Fort Detrick - On Post Historic Sites

On Post Historic Sites

Fort Detrick has three sites (and four structures) on the National Register of Historic Places:

• The Nallin Farm House (circa 1835)
• The Nallin Farm Springhouse and Bank Barn (pre-1798)
• The One Million Liter Sphere, the “Eight Ball” (1947–48)

In addition, the following sites on the installation are of historic interest:

• A rocky knoll overlooking Frederick, and located near the Old Farm Gate (northwest gate) of Ft Detrick, was the site of historic structures. The Novitiate Academy of Frederick built an impressive estate, Saint Joseph’s Villa, on the hill in 1895. This was located there because of Restoration Spring just to the north at the base of the hill. The Academy moved to New York in 1903 and the Villa was subsequently demolished. Dr Rudolph Rau, a Frederick surgeon, bought the land in 1911 and constructed an imposing white mansion with colossal columns, a third-floor ballroom and carriage house. This estate, "Wide Pastures", also included an extensive Italianate woodland and terraced garden. This property was sold in 1929 to Robert Bright who used it as a summerhouse until 1943. Three years later, the U.S. government bought it and it was used as the Ft Detrick post commander’s residence until it too was demolished in 1977. Today, only retaining walls and some flagstone paths remain, but photos of both the Novitiate Academy building and Dr Rau’s mansion can be seen as part of interpretive signage at the site.
• Building 470, a pilot plant known as "Anthrax Tower" (1953; demolished in 2003)