An abandoned battery at Fort Totten
Fort Totten sits on a far-flung peninsula of the Long Island Sound, forming the Northeast corner of Queens. The grounds of this defunct military installation turned underfunded public park are home to over 100 historic buildings representing a series of changes that have taken place over the area’s quiet 200 year history. Unfortunately, the majority of these stuctures have been disused for decades, and many are in a state of progressive collapse. With so much of Fort Totten closed off with caution tape, overtaken with vines, or hidden beneath rusty fences, it makes for an unconventional park, but a fascinating place to wander.
An 1829 farmhouse predating the land’s military use crumbles behind a weedy barricade; out front, a prominent sign bears the inscription: “Please Excuse My Appearance, I am a Candidate for Historical Preservation.” It’s an image that typifies the current state of affairs in the Fort Totten Historic District.
On the northern tip of Willet’s Point, a monumental granite fortification constructed during the Civil War as a key component of the defense of the New York Harbor sits unoccupied, though it’s used as a haunted house on occasion. Clustered on the rest of the grounds, dozens of dilapidated Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne Style officers’ quarters, hospitals, bakeries, movie theatres, and laboratories vie for restoration, but so far the funding has failed to materialize.
The Willet Farmhouse, Fort Totten’s oldest structure, and one of the most at risk.
One such building, a two-story YMCA facility built in 1926, has been abandoned for close to 20 years, but much of what’s left behind lies undisturbed. On a bulletin board in an upstairs landing, a 1995 thank-you letter from a kindergarten class at PS 201 hangs by a crude depiction of Santa Claus, both lovingly dedicated to an Officer Rivera. Steps away, in a rotting book room, an incongruous stash of 80s porno magazines.
Most recently used as a community relations unit of the New York City Police Department, the building is cluttered with mattresses, discarded packaging, and unopened toy donations. The New York City Fire Department, which now operates training facilities in a renovation abutting the hospital building, currently uses the attached gymnasium as a storage space. The basement was filled with rusted-through shelving and ruined equipment, flooded and too dark to shoot.
An overgrown pit in a World War I battery.
On the other side of the peninsula, a series of concrete batteries sit half-submerged in plant life. These were constructed at the turn of the century, but by 1938, they were declared obsolete and subsequently abandoned. The boxy design looks like modern architecture to me, but the battery reveals its true age in other ways.
Pencil-thin stalactites ornament the ceiling wherever the rain gets in, suspended over a crank-operated machine designed to lift heavy weaponry a century ago. The network of maze-like tunnels feature arched hallways with metal doors, winding staircases, and yawning pits, all fit for a dungeon. Guards stationed at the fort were laid off in 2009, and it was unclear on my visit if the area was open to the public or not. A rusty barrier, more hole than fence, didn’t keep out a couple of high school kids, but offered a spot for them to park their bikes.
When the military base changed hands in 2005 and became an official New York City Park, Bloomberg predicted that Fort Totten was “certain to become one of New York’s most popular parks.” Some community members feared that the estimated 450,000 yearly visitors would disrupt parking, increase crime, and change the face of the neighborhood, but ten years later, tourism has yet to pose a problem.
Fort Totten hasn’t lived up to its potential just yet, but the progress that has been made gives hope for improvements to come. The park now offers regular events and educational programs to draw visitors and enrich the surrounding community. Several nonprofit groups have occupied and renovated the decrepit buildings, including the landmarked Officers’ Club, which now serves the Bayside Historical Society as an educational facility and exhibition and event space. These are small but significant victories in the effort to save the historic legacy of a little-known plot that could be the crown jewel of Queens parkland.
(Though in some cases, it may be too little, too late. One look inside the profoundly decayed Fort Totten Army Hospital, in Part 2 of this post, will assure you of that.)
-Will Ellis
Related Links:
- Fort Totten Historic District Designation Report
- Fort Totten History from the Bayside Historical Society
- NYTimes 1999 “Fort Totten’s Old Houses are Tottering”
- NYTimes 2003 “Nearer to a Fort Totten Park but Not to a Consensus”
- Scouting NY—A Snowy Day at Fort Totten
This obscure Queens park doubles as a ghost town.
The YMCA building partially obscured by monstrous vegetation. On the left, a new renovation.
Inside, a rusty scale abandoned in the lobby.
An emptied snack bar once served concessions at sporting events and amateur theatre.
A community kitchenette still held pots, pans, and complete place settings.
A bulletin board on the second floor that hadn’t been updated in 17 years.
