Location: Romulus, NY
Status: Privately Owned
Before I start this entry, I would like to thank Walter Gable, The Seneca County Historian, and Dennis Money for providing me with some of the information in this blog post. This post wouldn't of been as detailed without their help.
Nestled in the finger lakes region between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes sits the small town of Romulus, NY. With a population of only 4,251 people, you’d expect not much going on there (no offense to those who live there) but the town is known for a few things. Some of these attractions include historical museums, nationally renowned wineries, and the site of a former United States Army Depot that once supplied weapons and more for the United States during the Cold War era. Now, these mentioned weapons have be vacated from the premises for many years now, but the buildings and sites that were used back when the depot was in operation still remain. Why was this depot located outside of this small town? What was going on while it was still in operation? These questions and more will be answered as we take a look behind the history of the Seneca Army Depot.
Before the site became property of the U.S. military, this large section once belonged to local farmers and their families who started to settle here shortly after the Revolutionary War. Most of these families stayed at their farms for years as they were able to make a good profit with the goods they were producing. Plus, it was a great area to raise a family. By the 1920’s, 87% of the area was farmland and production at each site started to increase. Farmers grew different types of crops including vineyards, fruit orchards, milk production, hay, and more. Most of these goods were considered “Cash Crops” which meant not only did these farmers sell their product to their local market, but they also shipped them out to other markets that were further away by using the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, the Erie Canal, and eventually railroads as they became more accessible. Unfortunately, this would all end within the next 20 years.
In the 1940’s, the FDR administration was preparing to have the country fully involved in World War II. This plan included having four military bases located throughout the United States with two being located on the Pacific Coast and the other two along the Atlantic. Over 60 locations were considered to be a location on the Atlantic coast, but two were chosen. One of them being this large farming land in Romulus. Some of the reasons why the Army chose this site included there already being an active railroad on both the east and west sides of the land, which they would use for heavy transport. Other reasons included being a remote area that was far from the public but close to supply coastal defenses, the area was cheaper than any other county in the area, and those who lived in the area were “True Patriots” and were unlikely to protest moving off their land. Edith Googe Lisk, who were one of these people, said “I’d rather give my farm to the government now to make America strong than to see another woman give her son’s life to the defense of the country when we didn’t prepare!”.
The families that lived in this location were given the news during a public meeting at the Romulus Central School in June of 1941. Over 100 families were being vacated from their properties as some were only given as little as three days to relocate. Not only did these people have to leave the homes and land they’ve had for generations, but it was also harvesting season and the farmers weren’t able to harvest the crops they planted to profit from once they were sold to the market. The people were outraged, along with others in the nearby communities, but there was nothing they could do since the federal government were forcing everyone off their lands. One of these people was Mrs. Lisk who never actually said the quote I previously mentioned. Instead, the Public Relations Staff of the Federal Government prepared daily press releases to disperse to the media during the construction of the depot that portrayed the people as “True Patriots” and would easily give up their property for the new base. This was revealed many years later by her granddaughter who mentioned Edith was very bitter for the rest of her life due to being forced off her and her husband’s farm.
Edith Googe Lisk and her husband John B. Lisk.
On the day of the move, as former residents packed up all their belongings, appraisers came in to determine the value of the properties that were on the land. Houses, farms, and other buildings were labeled with a parcel number. As you can see, the house in the photo below is marked “81A” on the lower left side. This meant the property was number 81 and the “A” meant this building was a house. Other buildings such as farms and more were given other letters and numbers.
Newspaper excerpts of the relocations
After each property was appraised, the farmers who owned it would get paid the value of the structure. This was great news, but it would take several months for the former owners of the property to get their money. Once everyone was off the property, it was time to plan out the construction of the upcoming base.
Construction on the new Army base started in June of 1941, almost a year before the original start date of May 1942. The reason why the base was getting put together so early was due to possibility of the country getting involved in World War II sooner than anticipated, so the base had to be completed no later than January of the next year. The first munition’s storage igloo began construction on August 21st. By Thanksgiving Day, over 500 concrete igloos were established on the property. Because of how fast the workers had to build these structures, two world records were broken. One of these records was the greatest number of igloos poured in a week (78 within the week of October 22) and the other was the completion of 500 igloos within the shortest amount of time (August 21st-November 13th).
The deadline came closer and closer and the team needed more help with this project. Because of this, more construction workers were hired within the community and the eastern United States. Due to this being towards the end of the great depression, many men were hired with the greatest number of workers reaching 8,800 in October of 1941. While working at the site, many workers and their families experienced poor quality housing as many workers and their families were forced to live in poor makeshift housing. Other families had to sleep in tents and some even slept in empty buses. Those who slept in tents did so at a campground nearby but was eventually shut down by the health department due to the poor conditions. After hearing about the awful housing conditions the people had to go through, the federal government leased the county fairgrounds in the nearby town of Waterloo and provided trailers of workers and their families to live in.
The United States entered WWII in December of 1941 and the depot became more than just defense for potential coastal attacks as it also became the supplies base to wage war in Europe. Because of this, many of the workers were sent off to fight which led to the number of workers at the depot decreasing. Luckily, this was around the time ‘Rosie the Riveter’ inspired many women to work in factories and shipyards while the men were away fighting. Over 600 female workers were hired at the depot as they took care of general clerical work (or office work) as well as operating forklifts and so much more. This group of workers became known as Women Ordinance Workers (or WOWs).
