Introduction
Columbus Quartermaster Reserve Depot (1918)
Columbus Army Service Forces Depot (ca 1940)
Columbus General Depot (ca 1950)
Defense Construction Supply Center (1963)
Defense Supply Center Columbus (1993)
The Army Depot was not its official name, but locals found it a handy nickname for the Department of Defense supply center in Whitehall just east of Columbus, Ohio. The Center was born in 1918 when the then Department of War was ramping up for the American involvement in The Great War. This section of Columbus Railroads will look at the railroad history of the facility.
The Depot has had several names over the 100 years of its existence. Some of the names are found at the top of the page. To the locals it was known as the “Depot” or “Army Depot”.
In 1918 railroads were the only practical way to move large quantities of military supplies from supply depots like the one in Whitehall to the ocean ports for shipment overseas. The Columbus Quartermaster Reserve Depot (CQRD) as it was known in 1918 was ideally situated on three railroads, the Baltimore & Ohio, Pennsylvania and Toledo & Ohio Central (later New York Central) railroads. The Depot was built with a rail yard and a network of tracks serving the warehouses where the supplies were stored until shipment to a war zone or to military bases around the country.
The rail yard and network of tracks were removed in 1992 when the mission of the center was changed and large volumes of military supplies were no longer stored in Columbus.
Look to the top left for links to photos of railroad operations at the depot or
Click here to transfer to the Aerial View. Additional Resources
Jeff Darbee of the WOSU-TV's
Columbus Neighborhoods series visited the Defense Supply Center Columbus in 2017. Ride along with Jeff as he visits the --
Army Depot. James M. Cavanaugh has written of his exeriences as a brakeman on the New York Central East Columbus Local in the 1960s. While the local no longer switched cars at the Depot in 1960 it still crossed the property through the Depot's golf course --
1960s - The East Columbus Local