NGA St. Louis: A Look Back Before Moving Forward

The Army Air Force, or AAF, realized a worldwide aeronautical charting program was necessary and established the Map-Chart Division at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C. and later Gravelly Point, Virginia - an area near the current Washington Reagan National Airport. AAF also formed six regional distribution centers, including one in downtown St. Louis, at the corner of North Broadway and Pine Avenue.

After the United States entered World War II, the requirement for aeronautical charts swelled, and a study proposed that an aeronautical chart plant, or ACP, be established. The study advised that the plant should be located away from either coast and have a transportation network that could expeditiously support domestic and overseas elements.

The AAF considered sites near Chicago, Cleveland, Dayton and St. Louis. It settled on a site in Weldon Spring, Missouri about 35 miles west of St. Louis. The federal government could not acquire that property, though, so it turned to sites in the city. In concert with the Army Corps of Engineers, AAF hired an architect firm to design and build a plant at Union Boulevard and Enright Avenue in north St. Louis. However, construction at the new site was soon stopped to conserve construction material for the war effort.

AAF decided to lease a site instead and chose the Midwest Terminal Building on Tucker Boulevard, now known as the Globe Building - a fireproof building with suitable flooring. AAF leased 300,000 square feet for $0.44 per sq. ft.

AAF activated the ACP in St. Louis In January 1943. The authorized strength of the new plant was 44 military members and 1,010 civilians; 503 civilians would be transferred from Virginia and 507 would be hired from the St Louis area. Soon thereafter, a detachment of 61 members of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps were assigned to the ACP. The plant opened on May 1, and in its first seven months, the ACP produced over 14 million charts to support the war effort.

During WWII, the Map-Chart Division and ACP underwent several reorganizations and later were combined into a new Army Chart Service. After WWII, the ACP was significantly downsized and much of its mission was transferred to commercial firms. However, after the U.S. Air Force was established in 1947, the ACP workforce began to grow. By 1950 and the start of the Korean War, the ACP workforce in St. Louis totaled 1,659 members.

As the Cold War continued, the demand for aeronautical charts and related information escalated. In 1951, the USAF established the Aeronautical Chart and Information Center, or ACIC, which consolidated administrative, production and distribution activities related to aeronautical charts. The St. Louis facility was one of three operating hubs. Jurisdiction of the St. Louis Arsenal transferred from the Army to the USAF in January 1952, and the ACP moved to the Arsenal site on June 21. Later in 1952, the ACP was redesignated the Production and Distribution Center and consolidated under the ACIC.

The ACIC was assigned a secondary installation for the storage and distribution of aeronautical charts and related publications in 1955. On July 13, 1956, the ACIC took over jurisdiction of 39 acres of land designated the South Annex, St. Louis Area Support Center, located at 8900 South Broadway. This installation was destroyed in the flood of 1993 and replace by the current facility in Arnold, Missouri in 1998.

Since the ACP consolidation in 1952, the ACIC has supported every major national security event of the next 20 years - including the Vietnam War and the Apollo 11 moon landing - from its headquarters in St. Louis. The mission continued to expand with subsequent restructuring, including the establishment of the Defense Mapping Agency in 1972 and later the National Imagery and Mapping Agency in 1996.

Those early years set a course that ultimately delivered us to this point in our story. As we prepare to reorganize and relocate, we bring with us a proud history and the legacy of those who came here before. The next chapters of NGA's history in St Louis will be written from a new location.