Woman operating a forklift at the depot.
During the later years of the war, 250 Italian Prisoners of War (or POWs) were working at the depot. Luckily, they had company as the families who lived in the area would often visit the depot and spend their Sunday afternoons with the POW workers. Some of these families would even invite some of these men to their homes.
After WWII came to an end, the Seneca Army Depot no longer served its original purpose as it became used as a major supply storage facility. The depot would eventually supply weapons in upcoming wars like the Korean War in the 1950’s and the Vietnam War in the 60’s and 70’s. As the US entered the Cold War during the 1960’s, the depot began to be under high security due to enemy spies and activity that could threaten the facility. To prevent Soviet spies from intruding into the base, small bomb shelters were built among the igloos on the property to protect the workers and the GIs at the depot. The Army also moved their “special weapons” to an area at the northern part of the depot. This was known as “the Q-Area".
“The Q-Area" was a very secured part of the depot, meaning that no one was able to intrude onto the property without getting caught and detained by guards. With 3 large voltage fences surrounding the main building along with guards on surveillance at almost every waking hour, there was very little chance that any enemy would get into the area or even know about it. This was exactly what the Army wanted. They didn’t want soviet spies to know any information about this top-secret area within the depot and to make sure of it, they had other strategies to protect it. One of these methods included having a fake building over where the fuses for the “special weapons” were stored. This made it difficult for soviet spy satellites to get good information on what was going on in that part of the area. Another strategy they had was building an expansion to the opening of the igloos so enemy forces wouldn’t be able to see what was inside when the doors were opened.
The fake building
Now, these “special weapons” I’ve been referencing have caused some controversy between the Army and residents in the surrounding areas of the depot. It was rumored that these munitions were actually nuclear bombs that America had prepared for opposing forces during the war, but this was never confirmed by the military or those who worked in the Seneca Army Depot. Despite this, many who were against these weapons gathered outside the Q-Area in the summer and fall of 1983 to protest.
The 1983 Anti-Nuclear War Demonstrations were mostly led by Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice and Dr. Benjamin Spock. The Women’s Encampment was a women-only peace camp formed to protest the scheduled deployment of Cruise and Pershing II missiles before their suspected shipment from the Seneca Army Depot to Europe in the fall of 1983. The camp, along with others who were taking part, protested peacefully outside the area. Others who were protesting went another route as they tried to get into the main building in the area by climbing the large fences, one of these being Dr. Spock. There were also people who rallied against the anti-war protestors. Hundreds of protestors were arrested because of their civil disobedience and direct action. The protest ended after 2 years of extreme effort.
Protestors at the Anti-Nuclear War Demonstrations protest, 1983.
These “special weapons” were eventually removed from the area towards the end of the Cold War as the Defense Department Operations were being scaled back in the U.S. Because of this, the depot didn’t have a purpose and it was up for debate on wither to continue using the site. The United States Army officially announced in 1995 that the Seneca Army Depot will cease operations. To properly close the base, the defense department had to go through the Base Realignment and Closure process (or BRAC). Instead of that, the group attempted to close the facility as quickly as possible until local opposition led them to follow the BRAC process. It was a great idea that the defense department went along with the process because this gave employees at the depot more time to find another job or retire. The Seneca Army Depot officially closed on July 20, 2000.
Since the closure of the former depot, not much activity has occurred on the property. The land is privately owned as the owner, who is part of the Seneca Iron Works, has been leasing parts of the property to different businesses and groups since he was granted ownership of the property in 2016. The businesses and groups that have leased a space on the 7,000-acre site includes a residential campus to help young people with emotional problems, a maximum-security prison that has been established on portions of the property, the Finger Lakes Technologies Group (who currently leases a portion of the former Q-Area to host secure document storage facilities for businesses and other organizations), and the Seneca White Deer Company.
The Seneca White Deer Company (or SWD) is a unique group of people who all have one mission: to protect the local white deer population that is on the property. Dennis Money, the owner of the organization, started leasing a portion of the property for the SWD 22 years ago in hopes of turning the former Army depot into a world class tourism attraction. One of the activities that would have been part of the attraction was taking visitors on tours of the property in search for the rare white deer that were exploring the land. Another part of the tour was getting an up-close view of the former igloos and other structures that was once part of the depot. Luckily, tours started to become available with limited hours in 2006, 2009, and 2012 until an opportunity to start having year-round tours came in 2017. This is how I was able to view these vacant igloos and the former Army Depot. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get photos of the white deer. Operations ceased in 2019 and the Seneca White Deer Company no longer leases land on the property.
Many of the original structures that were once part of the Seneca Army Depot are still standing along with the 519 igloos that once stored weapons and explosives. These igloos are mostly emptied aside from a few spare empty crates. Efforts to decontaminate the property continue on the northwestern corner of the site.
From starting out as a large farming land where families grew to evolving into one of the most secure Army bases in the country, the Seneca Army Depot holds a lot of history within a part of the small town it resided in. It’s unknown what the future holds for this site, but the memories that happened on the site will remain for years to come.
This has been the story behind the former Seneca Army Depot.
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