Angel Island, California, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Fort McDowell on Angel Island, California, began as Camp Reynolds in 1863, during the Civil War, as part of the overall defense of San Francisco Bay.
The island was first named in 1775 when Spanish naval officer Juan de Ayala conducted the first survey of San Francisco Bay. Dubbed “Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles” (Our Lady of the Angels), the name was later shortened to Angel Island. In the next century, foreign merchantmen used the island to smuggle contraband past San Francisco customs officers, and Mexican ranchers and farmers later occupied it.
U.S. military history of Angel Island began in 1850, shortly after the Mexican-American War, when President Fillmore declared the island a military preserve.
Fort McDowell, California, by the Historic American Buildings Survey.
In 1863, the U.S. Army worried about Confederate naval raiders attacking San Francisco and built artillery batteries on Angel Island. They also established a military post and immigration station called Camp Reynolds, or the West Garrison. After the Civil War, it became an infantry garrison during the military campaigns against the Indians of the American West.
In 1900, the post was renamed Fort McDowell. For decades, it continued to serve as an immigration station for Asians entering the U.S. During World Wars I and II, it became a major military embarkation center. During the Second World War, Japanese and German POWs were held here. In 1945, the post was decommissioned, and in the 1950s, the island became a Nike missile base. However, the missile base was decommissioned in 1962.
Today, the island, now designated Angel Island State Park, offers some of the most beautiful views of the Bay Area. It includes numerous military buildings from the World Wars and the largest collection of Civil War-era wooden structures in the U.S. The Immigration Station Museum details the island’s history as the “Ellis Island of the West.” You can reach the island by ferry from Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, Tiburon, and by seasonal service from Oakland and Alameda.
Contact Information:
Fort McDowell, Angel Island, California, by James Rosenthal, Historical American Buildings Survey.
Dept. of Parks and Recreation
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, California 94296
800-777-0369
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
Also See:
Forts & Presidios Photo Gallery
War & Military in American History
See Sources.