Installation Timeline
Because of escalating global tensions, Congress approved funds in April 1941 for the Army to construct another chemical manufacturing and storage facility to supplement the production of the Chemical Warfare Service's only chemical manufacturing plant at Edgewood Arsenal. The site selected became known as Huntsville Arsenal. Recognizing the tremendous economy of locating an Ordnance shell loading/assembly plant close to Huntsville Arsenal, the Chief of Ordnance decided to build a facility adjacent to the Chemical Warfare Service's installation. Initially known as Redstone Ordnance Plant, the plant was re-designated Redstone Arsenal in February 1943.
The decade of the 1940s was extremely important to the history of Redstone Arsenal. It was not only the time when the arsenal complex was physically founded but also marked the beginning of the arsenal's modern mission. This chronology commemorates the tradition of excellence that began in the 1940s and remains the hallmark of today's Redstone Arsenal.