San Jacinto Ordnance Depot

The San Jacinto Ordnance Depot was a United States Army ammunition depot that supplied the Army and Navy during World War II and the Korean War, located on a 4,954-acre reservation on the Houston Ship Channel 15 miles south of Houston, Texas.

The depot received, stored, and inspected all classes of ammunition (other than smoke) intended for shipment through its docks or through the Port of New Orleans; and ammunition from overseas facilities. Captains of the Ports of Houston and Galveston objected to its location close to manufacturing plants, shipyards and an oil refinery, but the US Coast Guard approved the project.

Its first commanding officer arrived on November 21, 1941; on June 1, 1942, the depot received its first shipment&mdash;four cars of propellant charges. The first commercial vessel was loaded on September 7, 1944. By December 31, 1945, it had received more than 329 million pounds of ammunition and had shipped more than 208 million pounds.

The depot continued to operate between 1945 and 1950; plans to phase out operations as soon as the decreasing need for war materials allowed were postponed with US involvement in the Korean War in June 1950. In 1959, the depot was declared surplus, and the US Army Corps of Engineers took custody. In October 1964, it was sold to the Houston Channel Industrial Corp. for more than 10 million dollars.