By Jim Lessenger

THROUGHOUT ITS 115-YEAR HISTORY, the Benicia Barracks, Quartermaster Depot and Arsenal served California and the West, first as a frontier infantry and cavalry post, then as a logistics and ordnance headquarters. Between 1849 and 1944, its land footprint grew from 345 to 2,345 acres and then shrunk through transfers and easements to 2,192 acres. When fully developed, the Arsenal consisted of around 300 buildings, two motor pools, NIKE missile launch and repair facilities, an explosives holding area, and a network of 109 munitions storage “igloos.”

The Arsenal was part of the U.S. Army Ordnance Department plan for providing weapons and ammunition to the Army. In addition to Benicia, there were at that time arsenals at Watervliet, N.Y.; Allegheny, Pa.; Washington, D.C.; and St. Louis, Mo. Every imaginable weapon was either manufactured, handled, transferred, stored, used or destroyed at the Benicia Arsenal, ranging from 19th century cavalry lances and muzzle-loading rifles to 20th century tanks, howitzers and guided missiles. Tens of thousands of chemical warfare shells and canisters were shipped through the Arsenal for use against the Japanese during World War II, and there is evidence that components of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs also passed through the facility.

The history of the Arsenal is punctuated with expansions during times of hostilities followed by the “rollback” of used and unused equipment, and “right-sizing” of the number of employees. In the 1850s, the commanders of the cavalry barracks and the Arsenal concentrated on building facilities and defending American communities from Indians, bandits, and pirates. Many Spanish and American weapons were brought to the Arsenal for reconstruction and reuse, or destruction and recycling of the metal. Reconstructed weapons were given to civilian California communities for defense. The facility supported the Modoc Wars, the Pit River Expedition, and the Battle of Battle Mountain (notable because the Indians won).

During the Civil War, professional soldiers were recalled to the East Coast and the Arsenal because the headquarters of the California Volunteers. This cycle of expansion and contraction continued through the Spanish-American War, both World Wars, the Korean conflict and the Cold War, during which the Arsenal was the headquarters of NIKE missile logistical operations for the San Francisco Bay Area and the supplier, using surplus equipment and munitions, of anti-communist military operations throughout the world.

Major disasters were not infrequent. They included the 1912 explosion in the Clocktower warehouse, which destroyed enough munitions and equipment to supply an infantry division, and an explosion in 1922 that occurred while contractors were reclaiming metal from Civil War-era munitions. That blast destroyed most of the old wooden cavalry barracks and several stone magazines.

In 1924 the Benicia Barracks, Quartermaster Depot, and Arsenal were officially combined by War Department General Orders No. 14 and signed by General of the Armies John J. Pershing.

During the 19th century, two easements were created through the Arsenal, both authorized by Congress. The first, approved May 24, 1876, granted a conditional right-of-way to the Northern Railway Company to enter Benicia and the Arsenal. The second, approved by Congress on July 5, 1884, and by the Secretary of War on June 9, 1914, granted permission to the Solano County Board of Supervisors to extend the public highway across the military reservation. The highway became the Benicia-Cordelia Highway; it is now the eastern extension of Second Street.

In 1928 and 1929, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company gave the government 153 acres to reimburse it for land the railroad had acquired for constructing the new rail line, and for the loss of two high-explosive storage magazines that because unserviceable because of their location near the new Carquinez railroad bridge. Then, in the mid-20th century, easements were granted to the state of California for the Benicia-Martinez Bridge and the highway between the bridge and Vallejo.

Water was always a problem at the Arsenal. There were no year-round water sources, and attempts at drilling wells failed. Eventually a series of cisterns and reservoirs were constructed to save rain water and to draft water directly from the Carquinez Strait — which was fresh water until after World War II, when the major rivers upstream of the Sacramento watershed were dammed. Pine Lake was created in 1886 for water delivery. Improvements in 1940 increased the size of the lake by creating a dam across the end of a draw. The reservoir was intended for use in providing fresh water for irrigation and fire protection; it was never intended to supply drinking water.

