The purpose of this essay is to present the historic ties between Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and the
Chemical Warfare Service, better known today as the U.S. Army Chemical Corps. In April 1915 before the United
States entered WWI, the Germans had started large scale chemical weapons manufacturing and employment,
in an effort to win the war swiftly, but their attempt failed. The U.S. joined the war effort in 1917. The U.S.
Soldiers had no training on chemical warfare or equipment. This indeed was a great disadvantage for the troops,
marching into a chemical battle field, emptied handed and un-prepared . During 1917 the Bureau of Mines
created the War Gas Investigations at American University in Washington, D.C. A year later the U.S. War
Department created the Chemical Warfare Service also including the Research Division at American University.
Edgewood, was actively researching the potential uses of chemical agents as weapons and technologies to protect
U.S. war-fighters from such weapons since. Within that same period Shell Filling Plant No. 1 became operational
and 75mm chemical filled shells were stocked pilled and readied for shipping. This was the first of a series of
infrastructures to follow in order to support military operations. The facility was named Edgewood Arsenal. On
June 28, 1918 all chemical warfare functions were consolidated under the Chemical Warfare Services. The
Chemical Warfare Service provided the U.S. armed forces with the best protective equipment and was in the
process of producing chemical weapons when WWI ended. Immediately after the war Edgewood Arsenal became
the primary focus of all peace time field activities for the Chemical Warfare Service. The new National Defense Act
of 1920 declare the Chemical Warfare Service a permanent organization of the Army. Now, both retaliatory and
defensive works continued as a peace time activity at Edgewood. Throughout the years after WWI many of...