Fort Ontario, a popular state historic site on East Fourth Street in Oswego, is currently in the process of becoming a national park.

John Katko, a U.S. congressman who represents New York’s 24th district, wrote a bipartisan bill that, if passed, would direct the National Park Service to study Fort Ontario and evaluate the park’s national significance to determine whether it should change from being recognized as a state park to a national park.

The House of Representatives approved the bipartisan bill with a unanimous voice vote, and the bill will now advance to the Senate. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is the sponsor of the companion bill to Katko’s bipartisan bill.

Due to the fort’s rich history that dates back to the French and Indian War, Katko believes that Fort Ontario is worthy of the honor of being named a national park. Katko created the bipartisan bill in order to preserve the 260-year-old fort’s history by making it a national tourist attraction.

During World War II, the fort, under an Executive Order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, served as the only refugee camp in the United States for Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The fort was also occupied by U.S. Army troops throughout the entirety of World War II.

Katko and his supporters hope to preserve this history of Fort Ontario as well as the accompanying Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum in Oswego by establishing them as new nationally recognized historical sites. The Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum is a museum specifically dedicated to telling the story of the 982 European refugees who were allowed in the United States as “guests” by Roosevelt during the time of the Holocaust.

Judy Rappaport, who was a former president of the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter, expressed in a statement how important it is for Congress to act soon.

“There are less than 50 former refugees left alive to tell the stories of their escape from war-torn Europe to arrive at the only shelter in America for victims of the Holocaust,” Rappaport said in the statement. “What better legacy for their families than for the people of the world to learn of those stories by Fort Ontario becoming a national park.”

Fort Ontario is home to a post cemetery that contains the graves of 77 officers, soldiers, women and children who had served at Fort Ontario in war and peace. This cemetery is open year-round from dawn to dusk.

Fort Ontario is a star-shaped fort that dates back to the early 1840s. The current fort is the fourth to have been constructed and was built upon the ruins of three earlier structures, which date back to the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Community members who frequently visit the fort also hope to see these bills passed and have Fort Ontario be nationally recognized.

“I think it is important to preserve the history of Oswego,” said Harrison Hensley, an Oswego State student. “It is such a well-maintained place [Fort Ontario] as well as a beautiful green space.”

Photo: Kyle Hurley | The Oswegonian