[3] In summer 1789, Fort Washington was built to protect early settlements located in the Symmes Purchase area, including Losantiville, Columbia and Northbend.

Maj. John Doughty, under orders from Gen. Josiah Harmar, was engaged with a small military force in finishing the construction of Fort Washington.

[4] Three days after Gen. Harmar took up his quarters at Fort Washington, on January 1, 1790, Governor St. Clair was received with due ceremony by the troops and citizens of Losantiville.

Fort Washington was distinguished by its large size: it was larger than a modern city block and designed to house up to 1500 men.

In the spring of 1793, Major General Anthony Wayne moved his forces from the training center at Legionville, PA, down the Ohio River by barge to a camp outside Fort Washington that was called Hobson's Choice.

[8] In October 1952, excavators discovered the remnants of Fort Washington's gunpowder magazine under the northeast corner of Broadway and Third streets, at the site at which Western & Southern Life Insurance Company's parking garage was to be constructed.

The highway was given this name in 1958 by the city's Anthony Wayne Parkway Board In consideration of prior discovery of the fort's gunpowder magazine nearby.