Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base and census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama, in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. It is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The arsenal hosts over 75 tenant agencies including many that are part of the Department of Defense such as the United States Space Command, NASA's largest field center (the Marshall Space Flight Center), and Department of Justice agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The arsenal has a government and contractor workforce that averages 36,000 to 40,000 personnel daily. The base has benefited from decisions by the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission and has a residential population of 837 as of 2020.
Established during World War II as a chemical manufacturing facility, in the immediate post-war era the arsenal was used for research and development by former Nazi German rocket scientists who were brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip. The team first worked on ballistic missiles, starting with derivatives of the V-2 rocket, before moving on to a series of ever larger designs.
In 1956, the Army was relieved of most of its ballistic missiles in favor of similar weapons operated by the US Air Force. The German design team became part of the newly founded civilian NASA. The Cold War had moved to space, and the U.S. intended to compete with the Soviet Union there and across the globe. The arsenal served as the primary site for space launch vehicle design and testing into the 1960s.
Geography
Redstone Arsenal is located at . The Redstone CDP has a total area of , all land, including extensive wetland areas associated with the Tennessee River and several local springs, much of which is maintained by the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.
Tenant organizations, commands and units Department of Defense United States Space Command Missile Defense Agency Defense Intelligence Agency Missile and Space Intelligence Center United States Army US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command US Army Materiel Command US Army Aviation and Missile Command US Army Contracting Command US Army Security Assistance Command US Army Engineering and Support Center US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center Logistics Data Analysis Center (LDAC) Redstone Test Center PEO Aviation PEO Missiles and Space National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center Blue Origin (Space Industry Support - Rocket Development/Testing) Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Operations and Analytical Support Headquarters Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center (TEDAC) Hazardous Device School Tennessee Valley Regional Computer Forensics Lab (TVRCFL) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Center for Explosives Training and Research
History Pre-1941 The land occupied by the Redstone Arsenal was previously inhabited by Native Americans. 651 prehistoric archaeological sites have been archived at Redstone Arsenal to date.Data on File at the Redstone Arsenal Environmental Management Division At least 22 have components dating to the Paleo-Indian period (9200 to 8000 BC). The Paleo-Indian handhewn projectile point called the Redstone Point was named after the Arsenal where it was first identified.RSA Archeological Program . redstone.army.mil
Euro-Americans settlers began to establish homesteads on the land that is now Redstone Arsenal by the first decade of the 19th century. Prior to the Civil War, the landscape was dominated by several large plantations, the remains of which survive as archaeological sites. The land played a peripheral role during the Civil War with activity limited to the posting of pickets along the Tennessee River bank. Following the war, many of the large plantations were increasingly divided into smaller parcels owned by small farmers, who included former slaves and their descendants. By the start of the 20th century, many of the farms were owned by absentee owners, with the land being worked by tenants and sharecroppers. The remains of hundreds of tenant and sharecropper houses still dot the landscape around the installation.Curry, Beverly S. The People Who Lived on the Land that Is Now Redstone Arsenal. Cultural Resources Management Program, U.S. Army Missile Command, 2006.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the approximately area of rolling terrain, which contained some of the richest agricultural land in Madison County, included such small farming communities as Spring Hill, Pond Beat, Mullins Flat, and Union Hill. Although there was no electricity, indoor plumbing, or telephones, few roads, and fewer cars or tractors, the people who lived in the area prospered enough to support their own stores, mills, shops, gins, churches, and schools. A total of 46 historic cemeteries including slave cemeteries, plantation family cemeteries, and late 19th to early 20th century community cemeteries are maintained on the installation as Redstone Arsenal cemeteries.
Huntsville Arsenal As part of the mobilization leading to U.S. involvement in World War II, Huntsville Arsenal was established in 1941 to create an inland chemical weapons plant in addition to one in Edgewood, Maryland. It was announced by the War Department on July 3, 1941. Over 550 families were displaced when the Army acquired the land, including over 300 tenants and sharecroppers. Most of the landowners were allowed to salvage their assets and rebuild elsewhere. The remaining buildings were almost all razed by the War Department. A land-use agreement was arranged with the Tennessee Valley Authority for the Army to use about of land along the Tennessee River.
The military installation was originally composed of three separate entities: the Huntsville Arsenal and the Huntsville Depot (later the Gulf Chemical Warfare Depot), which were operated under the auspices of the Chemical Warfare Service; and the Redstone Ordnance Plant, operated by the United States Army Ordnance Department. The name Redstone drew on the region's red rocks and soil.Cagle, Mary T. "[Early] History of Redstone Arsenal". Public Information Office, Redstone Arsenal.
