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Record Group Number: 900000
Series/Collection Number: M90- 22
Creator: England, Howard S., 1914-
Title, Dates: Architectural and technical drawings of Fort Zachary Taylor, 1969-1980.
Amount: 84.00 item
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Arranged by subject or type of drawing:  1) architectural elevations and floor plans; 2) architectural details and gun placements; 3) gun carriages; and 4) projectiles and other implements.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:     Howard S. England (1914-1999) was born in Key West, Florida, and, except for service in the U.S. Marine Corps overseas, he was a lifelong resident. After retiring from his career as a Navy Civil Service Architect, he spent several years doing volunteer work in excavating, documenting, and researching Fort Zachary Taylor, a pre-Civil War fort on a small island in Key West harbor.

    The plans for what became Fort Zachary Taylor were approved in 1836. Construction commenced in 1845 and five years later the structure was formally named after the recently deceased president. The fort is trapezoid in shape; with three seaward faces. Each of these faces mounted 42 guns in three tiers.

    At the time of Florida's secession in 1861, construction of the fort was still incomplete. During the Civil War, Key West remained in Union hands and Federal forces occupied Fort Taylor. In 1898 the fortification was remodeled to accept more modern weapons and renamed Osceola Battery. On December 7, 1973, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior designated Fort Taylor as a National Historic Landmark. Today, the Florida Department of Natural Resources operates the fort as a state park.

Summary:     The collection contains the architectural and technical drawings of features of Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West, Florida, by Howard S. England. The architectural drawings include elevations, floor plans, and details (e.g. handrails and doors). The technical drawings depict several types of large guns, their carriages and equipment as well as their projectiles. Each detailed line drawing provides the physical dimensions of each object depicted.

Finding Aids: Box listing available. 0
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Ownership/Custodial History: Mr. England worked on this project as a volunteer and donated the drawings to the Bureau of Archaeological Research, who transferred them to the Archives.
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Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Fortification Florida
Historic sites Florida
Military architecture.
Ordnance.
Architectural records. aat
Fort Zachary Taylor (Key West, Fla.)
Key West (Fla.)
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