- City:
- Arlington, VA
- Site Type:
- Military and Public Safety
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
Originally known as the Arlington Cantonment and then as South Post, this area was a part of Fort Myer. In 1940, WPA labor was used to: “Construct, improve and rehabilitate buildings, including installing plumbing, heating and electrical facilities, public utility systems, water supply and purification, water and sewer lines, roads and walks at Arlington Cantonment, grade and drain grounds, perform incidental and appurtenant work.”
South Post has since been demolished and the grounds have become a part of Arlington National Cemetery, located directly adjacent to the rest of Fort Myer.
Source notes
National Archives, Record Group 69, “Microfilmed Index to WPA Projects.”
https://www.fortmyervamemories.com/arlingtoncantonment.html
Site originally submitted by Brent McKee - wpatoday.org on June 22, 2013.
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Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site7 comments on “Fort Myer, South Post (former) – Arlington VA”
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Samuel Jones Jr.
Gabriel Milner
Michael Medlock
Robert M. van Deusen
kenneth morphew
louis m brunyansky
I was stationed at South Post Fort Myer 1956, 1957, 1958.
The unit I was assigned to was; USASEA United States Army Signal Engineering Agency.
Where can I get information on this unit.
You will have to contact the Army directly for this information.
I was married in the chapel across from the WAC barracks February 1964. I worked on the switchboard on the south area then was transferred to the telegraph office at the North area.. Visited the area in 2015, no south area.
Single soldiers working in the Pentagon were housed in barracks on South Post. Headquarters Company, United States Army, and Headquarters Company, United States Army, (WAC), were the largest units I believe. Soldiers could walk to the Pentagon via a tunnel under VA Route 27. The tunnel is still there but is blocked off. Bachelor Officer Quarters were available too. South Post was more or less self-contained. It had its own mess halls, officer and enlisted clubs, movie theater, bowling alley, chapel, PX, and other places. The old wooden buildings were considered fire traps, but I don’t remember there ever being a fire. I was assigned to the garrison headquarters on North Post in 1966 and 1967. Yes, I remember the switchboards. It was traumatic when the telephone system was upgraded. People had to remember four- rather than three-digit numbers.
I was stationed at Fort Myer South Post when I attended Chinese language school in a building at the end of the Key Bridge in Arlington during 1967–68. The language school at Monterey, California, was full and the DOD opened up language training in Arlington, VA. My teacher was Mrs. Fu, the wife of a man assigned to the Embassy from Taiwan. The course was 47 weeks long and the transportation to the school from South Post was on foot past the Netherlands Carillon and the Iwo Jima memorial.
i was housed at nebraska hall ft myer 1964 half the barracks were wacs and waves working in pentagon other half 2044th communication sq chow hall open for 4 meals a day,no dutys,great time,walk to work or take bus.
I was stationed at south post in 66 and 67 while attending the DLIEC, Defense Language Institute East Coast. After I finished school, there was a delay of over a month before my next school and I worked in the Pentagon doing paper work(filing) until I went north to Ft Devens.
My time there was wonderful. Everything was within walking distance. from museums to monuments and I went to school in civilian clothes in Arlington. If I missed the bus, I walked through the cemetery.