The Jefferson Proving Ground (or JPG), located near Madison,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, is a former munitions testing facility of Test and Evaluation Command of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Materiel Development and Readiness Command. The grounds of JPG serve as a wildlife refuge, as well as a gunnery range.

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

organizations and private contractors are assigned to the area.

History

On October 8, 1940, the Chief of Ordnance acknowledged a need for the construction of an additional

proving ground A proving ground is an installation or reservation in which technology such as weapons, military tactics and automobile prototypes are experimented with or tested. Proving grounds can be operated by government bodies or civilian industries. The ...

to carry out simultaneously and without interruption the many activities relative to proof work of the ordnance manufacturing program. In December 1940, the site acquisition committee decided on a tract of land in Ripley, Jefferson, and

Jennings Jennings is a surname of early medieval English origin (also the Anglicised version of the Irish surnames Mac Sheóinín or MacJonin). Notable people with the surname include: *Jennings (Swedish noble family) A–G *Adam Jennings (born 1982), A ...

counties in southern

. The site was selected for its proximity to a powder manufacturing plant at Charlestown, Indiana, an ordinance plant at

LaPorte County, Indiana LaPorte County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 112,417. The county seat is the city of La Porte, and the largest city is Michigan City. This county is part of the Northwest Indiana and Michian ...

, and an ammunition storage depot in

Martin County, Indiana Martin County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 9,812. The county seat is Shoals at the center of the county, and the county's only incorporated city is Loogootee, on the county ...

, as well as military installations at

Fort Benjamin Harrison Fort Benjamin Harrison was a U.S. Army post located in suburban Lawrence Township, Marion County, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis, between 1906 and 1991. It is named for the 23rd United States president, Benjamin Harrison. History In 190 ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Fort Hayes Fort Hayes was a military post in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Created by an act of the United States Congress on July 11, 1862, the site was also known as the Columbus Arsenal until 1922, when the site was renamed after former Ohio Governo ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, and Forts

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

and Knox in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. Residents living within the area of planned site were given 30 to 120 days to vacate the land. Construction began immediately, and the first round was fired at U.S. Army JPG on May 10, 1941. In April 1953, JPG reached a pinnacle of employment and activity, with 1,774 employees and a production of 175,000 rounds fired monthly.

Collin's Ford Bridge Collin's Ford Bridge, also known as Bridge #28, is a historic arch bridge, stone arch bridge located within Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Jefferson Proving Ground) in Shelby Township, Ripley County, Indiana, Shelby Township, Ripley ...

, Marble Creek Bridge, Oakdale School, also known as Building 401, and Old Timbers are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Base closure and further use

In 1989, JPG was identified for base closure under the

base realignment and closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) was a process by a Federal government of the United States, United States federal government commission to increase the efficiency of the United States Department of Defense by coordinating the realignment and ...

(BRAC) and closed on September 30, 1995. Since that time, the U.S. Army has maintained a small on-site oversight staff and an off-site environmental coordinator. JPG is currently administered by the BRAC Division within the U.S. Army's Installation Management Agency which is responsible for managing JPG's closure, cleanup, and property transfer. Approximately of the grounds north of the historic firing line was leased to the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

in 2000 to be operated as

Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in southeast Indiana, United States, near Madison, Indiana. The refuge is the largest of Indiana's three National Wildlife Refuges ( ...

. In 1998, a parcel of land north of the firing line within the former range is operated as an air-to-surface gunnery/bombing range by the Indiana Air National Guard. As of 2014, Jefferson Range is used for

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

training, including tests of air-to-ground strikes.

Railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

tracks on the site are used for car storage by the Madison Railroad.

Environmental concerns

The base contains a substantial amount of

depleted uranium Depleted uranium (DU), also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy, or D-38, is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope Uranium-235, 235U than natural uranium. The less radioactive and non-fissile Uranium-238, 238U is the m ...

and the NRC has posed questions to the Army regarding environmental concerns as a result."Sites Undergoing Decommissioning: Jefferson Proving Ground"
/ref>

References

External links

Jefferson Proving Ground - Installation Support Management Agency
*
Jefferson Proving Ground - Tactical Training School
{{Coord, 39, 0, N, 85, 24, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Jefferson County, Indiana Historic American Engineering Record in Indiana Proving grounds Military installations in Indiana 1941 establishments in Indiana 1995 disestablishments in Indiana