Fort Ord
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fort Ord was a U.S. Army post on Monterey Bay in California. It was established in 1917 as a maneuver area and field artillery target range and was closed in September 1994. Fort Ord was one of the most attractive locations of any U.S. Army post, because of its proximity to the beach and California weather. The 7th Infantry Division (Light) was its main resident for many years. When Fort Ord was converted to civilian use, space was set aside for the first nature reserve in the United States created for conservation of an insect, the endangered species Smith's blue butterfly.
The cities of Marina, Del Rey Oaks, Seaside, Salinas, and Spreckels have eventually consumed the remnants of Fort Ord. This includes the entirety of the campus of California State University, Monterey Bay, which actually exists within Seaside and Marina, but still within Monterey County. Some military facilities and housing remains to serve personnel stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, Naval Postgraduate School, and California National Guard.
[edit] History
In 1940 the reservation, known as Camp Ord in honor of Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, a Union Army leader during the American Civil War who also served in the Second Seminole War and Indian Wars, was expanded to 20,000 acres (81 km²). In August 1940, it was re-designated a Fort and the 7th Infantry Division was reactivated, becoming the first major unit to occupy the post.
In 1947 Fort Ord became the home of the 4th Replacement Training Center. During the 1950's and 1960's Fort Ord was a staging area for units departing for war, and at one time had 50,000 troops on the installation. The 194th Armored Brigade was activated at the Fort under Combat Development Command in 1957, but departed for Fort Knox in 1960. The post continued as a center for instruction of basic and advanced infantrymen until 1976, when the training area was deactivated and Fort Ord again became the home of the 7th Infantry Division following their return from South Korea after twenty-five years on the DMZ. During the last few years, basic training for National Guard and Reservists was conducted by regular army personnel, but there was also a conscience shift at that time to focus on the mental and emotional, as well as the traditional physical aspects of basic training. This was done to prepare the Guard and Reservists to better handle the unique challenges of serving in the domestic "theatre," acknowledging the unique mental and emotional stresses inherent in a typical reservists deployment.
The BRAC Commission of 1991 recommended to close the garrison and move the units stationed at Fort Ord to Fort Lewis, Washington. In 1992, elements from Fort Ord, and Marines from Camp Pendleton participated in quelling the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. In 1994 Fort Ord was finally closed. Most of the land was given back to the state of California, and became the home of the California State University, Monterey Bay. The remainder was given to UC Santa Cruz to be developed into the UC MBEST (Monterey Bay Education, Science and Technology) Center. The MBEST Center is a regional economic development effort focused on developing collaborative research-business opportunities in the Monterey Bay region. The city of Marina is developing a large part of land within its city limits, building over 1,000 new homes. A large strip mall along Highway 1 at the former north entrance to Fort Ord recently opened, and houses popular retail stores such as Target and Best Buy. A substantial amount of land on the east side of the base has been set aside for preservation as open space. This preserve includes a network of hiking trails and other recreational amenities. A small portion of Fort Ord remains under Army control and is now called the Presidio of Monterey Annex, which includes the Ord Military Community (explained below), California National Guard posts, the DoD Center, and the gunnery ranges.
The military still has a presence at Fort Ord, in the form of several California Army National Guard units, facilities administrated by the Presidio of Monterey, and the continued operation of the base PX and Commissary to cater for retirees who chose to settle in the area and are entitled to shop at such facilities. Management of the military housing has been outsourced to private firms, but the homes are still occupied by personnel stationed at the Presidio of Monterey and Naval Postgraduate School and retired military members. Fort Ord's housing, PX, chapel, and Commissary are now called Ord Military Community.
In June of 2006, Ed Salven, one of Fort Ord's veterans from the Vietnam era, published a book, The Soldier Factory, chronicling his personal history as a soldier, and reflecting upon a return visit to the Fort in the late '90s. Along with poetic reflections, the book includes color reproductions of paintings of soldiers that Salven found hung from barracks' windows as he explored the grounds, rendered by students from California State University, Monterey Bay.
An annual "Secrets of Fort Ord" tour is given, beginning from the campus of CSUMB. Locations are achieved by bus, and the tour takes approximately two hours. Though much of the fort appears abandoned, "tourists" learn otherwise upon seeing the buildings in full use with soldiers in training within the broken down buildings. Much of the tour takes place beyond public reach, behind closed off limits. Some places are only viewable from the outside, though, such as the former prison, recently used for paintballing and now housing a concrete works and other industry.
The old Ft Ord stables still operates as the Marina Equestrian Center and offers low-cost horse boarding to the community, but the City of Marina is attempting to close it down and replace it with a dog-training facility.
Several other abandoned locations which may or may not have been included in the tour, and which may have even been knocked down as of 2007, include the Doughboy Theater, an olympic sized swimming pool, a bowling alley, and an incinerator.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- GlobalSecurity.org
- Fort Ord, California - History & Photos
- Fort Ord Reuse Authority
- Pictures of the Abandoned Base
- A collection of Fort Ord pictures from various Photographers
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