In the immediate post-war era the Arsenal was used for research and development by German weapons rocket scientists who had been brought to the U.S. as part of Operation Paperclip. The team first worked on ballistic missiles, starting with V-2 rocket derivatives, before moving on to a series of ever larger designs. Many of their tests were carried out at White Sands Missile Range and flights between the two locations were common. In late 1956 the Army was relieved of most of its ballistic missiles in favor of similar weapons operated by the US Air Force.
The German design team was spun off to become part of the newly founded National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Cold War had moved to space, and the US intended to compete with the Soviet Union there as well as across the globe. The Arsenal served as the primary site for space launch vehicle design into the 1960s.
In its early years, the arsenal produced and stockpiled chemical weapons such as phosgene, Lewisite, and mustard gas. The use of toxic gases in warfare was banned under the Geneva Protocol of 1925, but the U.S. signed with the reservation that it be allowed to use chemical weapons against aggressors who used them. The facility also produced carbonyl iron powder (for radio and radar tuning), tear gas, and smoke and incendiary devices. The arsenal also produced small pyrotechnic devices including small solid-fuel rockets during the war.
In recognition of its production record, the arsenal received the Army-Navy "E" Award four times, the first on October 31, 1942. The ordnance plant was renamed Redstone Arsenal in 1943. Through the war years, more than 27,000,000 items of chemical munitions were produced and 45,200,000 ammunition shells were loaded. Redstone Army Airfield was established in 1943 for the 6th Army Air Force to test incendiary devices in preparation for the firebombing of Japanese cities.Baker, Michael E. Redstone Arsenal: Yesterday and Today. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1993-758-626/80050; summary: http://geckocountry.com/redstons.shtml
Three days after the announcement of the Japanese surrender, production facilities at the installation were put on standby. After the war, Huntsville Arsenal was briefly used as the primary storage facility for the Chemical Warfare Service, and for manufacture of gas masks and dismantling of surplus incendiary bombs. Most of the wartime civilian workforce was furloughed, dropping to 600 from a wartime high of around 4,400. Much of the arsenal land was leased for agriculture, and many of the buildings were leased for local industry. By 1947, the installation was declared to be excess, the first step toward demilitarization.
Major political and commercial efforts were made in searching for government or business tenants for the space. In early 1948, several buildings of Huntsville Arsenal were leased by the newly formed Keller Motors Corporation with the intention of establishing a major automobile manufacturing complex. Only 18 Keller prototype vehicles were built before the firm's president and primary organizer, George Keller, suddenly died and the operation folded.Gross, Ken, and Rich Taylor; "America's Most Needed Car", Special Interest Autos no. 30, September–October 1975, pp. 32–40, 59.
The Army Air Forces was searching for a site to establish a major air development center and considered Huntsville Arsenal. In 1949, a competing site near Tullahoma, Tennessee was selected. The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army then directed that Huntsville Arsenal be advertised for sale by 1 July 1949. The proposed sale never happened, because the Army found it needed the land for the new mission of developing and testing rocket systems. Thiokol Corporation moved operations to Redstone Arsenal from Maryland in the summer of 1949 to research and develop rocket propellants, while Rohm and Haas began work on rockets and jet propulsion. On June 30, 1949, Huntsville Arsenal was deactivated and consolidated with the other two entities to become Redstone Arsenal. Command responsibilities were assumed by Redstone.
Army Ordnance Corps At the close of World War II, a number of key German scientists and engineers were brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip. Colonel Holger Toftoy arranged for 127 individuals, including Wernher von Braun, to receive contracts for work on Army missiles. In late 1945, they began arriving at Fort Bliss, Texas, where, using components brought from Germany, started upgrading the V-2 missile. Testing was done at the nearby White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico.
On June 1, 1949, the Chief of Ordnance of the United States Army designated Redstone Arsenal as the Ordnance Rocket Center, its facility for ordnance rocket research and development. In April 1950, the Fort Bliss missile development operation, then with 130 German contract employees, 120 civil-service employees, and 500 military personnel, was transferred to Redstone Arsenal. This became the Ordnance Guided Missile Center (OGMC), with Major James Hamill as acting commander and von Braun as technical director. An initial project was the Major tactical missile.