Original Officers’ Homes - Lawton Loop West Drive

Here on the west side of the loop and parade grounds we see the original 18 officers’ homes varying in size and design based on rank, from lieutenant to captain, to major. There are 14 duplex homes, and 4 single-family homes.

Although this was a standard design for the army throughout the United States at the time, these turn of the century homes were built out of local available materials for a given post – in the case of Fort Ben, Indiana limestone and bricks largely fired at the foundry in Brazil, Indiana were used in their construction. The materials were brought in by train, including raw lumber for framing, and deposited on the parade field which served as a construction site complete with a rail spur leading up to a small saw mill in the middle of the field.

Rank determined the exterior design of the house—for example, the location and size of balconies on the front vs. on the sides vs. wrap-around indicated rank—as well as the number of oak-finished rooms the Army afforded its officers. The colonel’s quarters had 6 rooms furnished in oak. Majors lived in homes with only 4 rooms of oak. Quarters for captains had 2 rooms of oak and those for lieutenants had only one.

Each building has a 3-digit number on the front steps– these are addresses that the army used to identify each building on base. Officers’ names were inserted into the front of the steps.