A military facility of the US Army Coast Artillery Corps on Galveston Island was established in the late 1890s.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers spent several years rebuilding and expanding the reservation before it was re-garrisoned.

During the 1920s and early 1930s, Fort Crockett housed the United States Army Air Corps' (USAAC) 3rd Attack Group (an ancestor to USAF's 3rd Wing).

[1] During the Second World War, Fort Crockett was expanded with an additional large gun battery, and focus was placed on defense against German U-boats.

), the city of Galveston was a major tourist destination with a variety of attractions, thus making the location ideal.

[4][5] Due to the massive amount of concrete used in constructing the protective casemate for the guns and magazines, Battery Hoskins proved uneconomical to remove.

Located west of the city of Galveston, its long-range guns could command the entire area.

By the first half of the 20th century, Fort Crockett had the basic equipment believed needed to defend the Galveston area from attack from air or sea.

One additional company of Coast Artillery was stationed at Fort Travis, located at Bolivar Point, commanding the northern side of the entrance to Galveston Bay.

Fort Travis was served by a spur track until the Santa Fe Railway abandoned its Bolivar Peninsula trackage in 1942.