Fort Hancock Sandy Hook Proving Ground		The History of Fort Hancock Since 1764 the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, America's oldest operating lighthouse has guided ships along the Jersey Shore into the New York/New Jersey Harbor. The "Proof Battery" was established in 1874 to test new and converted guns along the north end of the Hook. The firing range extended 3,000 yards south along the beach. Because New York Harbor was America's most important port, Sandy Hook was chosen as the site for America's first concrete gun batteries. Here the Army constructed, its first, and only, steam-powered "lift gun battery." Battery Potter named to honor Civil War General Joseph Potter, was completed in 1895 and on October 30th, the War Department designated the fortifications a t Sandy Hook, Fort Hancock. From 1898 to 1972, this venerable old fort defended the New York Harbor first from an assault by sea and then from air attack. The formidable coast defenses at Fort Hancock were under construction during the Spanish American War and were being greatly expanded as World War I loomed on the horizon. When World War I introduced the airplane, the U.S. Army added anti-aircraft guns to the existing gun batteries to protect its coast artillery fortifications from enemy air attack. By World War II, and the advent of new weaponry, the concept of defending harbors with heavy artillery was obsolete. World War II changed two decades of activities of a peacetime army and saw the post expand from a major coastal defense to an important anti-aircraft site. In 1954, the army started replacing guns with new Nike Air Defense Missiles, designed to intercept and destroy fast, high altitude jet warplanes before they reached the metropolitan area. The introduction of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) led to the deactivation of the entire Nike Air Defense system and in 1972, Fort Hancock was decommissioned and turned over to the National Park Service.