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Fort McPherson is a U.S. Army military base that is located in East Point, Georgia, on the southwest edge of the City of Atlanta, Ga. It is the home of the headquarters for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command, Southeast Region; the U.S. Army Forces Command; the U.S. Army Reserve Command; the U.S. Army Central Command and some other Army units. Named after Major General James Birdseye McPherson, this fort was founded by the U.S. Army in September 1885. However, this site, had been in use by military units since 1835, and it was used as a Confederate Army base during the American Civil War. During the Reconstruction Era, it was named the "McPherson Barracks", and it served as a post for the Federal troops who were occupying Atlanta. With the end of Reconstruction, the McPherson Barracks was closed and sold off in 1881, though the site continued to be occupied during the summers by U.S. troops stationed in Florida. In 1885, the land was again purchased by the Army at which to station ten army companies. During World War I, Fort McPherson was used as a camp for Imperial German Navy prisoners of war. During the General Textile Workers Strike in 1934, this fort was used as a detention center to hold picketers who had been arrested while striking at a Newnan, Georgia, cotton mill. Fort McPherson’s nearest Army neighbor, and its sub-post, is Fort Gillem, which is located in Forest Park, Georgia, not too far away. Fort Gillem is a logistical support base, housing some Army, Department of Defense, and other government agencies. Those units include the First Army, the U.S. Army and Air Force Exchange Distribution Center, the Military Entrance Processing Station, and the U.S. Army Second Recruiting Brigade. Fort Gillem also hosts the only crime lab of the U.S. Army. Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem share most common services. In 2007, there were 2,453 active duty soldiers and 3,784 civilian employees at both forts, with a total active duty and civilian employee payroll of $529,874,972. With only 102 family quarters and 272 single soldier billets at Fort McPherson, and 10 family quarters at Fort Gillem, the active duty military and Department of the Army civilian employees live in civilian housing in the surrounding Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Fayette, and Henry Counties. Other important users of the fort facilities are the 98,700 or more Atlanta area military and naval retirees and their family members. These residents live mostly in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton, Fayette, Gwinnett, and Henry counties. For urban mass transit, Ft. McPherson is mostly served by the Lakewood/Fort McPherson MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) station. |