Fort Holabird was located in the southeast corner of Baltimore and northwest of the suburban developments of Dundalk, Maryland, in surrounding Baltimore County, fronting on Holabird Avenue between Broening Highway and Dundalk Avenue. From 1941 until the end of World War II, the military installation grew to include approximately 350 acres and 286 buildings. After the Second World War, activities at Fort Holabird were curtailed and portions of the property were transferred from the Army. The largest land transfers occurred in the timeframe over three decades later following the Vietnam War, between 1977 and 1979, when 223 acres were transferred to the city of Baltimore. The city later developed the land in succeeding years into the Fort Holabird Industrial Park.[1]
Timeline
1918: Established as Camp Holabird on 96 acres of marsh near Colgate Creek.[2] Established as the U.S. Army's first motor transport training center and depot in southeastern Baltimore. It was named for Army Quartermaster General and West Point graduate Samuel B. Holabird (1826-1907).
1918: During World War I, Holabird supplied the American Expeditionary Forces in France with Detroit-made vehicles. Thousands of military personnel were trained there to drive and repair automobiles and trucks.
1918 or after: Became home to the Holabird Quartermaster Depot.
2 July 1919: U.S. Navy blimp C-8 explodes while landing at Camp Holabird, injuring about 80 adults and children who were watching. Windows in homes a mile away are broken by the blast.[3][4]
1920: by 1920 a center for the research and development of military vehicles was established at Holabird. Here the now-famous Jeep was tested and refined.
1940: Listed as Holabird Quartermaster Depot on the 1940 U.S. Census.