This room must have provided temporary housing to minors. The floor was littered with clothing and old English projects.
In the opposite corner, a derelict dollhouse. If I had been in the Twilight Zone, I’d have found a miniature me in there.
The remains of a rotting book room, which also housed a store of nudie magazines.
Through the library, a crumbling projection room overlooking the YMCA gymnatorium.
Daylight spills onto the practical planes of an underground battery.
Other areas had vaulted ceilings and arched double doors.
The interiors were almost completely empty, except for a dusting of dirt and leaf litter.
Some rooms held a few remnants…
Like this one: 100-year-old machinery in a dark Fort Totten nook.
AbandonedNYC 
The photo with the caption: “This obscure Queens park doubles as a ghost town” wasn’t taken at Fort Totten, NY.
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Posted by Fort Totten | 7-1-12., 12:17 pmIn fact, it was. The house is on the right of the YMCA building on Sgt. Beers Ave. Perhaps you don’t recognize it since it was taken from the back, from the end of Theatre Rd.
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Posted by abandonednyc | 7-1-12., 2:36 pmI stand corrected! You’re spot on. I didn’t connect with the back of the building.
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Posted by Fort Totten | 3-3-14., 10:49 pmI didn’t recognise this house either but I did recognise the distinctive concrete clothesline rack and the new-ish Ernie Pyle building on the right. Growing up there we were never allowed access to the YMCA building as it was leased to the Police Athletic League.
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Posted by floyd stricker | 7-7-12., 7:01 amHi Floyd, just researched this fort totten site as my sister and I are planning a trip there. I was friends with your sister Suzanne and your mother was my Girl Scout leader. Take care Lisa Medor-Tott
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Posted by Lisa medor-tott | 10-9-13., 8:23 pmHi Lisa, I remember you and your sister. Have fun on your visit.
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Posted by Floyd Stricker | 10-11-13., 10:09 amyou should have photo’d the old-school refrigerator and oven across from the dollhouse. the old bed and mattress in front make for a priceless composition
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Posted by brotherjones | 7-15-12., 10:05 pmis Fort Totten still accessible? If so can someone get in touch with me on ways to get there and such
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Posted by Brendan | 5-26-13., 1:16 amFort Totten is a public park and can be reached by bus from the end of the 7 line.
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Posted by abandonednyc | 5-26-13., 5:18 pmFrom Flushing, Main Street, locate the Q13 bus to Fort Totten. You’ll be riding the entire route.
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Posted by tom0153 | 11-7-14., 11:52 amFort Totten is at the end of the Q13 bus line, and the bus should be marked “Fort Totten” when you get on at Flushing Main Street. You will be riding the entire route, so bring a book or a good guide like “Forgotten NY” or “Forgotten Queens.”
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Posted by tom0153 | 11-7-14., 11:55 amI grew up on Ft. Totten and spent most of my days scrambling around the battery ruins…lots of fun…until the (usually nice) M.Ps caught you 🙂
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Posted by Britta | 6-25-13., 2:04 pmWhat a cool place to grow up! Thanks for sharing.
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Posted by abandonednyc | 6-25-13., 9:05 pmI was one of, those mp s I was there act I’ve duty in 1964 1965 It was a butiful place hearing and seeing this really makes me sick but this is 2016 and everything is political correct It breaks my heart too see what has happened to this country
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Posted by Dennis a williams | 2-1-16., 10:07 pmI was there at the same time headquarters 1st region aradcom gen snodgrass good duty
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Posted by Anonymous | 12-28-19., 7:11 pmSpent a couple of high school years there. The Old Fort has memories!
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Posted by DAVID J MCGOWAN | 5-25-19., 4:00 pmwill you be chased or followed if you wander around here?
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Posted by hunter | 4-20-14., 2:04 pmI took my kids there for the lantern tour on Halloween night. We wonder around for a couple of hours and no one chased or followed us. There’s a patrol car roaming the area. Although they didn’t see us. It was pretty dark and we didn’t have our flashlights on.. pretty creepy FOR SURE… I got to scared and left.. I’m planning on going back during the day and exploring further.
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Posted by Lydia | 11-6-14., 10:01 amIf i was to go inside some of these buildings is there a chance i would A) get caught? or B) get in trouble? I am a student photographer.
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Posted by Shelly | 2-21-15., 2:41 pmHi,
I actually met you briefly at the Frane colony in Staten Island last summer when you were filming. I’m really interested in visiting fort Totten this Friday, but don’t know hiw to access the abandoned parts of it. Could you please point me in the right direction? Thanks for your help.
