Construction began on Fort Totten in 1862 after the land was purchased by the U.S. Government in 1857 from the Willets family. The fort is close to the Queens neighborhoods of Bay Terrace, Bayside, Beechhurst and Whitestone. The original purpose was to protect the East River approach to New York Harbor, along with Fort Schuyler, which faces it from Throggs Neck in the Bronx on the opposite side of the river entrance. The fort was named in 1898 after Joseph Gilbert Totten. Parts are used by the New York Police Department and the New York Fire Department as a training center.