Fort Ord Military Installation, US Army

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Nov

Written by Richard Morgan
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Fort Ord was established in 1917, originally as Camp Gigling, as a military training base for infantry troops. In 1917, the US Army bought the present day East Garrison and nearby lands on the east side of Fort Ord to use as a maneuver and training ground for field artillery and cavalry troops stationed at the Presidio of Monterey. & Before the Army's use of the property, the area was agricultural, as is much of the surrounding land today. No permanent improvements were made until the late 1930s, when administrative buildings, barracks, mess halls, tent pads, and a sewage treatment plant were constructed. This facility was designated as Camp Ord in 1939 and became Fort Ord in 1940. In 1938, additional agricultural property was purchased for the development of the Main Garrison.

At the same time, the beachfront property was donated to the Army. The Main Garrison was constructed between 1940 and the 1960s, starting in the northwest corner of the base and expanding southward and eastward.From 1947 to 1975, Fort Ord was a basic training center. After 1975, the 7th Infantry Division (Light) occupied Fort Ord. Light infantry troops operated without heavy tanks, armor, or artillery. In 1990, the US Secretary of Defense announced that the military would begin a process to reduce the number of nationwide military installations and Fort Ord was one of the bases named for closure.

In 1991, it was formally announced that Fort Ord would be downsized to a small enclose (closed). The 1991 Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC91) recommended that Fort Ord be closed and troops of the 7th Infantry Division (Light) be relocated to Fort Lewis, Washington. Although Fort Ord was closed in September 1994, the Army retained approximately 5 percent of the property for a Presidio of Monterey (POM) annex and reserve center. The POM annex is on a 785-acre parcel near Gigling and North-South Roads. The Army retained a 12-acre parcel near Imjin Gate at Reservation Road for continued use as an Army reserve center. The Defense Language Institute is located on the Presidio of Monterey (POM), about eight miles from the Presidio of Monterey Annex, where the majority of students and permanent party assigned to the Institute live in military housing on a portion of what used to be Fort Ord. Also located on the Annex are the commissary, post exchange, main chapel, the Youth Services Center, Army Community Service, AAFES gas station, the Thrift Shop, the library, a Child Development Center, a grammar school and a middle school.

On April 20, 2012, President Obama signed a Proclamation to designate federal lands within the former Fort Ord as a National Monument under the Antiquities Act. The Fort Ord National Monument will be managed by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, which currently manages approximately 7,200 acres of the area, and the Army will transfer approximately 7,450 acres after clean-up.