James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center is an Ohio Army National Guard

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

located between

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

and Newton Falls and adjacent to the village of Windham. It was previously known as Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center, the Ravenna Training and Logistics Site, and the Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant (RVAAP)GlobalSecurity.org, 2007.
RVAAP page
Retrieved October 24, 2007 and commonly known as the Ravenna Arsenal. Before its present status as a training facility for the Ohio National Guard, Camp James A. Garfield was a military ammunition production facility for 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 ...

. As an arsenal, the facility was at peak operation during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and would serve as an ammunitions plant in various roles until 1992. Camp James A. Garfield remains an important part of the history and geography of Portage County.The

Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

, 2007.
Ravenna Arsenal page
on Ohio History Central. Retrieved October 24, 2007. The facility occupies portions of

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

, Windham, Charlestown, and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

townships in Portage County, along with part of Braceville Township in Trumbull County.

History

In 1940, the

United States Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the United States Department of Defense. The DA is the Federal government of the United States, federal government agency within which the United St ...

reserved for the construction of two facilities:OhioTrespassers.com
Ravenna Arsenal page
Retrieved October 24, 2007. The Ravenna Ordnance Plant, near Ravenna; and the Portage Ordnance Depot, near Windham. The facilities officially opened on March 23, 1942, although the Atlas Powder Company commenced operations there on August 18, 1941. During World War II, the two facilities were combined as the Ravenna Arsenal. The Ravenna Arsenal had an immediate effect upon the communities of Portage County. Over 14,000 people were employed at the Arsenal during World War II, and the village of Windham was chosen as the site to house many of these workers. Windham experienced a population boom as a result; its growth of over 1200 % was the largest of any U.S. municipality in the 1950 Census, as was reported in the June 1951 edition of

National Geographic Magazine ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

. At the end of World War II, the facility was placed on "standby" status. In November 1945, control of the facility was transferred from Atlas Powder to the U.S. Army. The facility continued to be in operation on a limited basis. During the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, the Ravenna Arsenal resumed full operations. In 1951, Firestone won several defense contracts, among which was operation of the facility under a subsidiary, Ravenna Arsenal, Inc. The facility once again was placed on standby in 1957. The

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...

, the forerunner to

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, then commenced aeronautical experiments at the facility. Among these experiments was aircraft crash testing, which led to the development of an inerting system to prevent jet fuel fires. The Ravenna Arsenal was used for the last time for the production of ammunition during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. In 1971, the facility was again placed on standby. Ammunition at the facility was then demilitarized, a process which continued until 1984. It also was part of ammunition refurbishment and minor research and development projects until 1992. After years of inactivity, the facility became a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

site and plans to burn some of the buildings at the site were being discussed. However, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work group recommended that the Army not burn the buildings due to the high levels of

polychlorinated biphenyl Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organochlorine compounds with the formula Carbon, C12Hydrogen, H10−''x''Chloride, Cl''x''; they were once widely used in the manufacture of carbonless copy paper, as heat transfer fluids, and as dielectri ...

s (PCBs) in the paint. Cleanup of the site is expected to continue through 2018. Meanwhile, transfer of the facility was ultimately made to the Ohio National Guard, although there were several intermediate caretakers. In 1983, Firestone sold its contract to Physics International Company. Ten years later, Mason & Hangar-Silas Mason Company, Inc. assumed caretaker status. The Ravenna Training and Logistics Site of the Ohio National Guard began as a tenant unit of the Army facility, which at that time was officially designated the Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant (RVAAP). of the facility were included in the RTLS tenancy by May 16, 1999. On January 16, 2002, transfer of this land was made to the RTLS, and the RVAAP became a tenant site of the RTLS – essentially switching the roles of the two facilities. The site is now known as Camp James A. Garfield and currently occupies approximately 93% of the land originally covered by the RVAAP. On September 11, 2007, the facility was opened to invited guests and members of the news media for a tour. At this tour, it was revealed that the RTLS would eventually encompass the formerly known as the Ravenna Arsenal. At that time, only remained under RVAAP control. Between 2013 and 2019, Camp Garfield was one of five sites considered as the location of a

proposed Eastern United States missile defense site Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), previously United States national missile defense, National Missile Defense (NMD), is an anti-ballistic missile system implemented by the United States of America for defense against ballistic missiles, duri ...

. It was renamed for James A. Garfield, the 20th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

, on October 18, 2018. Garfield lived in Portage County for many years prior to his election as president, and as a state senator in the 1860s, helped appropriate funds to create the Ohio volunteer forces, the precursor to the Ohio National Guard.

In popular culture

The essayist Scott Russell Sanders spent part of his childhood living on the grounds of the Ravenna Arsenal. The Arsenal figures prominently in his memoirs ''The Paradise of Bombs'' (1987) and ''A Private History of Awe'' (2006). The

Hole in the Horn Buck The Hole in the Horn Buck is officially listed as the second largest non-typical white-tailed deer of all time by the Boone and Crockett Club. The buck’s antlers score 328 2/8 non-typical points. The name of the buck derives from the mysterious ...

is officially listed as the second largest non-typical white-tailed deer of all time by the Boone and Crockett Club. The buck’s antlers score 328 2/8 non-typical points. The name of the buck derives from the mysterious hole in his right antler. It was later claimed by eyewitness George Winters to have been inflicted by a piece of chain-link fence which pierced the antler shortly before the buck died. The world record

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

was stuck under the fence to the Ravenna Arsenal in 1940. The site can be seen in Marvel's 2014 film '' Captain America: The Winter Soldier''. The Ravenna Arsenal is mentioned in author

John Birmingham John Birmingham (born 7 August 1964) is a British-born Australian author, known for the 1994 memoir ''He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'', the ''Axis of Time'' trilogy, and the well-received space opera series, the ''Cruel Stars'' trilogy. ...

's novel "World War 3.1," part of his Axis of Time series of science fiction novels.

References

External links

RVAAP Access
��Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant Restoration News and Information * {{Authority control Ammunition manufacturers Buildings and structures in Portage County, Ohio Buildings and structures in Trumbull County, Ohio Installations of the United States Army National Guard Historic American Engineering Record in Ohio Military installations in Ohio Military logistics of the United States Research installations of the United States Army Superfund sites in Ohio

History

In popular culture

See also

Further reading

References

External links