Fort Ontario Special Resource Study - FINAL

The Fort Ontario Special Resource Study concludes that a two-acre portion of the Fort Ontario study area—the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter—meets all criteria necessary to be eligible for designation as a new unit of the National Park System. Legislation or presidential action would be required for any future designation.

The Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, which welcomed 982 European refugees as "guests" of President Roosevelt between August 1944 and February 1946, meets the national significance criterion. Fort Ontario was the only European refugee shelter in the United States and represents the nation's political approach to the refugee crisis of World War II, 20th-century immigration policies, the Roosevelt administration's eventual response to reports of the Holocaust, and the actions of the War Refugee Board. The site is suitable as an addition to the system based on the character, quality, quantity, and rarity of the resources and for its educational and interpretive potential related to the site's use as the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter. The two-acre portion of City of Oswego land that includes the Safe Haven Emergency Refugee Shelter Museum (Building 22) and three other nearby buildings that were present during the operation of the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter (Buildings 23, 30, and 31) meet all the factors considered under the analysis of the feasibility criterion and meet the need for direct NPS management to permanently protect resources and enhance visitor understanding and appreciation of the emergency refugee shelter during World War II.

The larger military reservation's associations with general military activities from 1755-1949 was evaluated and does not appear to be nationally significant according to SRS/NHL criteria. The long historical record of military activity is preserved and interpreted for the public as the State of New York's Fort Ontario State Historic Site. The majority of the former fort's area is available to the public through that facility and the City of Oswego's campus of cultural and recreational facilities.

A special resource study serves as one of many reference sources for members of Congress, the National Park Service, and other persons interested in the potential designation of an area as a new unit of the national park system. Moreover, this special resource study incorporates the best available information gathered during the study period. The reader should be aware that the analysis and findings contained in this report do not guarantee the future funding, support, or any subsequent action by Congress, the Department of the Interior, or the National Park Service. Because a special resource study is not a decision-making document, it does not identify a preferred NPS course of action.

Document Content:

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