The land was acquired by the federal government in 1900 as the
Lake Merced Military Reservation, originally intended to accommodate two
12-inch coast defense mortar batteries in the
Coast Defenses of San Francisco (later Harbor Defenses). However, nothing significant was built there until after the
American entry into World War I in early 1917. The fort, renamed for Major General
Frederick Funston shortly after his death in 1917, began to take shape during
World War I, with the construction of a parade ground, barracks and a series of
coastal batteries. These were Battery Howe with four
12-inch mortars and Battery Bruff with two
5-inch M1900 guns on pedestal mounts. These weapons were relocated from Batteries McKinnon and Sherwood at
Fort Winfield Scott, adjacent to the Presidio. Battery Howe was named for Walter Howe, a general and veteran of the Indian war who died in 1915. Battery Bruff was named after Lawrence Bruff, an
Ordnance Corps colonel and instructor at
West Point who died in 1911. In 1920 Battery Bruff was disarmed due to a withdrawal from Army service of the 5-inch gun. Following World War I, the
Washington Naval Treaty of 1923 caused the cancellation of numerous
battleships and
battlecruisers building and planned for the
US Navy. Some of the guns intended for these ships were made available to the
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps to defend key ports against a potential naval attack. However, only a few of these weapons were emplaced prior to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. In 1936–1939 Battery Davis was built at Fort Funston, housing two
16-inch Mark 2 Navy guns. This was the prototype US 16-inch battery for
casemating against air attack, which was adopted for almost all US 16-inch batteries built during the war and retrofitted to most pre-war batteries of this type. It was also the prototype for the Army's M2 carriage; previous ex-Navy 16-inch guns had used a modified M1919 carriage designed for the
16-inch gun M1919. Battery Davis was named for Major General Richmond P. Davis, a Coast Artillery officer who served in France in World War I, retired in 1929 and died in 1937. Also, an unnamed battery of four
155 mm guns on concrete "
Panama mounts" was built at the fort circa 1938. In 1940 Battery Davis was joined by Battery Townsley at
Fort Cronkhite. A third 16-inch battery, Battery 129 (also called "Construction 129") at
Fort Barry, was built for the San Francisco area during World War II but not completed or armed. The gun batteries were declared obsolete shortly after
World War II, but a
90 mm anti-aircraft gun battery was on the site 1953-57 during the
Cold War. Fort Funston later became a
Nike missile launch site, hosting sites SF-59L (now the parking lot) and SF-61 from 1956 to 1963. The fort was inactivated in 1963 and eventually transferred to the
National Park Service to be administered as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. At some point Batteries Howe and Bruff were demolished, while the Panama mounts have either been destroyed by erosion or buried. ==Features==