Story by Augusta Vargas December 11, 2025 at 05:44PM Fort Hunter Liggett’s historic Tin Barn was dismantled on Nov. 17 as part of the installation’s modernization efforts, marking the end of a structure that served the area for more than a century. Originally built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition and later moved to ranchland owned by William Randolph Hearst, the barn supported everything from cattle operations to Soldier services after the Army acquired the property in 1940. Over the decades, it housed a post exchange, theater, laundry, gymnasium, and eventually the installation’s fire station. Long-time staff and firefighters remember it as both a workspace and a gathering place that shaped some of their best years at FHL. Although the building had reached the end of its service life, its former site will support future garrison events near the Hacienda. The Tin Barn may be gone, but its legacy lives on in the people who worked there and the missions it supported.
