Fort Howe was a British fort built during the American Revolution after the American Siege in 1777 to help fortify and protect the city. The fort held eight cannons, barracks for 100 people, blockhouses and protective walls.
In the fall of 1777, Brigade Major Gilfred Studholme arrived in Saint John harbour with a detachment of soldiers tasked to secure the area. They brought with them a prefabricated blockhouse and four 6-pounder canons. Studholme opted not to build on the site of Fort Frederick, but on the high ground behind the site of Fort La Tour, which gave complete command of the inner harbour. He named it Fort Howe, after Lieutenant-General Sir William Howe, the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America between 1775-1778. Although fire destroyed the fort in 1819 and much of its property was sold at public auction in 1823, the site played a part in the defence of Saint John until the Second World War.
On 30 March 1914, the fort became the first historic site in the National Parks system.
