A section of the Philadelphia Signal Depot, August 1942.

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. —In January 1973, the Secretary of the Army, Robert F. Froehlke, and Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Chief of Staff, announced a series of major actions designed to modernize, reorient and streamline the Army’s organization within the Continental United States. The plan was designed to improve readiness, training, the materiel and equipment acquisition process, the quality and responsiveness of management, and better support for the Soldier. It was planned to be implemented within 12 months.

Highlights of the plan included:

-Elimination of the Continental Army Command (CONARC), the Combat Development Command (CDC), and the Third United States Army.

-Creation of the Forces Command (FORSCOM), a single field headquarters to supervise the unit training and combat readiness of Army units, to include the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard.

-Creation of the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), a single field headquarters to direct all Army individual training, education and the development of organization, material requirement and doctrine.

-Consolidation of the major headquarter elements of the Electronics Command

-Consolidation and realignment of the Army Depot system.

Army Materiel Command had, at this point, been in existence for just over 10 years. There were no major changes to its structure or organizations, but some efforts were directed at consolidation, including at the Electronics Command (ECOM – a predecessor to U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command), which consisted of the ECOM Headquarters elements that were then located in Philadelphia, to the rest of the headquarters elements that were mostly at Fort Monmouth, N. J.

There were approximately 2500 ECOM employees located at the Philadelphia office. The Signal Corps had had a significant presence in Philadelphia, since World War II, when the Philadelphia Signal Depot was opened in the former Atwater-Kent Building. It provided 1.5 million square-feet of floor space, acreage for outside storage, easy access, rail sidings and a power plant. The size of the depot provided for the growth of signal activities in the area.

Philadelphia was the key depot for pigeon equipment. Depots could also handle specific repair, assembly, and procurement duties or specialties. The Philadelphia Depot was responsible for at least 100,000 stock items and employed as many as 1,100 people. Commodities handled included ground radio and radar equipment, as well as associated items. The Philadelphia Signal Depot also included a Supply Training School that trained 851 officers in field supply. The depot continued operation until the late 1940s.

The positions and people that were relocated from Philadelphia were destined for the new ECOM office building, which was built as leased space about three miles west of the main installation at Fort Monmouth to serve as a consolidated headquarters for ECOM, under the management of the General Services Administration.

Dubbed “Green Acres,” the 535,000 square foot, six-story structure also was meant to house 3,500 personnel, including offices and agencies previously occupying 102 World War II “temporary” structures on post and at some satellite areas.

The "Green Acres" building near Fort Monmouth, N.J., home to the headquarters of the U.S. Army Electronics Command, or ECOM, from 1973 to 1993.

Built as its own community, since it was not located directly on post, Green Acres featured 13 conference rooms, a self-service supply store, centralized mail room and reproduction facility, dispensary and credit union facilities. An auditorium seated 164, while a cafeteria and a wide variety of retail stores, located on the ground floor, were opened to the public. Occupation of the building began later in 1973 and continued until the Base Realignment and Closure of 1993 forced the closure of the building, with all personnel relocating to Fort Monmouth.

With the creation of TRADOC and elimination of CDC, the Signal Center and School, still located at Fort Monmouth, was also destined for future changes. These began with the transfer of a significant element of the CDC Communications-Electronics Agency’s (CDCCEA) mission and functions away from Fort Monmouth to the U.S. Army Southeastern Signal School at Fort Gordon, Ga. The entirety of the functions would eventually leave Fort Monmouth in the mid-1970s, ending a 50-plus year link with the Signal School.

These changes which began 50 years ago continue to have a lasting impact to the missions and functions of a consolidated CECOM today.