Fort Ticonderoga Timeline: 1900's

Restoration Begins

1904 Alfred Bossom, a New York based architect originally from England began research leading to the restoration of Fort Ticonderoga

1908 Fueled be the Colonial Revival interest in preserving historic structures as museums, Stephen H.G. Pell, the grandson of William Ferris Pell, along with his wife, Sarah Thompson Pell, begin to restore the West Barracks of Fort Ticonderoga. They hire the British architect Alfred Bossom (Later Lord Maidstone) to research and supervise the reconstruction. At the same time, they restored The Pavilion and turned it into their private summer home. Funds for the Fort restoration came from Sarah's father, Colonel Robert Means Thompson, one of the wealthiest men in the country.

Fort Museum Opens

1909 To coincide with the massive celebration of the 300th anniversary of Champlain's "discovery" of the lake, Fort Ticonderoga opens to the public as a museum with President Taft, and the Ambassadors of France and England in attendance. Over the course of the 20th century other sections of the Fort and its walls are restored.

1910 Sarah H.P. Pell purchases the northern half of Mount Independence in Vermont to assure its preservation, making her one of the early pioneers in the land stewardship and conservation movement through her efforts to protect the viewshed of Fort Ticonderoga.

1920 The Pells hire noted female landscape architect, Marian Cruger Coffin, to design an almost one-acre pleasure garden behind The Pavilion. The garden was named the King's Garden in honor of earlier garrison vegetable gardens located on the flat ground adjacent to the Lake. Coffin's garden was purely ornamental and reflected the Colonial Revival Style popular at the time.

Fort Ticonderoga Association chartered

1931 The not-for-profit educational organization, the Fort Ticonderoga Association, was chartered by New York Sate to assure the continued preservation and interpretation of Fort Ticonderoga. With the creation of the Association, the Pell family divests itself of ownership of the Fort, but continues to be actively involved in all phases of running and maintaining the museum.

Fort named National Historic Landmark

1961 Fort Ticonderoga and The Pavilion were named National Historic Landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places. Fort Ticonderoga and its holdings continues to be a private not-for-profit, rather than a state or federal site.

Mount Hope & Mount Defiance Acquisitions

1976 The Fort Ticonderoga Association acquires the important Revolutionary War dependencies of Mount Defiance and Mount Hope located within the village of Ticonderoga to assure their continued preservation. 

Thompson-Pell research center opens

1992 The museum restores and dedicates the Thompson-Pell Research Center outside the Fort gates. The building, a former telephone switching station, now houses a state-of-the-art collection's storage facility, research library, and staff offices.