With the onset of World War II, the Arsenal saw massive expansion: It grew, in 1941, by 1,847 acres and more than 200 structures, including a deepwater concrete wharf that cost nearly $3.5 million to build. A final land expansion took place in 1944 with the leasing of a parcel at the Arsenal’s northern perimeter, the so-called Touroulotte property, named after the farmer from whom it was leased. The land was used for explosives storage, artillery testing and ammunition demolition.

The expanding civilian and military workforce at the Arsenal during WWII was augmented by Italian and German prisoners of war, wards from the California Youth Authority and federal inmates. Temporary living quarters were built and the interiors of the original Arsenal warehouses (buildings 7 and 9) were plastered for use in food service.

In 1947, the chief of ordnance approved a plan for the consolidation of Ordnance Field Service activities of the Pacific Coast — resulting in the Benicia Arsenal becoming the major depot west of the Rocky Mountains.

At the end of WWII, Sharpe General Depot in Stockton was placed under the administration of the Benicia Arsenal; by 1949 Sharpe had closed altogether. All depot activities now were based in Benicia. Huge amounts of equipment and supplies accumulated here, and storage became a major problem, heightened by the Korean conflict, during which the Arsenal had to carry the burden of two depots.

Following Korea, the Arsenal was filled to capacity with thousands of tons of equipment, supplies, and munitions returning to the U.S. for scrap or redistribution. The chief of ordnance, meanwhile, established two new programs: Dollar-and-cents accounting for ordnance supplies, and a new staffing pattern for depot operations that placed civilians at the head of units formerly headed by military staff. The Arsenal received tons of materiel from Western military bases as they deactivated; Benicia, in turn, shipped the equipment to NATO and Indo-Chinese forces. Soon more emphasis was being placed on depot management, efficiency of performance, and manpower requirements; the result was a further trimming of civilian and military personnel. By the end of 1953 a hiring freeze was in place throughout the Ordnance Department for civilian workers. An austerity program had been implemented.

During the Arsenal’s final decade, large tonnages of military materiel was shipped to Indo-China, Chiang Kai-shek’s forces on Formosa, and NATO countries. Massive rollbacks of supplies from Korea, the Far East, and decommissioned Army camps on the West Coast began to inundate the Arsenal. Throughout the period emphasis was placed on improved methods and techniques of management, on supervisor selection and development, and on the creating of a prospective cadre of career employees. Several management research projects were conducted.

In 1954, guided missiles made their appearance at the Arsenal, which became the logistics base for NIKE, NIKE HERCULES, and CORPORAL missiles in the San Francisco Bay Area. Also that year, the first surplus sale was conducted, at which $3,799,106.66 in supplies and equipment was sold.

Meanwhile, the Army conducted a large-scale cleanup of the facility, destroying tons of unexploded ordnance and other dangerous materials. Unfortunately, they didn’t get it all — thus creating a problem that would remain unsettled 50 years later.

For the remainder of the decade, the Arsenal supported the missile programs, sold off tons of materiel as surplus, and destroyed tons more of ordnance and other materials. By the end of the decade, skilled workers were being transferred to other facilities and shops within the Arsenal.

On March 30, 1961, the Arsenal received a teletype message from the chief of ordnance, relayed from the deputy chief of staff for logistics, that stunned installation personnel and the community. In part, the message read: “Benicia Arsenal, Benicia, California will be inactivated by closeout and/or transfer to mission to Tooele Ordnance Depot, Tooele, Utah. After inactivation, Benicia will be declared excess.” The date of the inactivation was set for March 30, 1964.

Orders were orders. Arsenal management proceeded with the process of transferring personnel, selling or shipping equipment, and other steps to close the base. Many skilled workers transferred to nearby Travis Air Force Base and Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Many elected to take retirement; others sought employment in the private sector.

As part of the process of closure, the National Guard Armory housed in the 1859 Clocktower warehouse was closed and a new one constructed on 5 acres of former Arsenal property deeded to the state of California. In addition, 1.33 acres that comprised the Arsenal Cemetery was maintained as Army property and reassigned to the Presidio of San Francisco.

The Arsenal officially closed on Tuesday, March 31, 1964, in a formal ceremony where the post flag was lowered and retired. A commemorative dinner was held that evening at the Veterans Memorial Building.

Dr. Jim Lessenger is a docent at the Benicia Historical Museum and the author, most recently, of “Commanding Officer’s Quarters of the Benicia Arsenal.”