Danny
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Posted by Danny pang | 3-18-15., 11:50 pmDanny! Sorry I couldn’t respond sooner, maybe the snow held you up today? You should be able to find your way to the battery, just get a good lay of the land on Google Maps before heading out. Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend entering the Hospital, it is too far gone and super dangerous, I wouldn’t set foot in there again. Your best bet is just to wander and see what opportunities present themselves, not very helpful I know, but conditions change and I haven’t been by there in over a year.
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Posted by Will Ellis | 3-20-15., 5:30 pmHi, thanks for responding. I was actually there today and was able to get into the fort, just the front side though not the back facing the water. Yeah, the hospital and farmhouse is pretty far gone. It would have been amazing to see it. Made me sad 😦
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Posted by Danny pang | 3-20-15., 6:08 pmTypical of the waste of resources by the federal government. You can see the same thing at the former Brooklyn Navy Yard, structures that could have immediately gone on the market are held for decades until they are in ruins.
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Posted by walkerny | 5-7-15., 4:19 pmis this still standing or is it gone ?
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Posted by Yaz Ansa | 5-18-15., 10:46 amAs far as I know everything is still standing, and probably will remain that way until they collapse on their own.
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Posted by Will Ellis | 5-20-15., 9:09 pmThe bottom picture showing the old machinery………..It is a shell hoist to raise the shell up to the exposed, Spanish American War Battery.
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Posted by Anonymous | 6-22-15., 8:45 pmDo you have the address of that place? I would like to go there as soon as possible! Thanks.
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Posted by carlos.Ramos | 7-2-15., 5:43 pmI was stationed there. I miss it. I’m going back to visit next month.
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Posted by Christina Steiner | 10-13-15., 1:07 amOn the upside, the museum over by the old ammunition bunkers and the tunnel that goes into the old fort are fixed up and nice. They have also cleaned up and lit the tunnel. Too bad about the hospital and the other brick buildings, but they were decrepit when I lived there in the eighties.
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Posted by Bob Finney | 5-30-17., 3:28 pmFt. Totten was, at one time, an Army Engineer post. The school that once housed the photography school is still standing. It is next to the chapel. The historical society building that was once the Officers Club is built in the shape of a castle. Not just any castle, but the Army Corps of Engineers insignia. I am happy to see it in use, as it was closed when I lived there.
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Posted by Bob Finney | 5-30-17., 3:32 pmThere are so many empty buildings that were used for military housing. Why aren’t the houses rented out. It’s a shame that these structures are abandoned and falling apart.
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Posted by eileenpg | 6-22-17., 1:43 pmMost of the dwellings require way too much work to make them habitable.
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Posted by denysstryker | 6-27-17., 10:10 amI was an army brat in NYC; had my tonsils taken out in the hospital at Ft. Totten in 1946 or ’47. My dad was a MSgt in the 4054th ASU, AIR.
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Posted by Charles Robinson | 9-4-17., 10:58 amVery sad to see the overall deterioration. I served at Fort Totten on active duty in 1958 & 1959. General Sharp was CO. I was a medic and worked in the old clinic building over near the water. It was a good duty station. I lived off base and enjoyed my time there and in the NYC area. Hope the park and structures can be restored.
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Posted by Kenneth Dickson | 10-3-17., 7:37 pmI also was a medic stationed at the Dispensary. I ran the laboratory from 1961 to 1963. We saw patients 24/7/365. We had the lab, x-ray, pharmacy, three doctors, one civilian nurse, two ambulances and other support personnel. While stationed there I spent nine months as a working patient (operating rooms) at the Saint Albans Naval Hospital. I got off of active Duty as a Specialist E-5, P2; I separated at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn. The Dispensary building is across the street from the swimming pool. The building next door, called the hospital, was used by the Signal Corps and by my room-mate, a Medical Equipment Repairman. When I was off duty I sometimes worked at the Officer’s Club as a waiter for weddings and Officer functions (good pay and good eats). The old fort was off limits, but I did lead a cleanup there one fall. It was also used for small caliber rifle practice. As a Medic I was only allowed to fire three rounds a year at Fort Tilden in Far Rockaway. It was the Vietnam War time and two helicopters used by the Two Star General, along with Harbor-Craft (tug boats) all used to visit islands in the Sound were sent to Vietnam. Fort Totten was also home to the Medical Equipment Development Laboratory. United Nations personnel also lived there and went to work daily by car. I returned a few years ago and the property was being shared by the Army Reserve, the NYC Fire Department, and the NYC Parks Department. Seeing the condition of most of the buildings was very sad to say the least. While stationed there I bought a BMW Isetta from a nurse in Bayside and met a young lady from Whitestone who is my wife of 53 years.
