 It was decided to lay out the Proving Ground on the eastern margin of the Hook, just below the southeast bastion of a Civil War-era fort.The firing range was to extend southward along the beach with the facilities consisting of the wooden gun platforms of the proof battery, a bombproof, a frame instrument house, and sand butts on the firing range.After its formal establishment in 1874, it was nearly two years before facilities were completed that allowed staffing and testing to reach its potential.