The Jefferson Proving Ground (or JPG), located near

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

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

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

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

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

organizations and private contractors are assigned to the area.

History

On October 8, 1940, the

Chief of Ordnance The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a Combat service support (United States), sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee (Virginia), Fort Lee, Virginia. The ...

acknowledged a need for the construction of an additional

proving ground A proving ground (US) 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. ...

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 Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...

, 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 Charlestown is a city located within Charlestown Township, in Clark County, Indiana, United States. The population was 7,775 at the 2020 census. History Charlestown was established in 1808, named after one of its surveyors, Charles Beggs, upon ...

, an ordinance plant at

LaPorte County, Indiana LaPorte County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 111,467. 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 Michiana ...

, 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 10,327. 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 1901, ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Fort Hayes Fort Hayes is 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 Governor ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, 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 Ap ...

and Knox in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. 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 stone arch bridge located within Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Jefferson Proving Ground) in Shelby Township, Ripley County, Indiana. It was built about 1907, and is a t ...

Marble Creek Bridge Marble Creek Bridge, also known as Bridge #25, is a historic stone arch bridge located within Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Jefferson Proving Ground) in Shelby Township, Ripley County, Indiana. It was built about 1905, and is a one ...

, Oakdale School, also known as Building 401, and

Old Timbers Old Timbers is a historic home located within Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Jefferson Proving Ground) in Shelby Township, Ripley County, Indiana. It was built in 1932, and is a -story, Bungalow / American Craftsman style stone ...

are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Base closure and further use

In 1989, JPG was identified for base closure under the

base realignment and closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end o ...

(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 an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

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 ( M ...

. 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 The Indiana Air National Guard (IN ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Indiana, United States of America. It is, along with the Indiana Army National Guard, an element of the Indiana National Guard. As state militia units, the units in ...

. As of 2014, Jefferson Range is used for

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

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

Railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

tracks on the site are used for car storage by the

Madison Railroad The Madison Railroad , a division of the City of Madison Port Authority, is a short-line railroad in southeastern Indiana. The Madison Railroad begins along the Ohio River in the western part of the city of Madison and from there runs generally ...

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 than natural uranium.: "Depleted uranium possesses only 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium, hav ...

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