TEXARKANA -- After 75 years of supplying military vehicles and munitions to the nation's fighting forces overseas, the Red River Army Depot will be celebrating its anniversary at 7 p.m. today at the Texarkana Convention Center.
To date, the depot has survived two Base Realignment and Closure Commission attempts to close it -- one in 1995, the other in 2005.
It remains as one of the largest employers in the Texarkana area, retaining some 5,000 workers.
Although Texarkana existed for more than 65 years before the start of World War II, the city became more than just a railroad junction mostly because of the 1939 efforts of a five-man Texarkana Chamber of Commerce committee. That year the committee offered the federal government the option of developing an ordnance depot site nearby. From there, military officials decided to carve out the base's territory from 116 East Texas farms and ranches just south of Hooks, Texas.
The depot opened Aug. 9, 1941, and today, its reservation consists of more than 14,000 acres of small rolling hills, flatlands and some pine forests -- making it still one of the largest U.S. Army Material Command supply and vehicle maintenance installations in the world.
Initially, the Red River Depot was intended to be only an ammunition storage depot. However, as soon as the first train loads of ammunition started to arrive, the demands created by World War II caused top defense planners to take another look at the new installation.
Those planners soon discovered that having a good local labor market, along with the installation's proximity to southwestern U.S. military training bases and southern ports made the depot's mission expandable enough to include supply storage and tank repairs.
During the past 75 years, the depot's mission has continued to evolve. It is engaged in such projects as producing timber and refurbishing land mine resistant ambush protection vehicles.
In recent years, the secretary of the Army designated Red River Depot as the center for industrial and technical excellence when it comes to service and repair for Tactical Wheeled Vehicles, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the Multiple Rocket Launch System, the Small Emplacement Excavator and the Rough Terrain Forklifts.
The depot also plays host to 10 tenant organizations -- with the largest being the Defense Logistics Agency's Distribution Center. The center stores items valued at more than $6 billion.
Metro on 08/12/2016