Fort Sill
United States Armed Forces Training Station
Fort Sill is a major United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, approximately 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Oklahoma City, established in 1869 during the Indian Wars. It covers almost 94,000 acres (38,000 ha) in southwestern Oklahoma and serves as headquarters of the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence. The installation is a Basic Combat Training facility, training over 20,000 personnel annually in field artillery, air defense artillery, and electronic warfare.
Fort Sill has participated in every major U.S. conflict since its founding, evolving from a frontier cavalry outpost to a modern training hub. It houses key units including the United States Army Field Artillery School, 75th Field Artillery Brigade (United States), and the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade (United States). The post also supports a United States Marine Corps detachment for joint artillery training.
History
The site of Fort Sill was staked out on January 8, 1869, by Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, who led a campaign into Indian Territory to stop tribes from raiding border settlements in Texas and Kansas. The primary tribes who at the time inhabited the area were the Kiowa, Plains Apache, and Comanche.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Fort Sill” as united States Armed Forces Training Station. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as united States Armed Forces Training Station. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1018681. VIAF identifies the subject as 267603053. The Library of Congress control number is n83069938. Authority coordinates are 34.704, -98.508. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1869.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Fort Sill” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.