Cowell's Battery, Signal Station Barracks , Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, VI

Significance: The Signal Station at Cowell's Battery are significant for their association with St. Thomas's bustling harbor traffic in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The resources were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as part of the same nomination that listed Cowell's Battery (HABS VI-167), which listed them for their architectural, commercial, and military significance.

In the late nineteenth century Charlotte Amalie was a thriving commercial port and Cowell's Battery was transformed into a maritime signal station. The station was used to signal the arrival of ships to people in St. Thomas harbor by raising and lowering black balls called "day shapes" on a mast and yardarm erected within the former battery's walls. A barracks and latrine were added to the site to house the station's four-person staff. The Signal Station at Cowell's Battery remained an important transportation element of the harbor from the nineteenth century until it was closed in 1974.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2104
Survey number: HABS VI-167-A
Building/structure dates: HABS VI-167-A
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 76001862