Army Historic Trail - The Arsenal's Old Headquarters

A stop on Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Loop, a free self-guided tour.

This short trail leads through the spot where the Arsenal was run for 66 years. A building known as Building 111, or the White House, served as Army headquarters from 1942 until it was torn down in 2008; the flagpole still stands. Markers here honor the employees who made weapons, took them apart and then cleaned up the land from 1942 to 2012.

After the Cold War weapons work ended, the Arsenal's job became taking chemical weapons apart and disposing of them. When the cleanup began, this headquarters became home to a partnership of the Army, Shell and the Fish and Wildlife Service, and in 2007 the first bison were released just west of here.

The result is remarkable, but not finished. Contamination is contained rather than gone, so landfills, covers and treatment plants must be maintained indefinitely, and federal regulators review the site every five years. A recent review flagged a pesticide above detection limits in some monitoring wells. Read the markers, then head back to the Visitor Center to close the loop.

Getting here: Continue south on the Wildlife Drive past mile marker 10 to the parking area for the Army Historic Trail near the Operations Center.

Did you know?: In the 1960s, waste injected deep underground through a disposal well here was linked to a series of earthquakes around Denver, and the Army stopped using the well in 1966.

Photo op: Frame the old flagpole against the open sky, with the history markers in the foreground.

More on Wikipedia: Rocky Mountain Arsenal · Superfund · Shell USA

Army Historic Trail - The Arsenal's Old Headquarters

Stops on this tour