Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot

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Pre-1909 picture of Depot.

A picture of the front of the Quadrangle, September 2006.

New Jeffersonville City Hall within the Quadrangle.

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Jeffersonville Quartermaster Intermediate Depot (JQMD) was a military warehouse located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Originally covering four city blocks (the Quadrangle), it expanded to ten city blocks by the end of World War II.

A shirt factory was established in one of the buildings of the Hospital during the Civil War to make shirts and trousers for Army use, which would later be moved to the Quartermaster General of the Army. At this time, garments were cut out by hand, issued in bundles of four or eight to the widows, mothers and sisters of Union soldiers and made up in their homes, being returned in a few days to the hospital for inspection. This was the real beginning of the Jeffersonville Quartermaster Intermediate Depot.

At the end of the Civil War, it was the only depot in the Ohio Valley to not be disbanded.^[1]

On March 14, 1867, War Department General Order No.17, allotted $150,000.00 for the erection of new fireproof Government storehouses, at or near the City of Jeffersonville. This construction was necessary for the consolidation of the scattered buildings to mold the whole into a permanent Depot. The City of Jeffersonville donated 17.4 acres of land for this purpose. This ground, which was known as Vernon Place, covered four city blocks. After the acceptance of this land by the Government, proposals were advertised and contracts let in 1871 for the erection of permanent buildings, the specifications for which were drawn up under the personal direction of Major General J. C. Meigs, the Quartermaster General of the Army.

In 1871 the U.S. Army decided to build an edifice that would contain all the individual units that had spread all around Jeffersonville. Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs designed the structure, which opened in 1874. Frederick Law Olmsted also helped design the facility, and much of his vision still exists with its brick structures and arched glass portals, but more of Meigs' vision won out. A 100-foot tower was initially built as both watchtower and watertower, but was razed in 1900 to make the power plant into a two-story headquarters building.

The original structure was in the form of a quadrangle, consisting of a one-story brick building 50 feet wide and approximately 800 feet long on each side, with four main entrances. In the center of the quadrangle, a power house with a water tower, approximately 100 feet high was erected with the additional purpose of guard and fire observation. The original storage facilities consisted of 1 50,000 square feet. The building was of brick and stone construction and was completed in 1874. Colonel James E. Ekin was the first Depot Quartermaster.

The functions given the Depot at this time were the procurement, inspection, storage and issue of vehicles, harness, heating stoves, army ranges and necessary parts therefore, and miscellaneous hardware and stationery. In addition to the regular Depot functions, a force of Quartermaster agents worked under the supervision of the Jeffersonville Depot for a number of years after the close of the Civil War, to adjust various claims against the Government on account of War activities.

During 1900, the storage space was increased 90,000 square feet, by the addition of three one-story frame buildings in the northwest and northeast corners of the quadrangle. In 1903, the old power plant and tower, in the center of the quadrangle, was rebuilt into a two story brick building, to provide an ample, well-ventilated and lighted general office. This building was built of the brick from the old tower. From this period until the World War, there was no material increase in the operations or functions of the Depot, other than those due to increase in the Army, in 1901.

During the Spanish American War period, various types of rolling kitchens were tested at the Quartermaster shops and given practical tests on the Mexican Border, and the improved kitchens, provided as the result of these tests, came later into extensive use. During World War I a reorganization of the Depot was extended to include a construction division and among the more important branches added were intelligence, medical, reclamation and overseas branches. The purchasing division was reorganized into three main branches: General supplies, vehicles and harness. Reclamation activities included a base shoe repair shop, employing 194 people which, on August 3l, 1918, had an output of 800 pairs of shoes per day, and increased in February, 1919, to a daily average of 21,192 pairs; also a Paulin Treatment and Repair Plant, with 65 employees was added. In this plant, between May 1 and December 15, 1918, 11,395 paulins were treated, repaired and made ready for issue. In the Clothing and Manufacturing Branch, the home operatives were increased from approximately 2,000 to 20,000 and the output of garments brought up from 600,000 to 8,500,000 per year. At the time of the Armistice, the monthly output of shirts reached its zenith, being between 600,000 and 700,000 a year and the Jeffersonville Depot became known as the world's largest shirt factory.

Uniforms were manufactured at the Depot, the output being 750 service coats and 1,000 pairs of breeches per day. This plant was closed on November 14, 1918, reopened February 17, 1919, and permanently closed January 9, 1922, when this activity was transferred to the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot.

Additional construction included 70 semi-permanent buildings, 211 temporary buildings, 5.8 miles of railroad switches and a pumping station and electric plant.

During the Spanish-American War, 100,000 uniform shirts a month were produced, and in World War I 700,000 of the shirts were made. This gave the depot the nickname "America's largest shirt factory". In World War II the depot produced $2.2 billion in goods for the war effort. It stayed in operation for the Korean Conflict, but by 1957 it was decided to close the facility, which happened in 1958.

The U.S. Census Bureau, Kitchen Kompact, and Kessler Distilling acquired much of the facilities, with the original Quadrangle becoming a low-rent shopping center. A fire in January 1993 destroyed the southeast quadrant, and it was feared the facility would be eliminated. The city of Jeffersonville bought the facility to ensure it's long-term existence.

In 2001, $300,000 was secured to renovate the Quadrangle. A gut-renovation project ensued between 2005 and 2006, and today it is home to numerous offices, storefronts, and the city hall for Jeffersonville.