Fort Riley, Building No. 12, 12 Forsythe Avenue, Riley, Riley County, KS

Significance: Building #12 is representative of the type of officer's quarters built at Fort Riley in 1887. It, and the others like it, mark the beginning of a boom phase in construction and improvement at Fort Riley that resulted from an act of Congress made on January 19, 1887 to establish a school of instruction for cavalry and light artillery. Extensive improvements were planned as Fort Riley was then to become the depot through which all recruits into this branch of the service would come (Pride, p. 193). Fort Riley had been established and the first permanent buildings constructed in the 1850's. With the coming of the Civil War, little construction took place. Construction did not resume, then until this boom phase with the establishment of the school, 1886-1887. Also, Building #12 Forsyth Avenue is one of four identical sets of family officer's quarters built in 1887 on this street (Buildings #7, #8, #11 & #12). They resemble greatly, from the exterior, Buildings #20, #22 & #25 Sheridan Avenue, built the same year. In addition, Buildings #96, #98, #102 & #104 Schofield Circle, built two years later in 1889, used the same plans and differ only slightly in exterior detailing. In general, all the quarters along Forsyth Avenue are duplexes taken from two basic plans and constructed between 1887 and 1903.
Survey number: HABS KS-54-D
Building/structure dates: 1887 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1937- ca. 1938 Subsequent Work