Fort Preble was a formidable sight when it was built in 1808.

Then the largest federal fort in Maine, Fort Preble literally gleamed as a warning to enemies. Its bricks and mortar, according to historian Joel Eastman, were whitewashed to make it stand out as a deterrent to hostile ships approaching Portland Harbor. Located on South Portland's waterfront, Fort Preble went on to defend the harbor through five wars, including World War II.

But since its deactivation in 1950, much of the historic fort has fallen into disrepair. Its metal doors had become rusted, its batteries overgrown with trees and shrubs, and its concrete has been crumbling away.

On Saturday, Sept. 26, a new group called the Fort Preble Preservation Committee took it upon themselves to change all that. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the committee held its first hands-on work day to help restore the site that has played a key role in Maine history. It is the first step in an effort the group hopes will lead to a long-term plan to secure the future for Fort Preble.

Preserving Preble

Approximately 50 volunteers - who included committee members and students from South Portland High School and Southern Maine Technical College - did such things as clear brush and sand and paint the rusted metal doors and shutters to the fort's batteries. Members of the group, which formed about six months ago, say there is more to be done.

"It really is a historic structure that is very important to not only the state of Maine and South Portland, but also for the United States," said James Ortiz, president of Southern Maine Community College.

Ortiz, who cleared brush for several hours on Saturday from the top of one of the fort's old batteries, created the preservation committee together with South Portland Mayor Tom Blake.

The state-owned community college is interested in preserving Fort Preble because its picturesque campus of about 60 acres overlooking Casco Bay is located on the fort's grounds. Many of the buildings where students today attend class, and where college administration, faculty and staff work, once were used by the officers and soldiers of the old fort.

And Blake, who teaches Maine history at the college, said Fort Preble is an important asset for the city of South Portland.

"It's just as historic as Fort Williams and Fort Knox," Blake said, referring to well-known forts in Cape Elizabeth and Prospect, respectively.

A long history

Fort Preble was built just over two centuries ago on the site of Fort Hancock, a Revolutionary War fort. It was constructed to fortify the Maine coast against an imminent threat of war with England, said Eastman, a University of Maine history professor emeritus and a member of the new Fort Preble committee.

The fort was named after Commodore Edward Preble of Portland, known as "the father of the American Navy," according to a history of the fort prepared by Eastman and Kenneth Thompson Jr., another historian who also is on the committee.

The history says that Fort Preble was the longest manned of any Maine fort. And it played an active role in the defense of Portland Harbor in five wars: the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II.

"It probably played its most important role in World War II," Eastman said. Thousands of soldiers were trained there before going off to various theaters of war, he said.

After the war, in 1952, the U.S. Army decided that fixed coast defenses were no longer needed, according to the history. The fort, which has underground tunnels in its older section, was closed and sold to the state of Maine for the site of a vocational-technical college, which today is Southern Maine Community College.

The fort was modernized and enlarged in 1900. New guns were added and new brick buildings replaced old wooden ones.

But in modern times, about half of the buildings were demolished, Blake said. A retired South Portland firefighter and paramedic, Blake said that when he joined the fire department in 1980, some of the structures were so dilapidated that the department would burn them down as a way for firefighters to practice.

The college has preserved some buildings. The college's administration building is the fort's old administration building. The old guard house is the college's bookstore and the old bakery houses its finance office, Ortiz said.

A group effort

Ever since he became president of the college eight years ago, Ortiz has wanted to do more to preserve the fort itself. "Here was this wonderful historic structure...that really was in a state of neglect," he said.

Ortiz and Blake sat down late last year and came up with the idea for the committee. It now has 17 members - including Ortiz and Blake and others from the community and the college.

The group had its first meeting in March and its first work session was Saturday.

Future hands-on work sessions are anticipated and the group is looking for volunteers.

The committee also is planning for the fort's future.

Blake said that while there have been isolated efforts over the years to help Fort Preble, he believes this committee is a first. "There's never been an organized committee to develop a long-term plan for preserving it," he said.

The short-term plans are relatively inexpensive. Saturday's event involved volunteer labor and local businesses donated paint and refreshments, Blake said. Other short-term plans include the installation of interpretive signs at the fort for the public.

The long-term plans - which include creating replicas of a pre-Civil War cannon and some rapid-fire guns and remounting them on the batteries, rebuilding an iron staircase in a battery, and adding metal doors to the old gunpowder magazines - will cost money, Blake said.

The city and the college probably won't be able to afford to pay for the new improvements, so Blake said the committee is hoping businesses or community groups will step up to be stewards of the fort and sponsor projects.

The fort needs a lot of help, he said.

"It's all a very ambitious project," Blake said. "It's been neglected for generations and it's going to take a long time to bring it back."