The San Jacinto Ordnance Depot was a World War II facility built on an almost site located on the Houston Ship Channel, approximately southeast of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. The job of the depot was to support the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy by storing and inspecting

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

received from manufacturers that was being shipped through the Port of Houston docks, and storing and inspecting ammunition received from domestic U.S. military bases and areas of overseas operations. The depot also supported army and navy operations for a short while after World War II, but plans were made to gradually phase out the depot's mission. Before the depot could be shut down, the United States became involved in the Korean War, and plans to cease operations were postponed. The depot was finally determined to be unnecessary in 1959, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers was given control and responsibility of the site. The land and facilities of the depot were sold to the Houston Channel Industrial Corporation in October 1964.

References

{{Reflist United States Army in World War II United States Navy in World War II United States Army logistics installations Buildings and structures in Harris County, Texas Military installations in Texas Historic American Engineering Record in Texas United States Army arsenals during World War II 1964 disestablishments in Texas Military installations closed in 1964