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Posted by Morton Evans | 10-7-18., 12:43 amMy birth certificate states that I was born at Ft. Totten, Long Island New York, year 1947. My mother was from Brooklyn and I was her 1st child. Any history, written or photographic, would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Sherman 🌴
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Posted by Sherman F. Childers | 4-23-18., 7:02 amGot to love the history people share! The lab recollections of the people who serve there, the people who were born there. Living history.
Noticing the insulators on the ceiling of the tunnels, exposed wiring from a long ago modernization want it all got electrified I imagine.
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Posted by Billy Sargent | 11-12-18., 1:35 pmMy husband, Charlie Burrell and I were stationed there in 1970 and 1971. Our address was 144A General Berry Drive, Fort Totten NY 11359. Our son, Mark, was born at St. Albans, NY.
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Posted by Myrtle Burrell | 8-28-19., 10:39 pmI visited FT Totten Park this cold morning. I grew up next door to the fort before is was a NYC park in the Bay Terrace garden apartments. I played baseball here 50 years ago, and by son had a soccer tournament here many years ago. The Park sits on one of the most scenic areas of Queens. I was glad to see a group of cyclists and walkers enjoying this historic place. Good opportunity for the FDNY to make use of it too. It’s a place of NYC history that should be Preserved all us to enjoy.
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Posted by Mitch M. | 2-16-20., 2:32 pmLived there in 63-64. Went to Bayside HS and ride the Q13 bus. Played Little League there. Find memories.
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Posted by David McGowan | 5-6-20., 11:23 amDoes the park get many people? I want to find a quiet, isolated place. Do you know of any? Like, I want place I wouldn’t even tell most of my friends about, I need a secret place. Thanks!
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Posted by Sarah | 6-20-20., 7:39 amSadly or gladly Fort Totten has been rescued, re-modeled and re-opened to the public as a walking tour park. Many buildings seen here have been cleaned up and spruced up with loving care. Some, however, were not salvageable and were demolished. The park is still a great reminder of a time when world wars caused many sites in New York and nearby New Jersey to house military bases, naval bases and training camps. Somehow, nuclear stand-off has worked its warped magic and brought “peace in our time.”
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Posted by Michael Goucher | 10-22-20., 10:13 amI have commented before. Fort Totten’s official address, at least when i was stationed there was Flushing, Queens; not so far-flung. It is within sight of Clason Point in the Bronx where I grew up. The fort was not really a Engineering Post, there was an engineering aspect. It was originally part of the defense of New York Harbor, hence the granite fort. During subsequent wars it was an anti-aircraft battery. When I was there, 1961-1963, it was also the headquarters for the Nike Missiles on the east coast, hence the missile at the entrance to the fort. I was attached to the Headquarters Company. The medical aspect was; we saw active duty personnel from all of the uniformed services and civilians from the United Nations that lived there and State Department people. That was in addition to the families of military and retirees. We were responsible for the medical concerns of the military on Long Island (a number of Nike missile bases) and the lower three counties of Conn. The Medical Equipment Development Lab was active and there was a commissary (super market) used by many non-fort military people. We had the gym, a movie theater and a USO Club. While other military bases had shows with well known people we had shows put on by a dance school from Bayside. There were dances and the civilian young ladies from Flushing were bused in by my roommate, the Medical Equipment Repair Man.
If someone can tell me how, I can post pictures of some buildings taken when I was visiting the post.
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Posted by Morton Evans | 10-22-20., 1:57 pmMorton, I was there as a high school kid in ’63-’65. I vividly recall the medical building across from the pool. You guys cleaned out the rust pieces from a deep cut. Painful plus! Also, I can honestly say that me and the Post Chaplin’s son were banned from the YMCA for a M80 my brother threw in through the open window. I got blamed. Fond memories. My dad was a Captain then Major flying from Totten to Floyd Bennett Field everyday. More memories .. Bayside HS, PS 194 (?), the Q13, the 1964 Flushing World’s Fair, the Old Fort (special memories for that one!), and so many more. Thanks for the update.
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Posted by DAVID J MCGOWAN | 10-22-20., 3:29 pm