Read the history of these San Antonio Military Landmarks:

THE ALAMO  ●  FT. SAM HOUSTON  ●  CAMP BULLIS  ●  CAMP STANLEY  ●  CAMP WILSON
CAMP TRAVIS  ●  BROOKS FIELD  ●  KELLY FIELD  ●  STINSON FIELD  ●  LACKLAND ARMY AIR FIELD  ●  RANDOLPH FIELD  ●  RAILROADS  ●  SAN ANTONIO ARSENAL

During the Mexican War a US quartermaster depot was established at San Antonio and in 1849 it was named headquarters of the United States Army Eighth Military District and space was leased at the Alamo.  By 1870 the Texas Department of the United States Army had moved to San Antonio, and in 1876 work was started on 93 acres of land donated by the city for a military installation.  In 1890 the post was designated as Fort Sam Houston, and by 1891, 43 acres and 60 buildings had been added.

During World War I and additional 1280 acres northwest of the Fort were added and called Camp Travis.  Brooke Army Medical Center opened in 1938 with 400 beds and soon expanded.  By 1949, Fort Sam Houston had 1,500 buildings on over 3,300 acres and was headquarters for the Fourth United States Army.

Fort Sam Houston is home to the Fifth United States Army and many other commands and organizations.  It supports all National Guard and Army Reserve units in Texas and is the site of a National Cemetery and several museums.  Information about the current role of Fort Sam Houston can be found in the “Active Installations” section of this site

Sources:  Handbook of Texas Online, Fort Sam Houston

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Located on the northwest side of San Antonio, Camp Bullis (named for Brigadier General John Lapham Bullis) was established to train troops in preparation for World War I.  Used as a training facility for the Civilian Conservation Corps, Civilian Military Training Corps and others during the 1920’s and 1930’s, Camp Bullis became a  processing and training center during World War II.  Largely idle during the inter-war years, Camp Bullis was very active as a training facility during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.  With some shrinkage for other uses (about 1,500 acres), Camp Bullis continues to be used for unit training.

Sources: Handbook of Texas Online, Camp Bullis

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The Leon Springs Military Reservation was established in 1906 and 1907 on 17,323 acres to address the lack of range facilities at Fort Sam Houston and designated as part of the San Antonio Arsenal.  It was briefly called Camp Funston (1917) until it was discovered that a Camp Funston existed in Kansas, at which time it was renamed Camp Stanley.  Designated as an infantry cantonment in 1917, in 1922 it became a subpost of Camp Travis and was used as a temporary garrison.  In 1933, Camp Stanley was transferred to the ordnance department and in 1947 was consolidated with San Antonio General Distribution Depot. In 1949 the designation was changed to the Camp Stanley Area of Red River Arsenal where it remained until 1985, when it was made a subpost of Camp Bullis.

Camp Stanley and Camp Bullis are together known as the Leon Springs Military Reservation, which today covers approximately 26,000 acres.

Sources: Handbook of Texas Online, Camp Stanley   Handbook of Texas Online, Leon Springs Military Reservation

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Camp Wilson  Marker commemorates the 1916 mobilization of the National Guard for service along the Mexican border after Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, New Mexico. During the mobilization, more than 100,000 members of the National Guard were called up. Guardsmen from forty-seven states and the District of Columbia served.

Many of the called up units trained at Camp Wilson, a division-sized tent camp covering the area bounded by Wilson Road, Garden Street, Harry Wurzbach Highway, Eleanor Avenue and New Braunfels Avenue.

View above is to the southwest. Visible on the horizon are the tower in the Quadrangle, the Gift Chapel and the radio towers which stood near Building 2271.

Source:  http://ameddregiment.amedd.army.mil/fshmuse/tour12.htm

Brooks Field began in 1917 as Gosport Field, a 1300 acre Army flight training site.  It quickly became Signal Corps Aviation School, Kelly Field No. 5 and in 1918 was renamed Brooks Field to honor Sidney Johnson Brooks, Jr.  From 1919 until 1922 it served as a training school for pilots of balloons and airships, and served from 1923 until 1931 as the primary training school for Army aviators.  The School of Aviation Medicine was moved to Brooks in 1928 and moved to Randolph Field in 1931.  It was used to train paratroopers, bomber pilots, and aerial observers for the Army Air Corps until the Air Force separated from the Army in 1948, when it was renamed Brooks Air Force Base.  In 1959, Brooks transitioned from a flight training base to a center for medical research and education.  The School of Aviation Medicine returned to Brooks in 1959 and all flying ceased in 1960.  Brooks became part of the Aerospace Medical Division, which became the Human Systems Division in 1987.  In 1995, military planners approved the transition of Brooks to ownership by the City of San Antonio.  This was accomplished in 2002 with the creation of Brooks City-Base, owned and maintained by the City of San Antonio and home to the Air Force Human Resources Lab, the Air Force Drug Testing Lab, the Harry G. Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, the Air Force Occupational and Environmental Health Laboratory, and the laboratory functions of the School of Aerospace Medicine.

