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The Black Hills Ordnance Depot (BHOD) was a munitions storage and maintenance facility formerly operated by the 
BHOD was established and constructed in 1942, to help meet the Army's increased ordnance handling needs caused by 
Since 2016, The Vivos group has purchased the majority of the former base containing 575 of the ordnance igloos, each approximately 2,200 square feet. The development now known as Vivos xPoint has become an international story and is currently in filming by a major cable network for an ongoing docu-series on the making of the world's largest survival community.https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/offbeat/underground-bunker-to-avoid-virus/ , title = World’s wealthy can avoid the virus by going underground When completed Vivos projects a total member population of over 5,000 people averaging 10 people per fully outfitted private bunker.
BHOD history, and reunion site for former Igloo residents
{{coord, 43, 10, N, 103, 56, W, region:US-SD_type:landmark, display=title 1942 establishments in South Dakota 1967 disestablishments in South Dakota Buildings and structures in Fall River County, South Dakota United States Army arsenals United States Army arsenals during World War II Ghost towns in South Dakota
United States Army Ordnance Corps
The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...
. The depot was located in Fall River County, in far southwestern South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
about eight miles south of the town of Edgemont.
BHOD was established and constructed in 1942, to help meet the Army's increased ordnance handling needs caused by World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Because of the relative remoteness of the location, nearly all of the facility's civilian workforce lived in federally owned housing at the depot; this residential community was known as Igloo, a name derived because the characteristic shape of the munitions storage buildings constructed at the site has a similar appearance to igloos. The Igloo community included public schools, a hospital, post office, church, and shopping and entertainment facilities including a theater, swimming pool and a recreation center.
Among Igloo's residents was a young Tom Brokaw
Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of '' ...
, who spent a few years living on the base as a boy.
The level of employment at BHOD varied over the years, increasing during periods of war. During typical peacetime periods of the 1950s, between 650 and 750 workers were employed at the site, and the community population was around 1800 people.
BHOD was renamed "Black Hills Army Depot" (BHAD) in 1962.
Over the years, BHOD was used for storage and testing of chemical weapons
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...
, including sarin and mustard gas. Additionally, during World War II, the site also held Italian prisoners of war.
The Depot was closed on June 30, 1967, and the Igloo community was abandoned. Once the Depot was closed, most of the residential housing units were moved to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Gr ...
. A large number of former Depot buildings remained at the site in 2007.
Since 2016, The Vivos group has purchased the majority of the former base containing 575 of the ordnance igloos, each approximately 2,200 square feet. The development now known as Vivos xPoint has become an international story and is currently in filming by a major cable network for an ongoing docu-series on the making of the world's largest survival community.https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/offbeat/underground-bunker-to-avoid-virus/ , title = World’s wealthy can avoid the virus by going underground When completed Vivos projects a total member population of over 5,000 people averaging 10 people per fully outfitted private bunker.
References
Further reading
* Funded by the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities. *External links
BHOD history, and reunion site for former Igloo residents
{{coord, 43, 10, N, 103, 56, W, region:US-SD_type:landmark, display=title 1942 establishments in South Dakota 1967 disestablishments in South Dakota Buildings and structures in Fall River County, South Dakota United States Army arsenals United States Army arsenals during World War II Ghost towns in South Dakota