing war materiel, it became an Army recruiting depot called Columbus Barracks after the Civil War and was renamed in 1922 for Rutherford B. Hayes. The initial buildings were designed and built under Colonel T. C. Bradford. Its centerpiece is the 1864 Arsenal, a three-story brick Tuscan Revival building with a five-story tower, long in almost continuous military use. Other surviving structures include a late-1890s gatehouse, a 1910 administration building, a 1907 post exchange and gym, a 1908 hospital, and officers' family quarters begun in 1894. The post was listed as the oldest federal military installation in continuous use in Ohio. It keeps much of its nineteenth-century character, and the Arsenal is believed to be the only surviving Bradford-built structure in the country. Federal plans anticipated its disposal by 1972.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Colonel T. C. Bradford (initial buildings, 1863-1865, designed and built under his supervision)","architectural_style":"Tuscan Revival (Building 62, the Arsenal)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as fair and altered, on its original site. Owned by the Department of Defense and occupied for military use. Declared excess in 1965, with abandonment by the Ohio National Guard planned for 1972.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.367753-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/70000491.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000491/7b5f56c445-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000491/7b5f56c445-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Hayes_parade_grounds_in_the_snow.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Hayes_parade_grounds_in_the_snow.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988537","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hayes","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5471307"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/franklin-county/fort-hayes-70000491/"}