http://www.brooksheritage.org/

Sources:  Handbook of Texas Online, Brooks Air Force Base  Brooks City-Base

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Kelly Field was created by act of Congress in December 1916m when the lease of 700 acres of land was authorized.  It became the home of the 3^rd Aero Squadron and on June 11, 1917 was named for Lt. George E.M., Kelly.  Later that year it was expanded with the addition known as Kelly Field Number 2, home to the flying training center.

The General Supply Depot moved to Kelly from downtown San Antonio, where it was joined by the aviation repair depot from Dallas in 1921, forming the Intermediate Air Depot.  The Advanced Flying School moved to Kelly Field Number 2 in 1922, training pilots in advanced skills such as pursuit and bombardment. 

In 1925, Kelly Field Number 1 was renamed Duncan Field in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Duncan and Kelly Field Number 2 became simply Kelly Field.  In 1943, with the rapid expansion of programs to train pilots needed in Europe and the Pacific, congestion became a real threat, so Kelly and Duncan were reunited as Kelly Field.  When the training mission was separated and moved to the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center, which was to become Lackland, the primary mission of Kelly Field became maintenance and supply.

Because of the need for space, the Normoyle Ordnance Depot (“East Kelly”) was annexed in 1945.  In 1948, with the creation of the United States Air Force, Kelly Field became Kelly Air Force base.  In 1974 the San Antonio Air Material Area became the San Antonio Air Logistics Center while the mission remained the same. 

In 1992 the Defense Logistics Agency took over all warehouse space on the base.  1993 saw the creation of a Defense Megacenter, one of 19 nationally and the only one in Texas.    In 1995 the Base Realignment and Closure commission voted to relocate the activity of the San Antonio Air logistics Center and on July 13, 2001 the runway, tenants, and base operations became part of Lackland Air Force Base.  The rest of the base became a business park called Port San Antonio.

Source:  Paul Profit History of Kelly Field

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Dating from the latter part of 1915, Stinson Field was the City of San Antonio’s first municipal airport.  It was created when Marjorie Stinson, who had been teaching flying from the parade grounds at Ft. Sam Houston, petitioned the City Council to create an airport.  When approved, she leased 500 acres of farmland and established Stinson Field where she trained pilots during World War I.  It became the city’s civil airport when the war ended but again became an Army Air Corps training facility during World War II.  It is still in use as a commercial and recreational air center, although San Antonio International is today the primary commercial aviation center.

Source:  National Park Service

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In 1942, the western part of Kelly Field was separated from that installation and designated as the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center in order to separate basic flight training from the need for training bomber pilots, which was a primary mission at Kelly Field.  On July 1, 1945 the mission and name were changed as it became the San Antonio District, Army Air Force Personnel Distribution Command for the purpose of receiving and processing combat veterans.  On Feb. 1, 1946 it was designated as the Army Air Forces Military Training Center.  On July 11, 1947 it was named for Brigadier General Frank D. Lackland.  It has had a training mission continuosly since 1946.  It was home to the Officer Candidate School  from 1946 until 1993.  In 1956 the Technical Training Group was assigned to Lackland, bringing with it air police training and in 1957 the cryptographic equipment maintenance training was moved here.  Several other training programs, language training, and programs for flight training foreign nationals are located at Lackland with the newest being the Force Protection Battle Lab (1997).

In 2001 the circle was closed when Lackland took over airfield operations at Kelly Field, changing the home of the 67^th Network Warfare Wing  to Kelly Field Annex, Lackland AFB.

Sources:  Handbook of Texas Online, Lackland Air Force Base

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Randolph, original home of the Air Corps Training Center, was created when the facilities at Kelly and Brooks Fields were determined to be inadequate. It was named for Captain William Millican Randolph.  Basic flight training continued until 1943, when the mission was changed to one of training flight instructors.  It was renamed Randolph Air Force Base in 1948, and has always been a flight training base and is currently home to the Air Training Command.  Many agencies are headquartered there and over twenty tenant organizations are also hosted.

Sources:  Handbook of Texas Online, Randolph Air Force Base

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Southern Pacific Railroad Depot in 1900

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