A list of organizations at Fort Belvoir reads like a "Who's Who" in the Department of Defense. No other Army installation in the world can compare with out diverse, modern-day mission of providing logistical and administrative support to over 120 diverse tenant and satellite organizations. Fort Belvoir is home to Army major command headquarters, units and agencies of nine different Army major commands, 16 different agencies of the Department of the Army, eight elements of the U.S. Army Reserve and Army National Guard and nine DoD agencies. Also located here are a U.S. Navy construction battalion, a Marine Corps detachment, one U.S. Air Force unit and an agency of the Department of Treasury. Fort Belvoir gained the headquarters for the Defense Logistic Agency, Defense Technical Information Service, Defense Contract Audit Agency, Defense National Stockpile Center and the Defense Fuel Supply Center. All these agencies play important roles in Fort Belvoir's global mission to provide worldwide logistical and administrative support to all the armed services.

Fort Belvoir's history is interwoven with the birth of our nation, as well as the founding of Fairfax County, Va. Like most land in colonial America, the 8,656-acre tract along the Potomac River that is now Fort Belvoir was part of a grant from a 17th-century English king. The land was handed down through the Culpepper family to Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax, who, in 1734 persuaded his cousin, Col. William Fairfax, to come to Virginia and oversee the family's holdings. In 1741, Col. Fairfax built his home on 2,000 acres of what is now much of the South Post peninsula. The mansion sat on a high bluff overlooking the Potomac. Col. Fairfax named the estate Belvoir, which means "beautiful to see." One of Col. Fairfax's sons, George William, was friendly with young George Washington, who, at age 16, came to live with his half-brother at nearby Mount Vernon. George William and his wife, Sally Cary, made Belvoir a center of culture and aristocratic elegance in the Virginia wilderness, and they frequently entertained the wealthy landowners from the nearby plantations. Washington was a frequent guest at Belvoir. Col. Fairfax died in 1757, and he and his second wife, Deborah, are buried on the estate grounds. George William and Sally returned to England in 1773, and Belvoir was rented until 1783, when it was mostly destroyed by cannon fire in the War of 1812. The estate remained in private hands, though largely uninhabited, until 1910, when the District of Columbia purchased 1,500 acres for a proposed prison. Local citizens objected to the plan, and the land was transferred to the War Department in 1912.

In 1915, engineer troops from Washington Barracks, now Fort McNair, established Camp Belvoir as a rifle range and training camp. The name was changed to Camp A.A. Humphreys in 1917 when a major camp was constructed during an unusually bitter winter to train engineer replacements for World War I. The post was renamed Fort Humphreys in 1922 to indicate its permanent status, and became Fort Belvoir in 1935.

The outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939 and Japanese expansion in Asia and the Pacific motivated the United States government to begin preparing for possible involvement in the expanding world conflict. To accommodate the influx of draftees after 1940, an additional 3,000 acres north of U.S. Route I were acquired to make room for the new Engineer Replacement Training Center (ERTC). One of the most innovative troop training strategies developed during World War II was the obstacle course. A Fort Belvoir invention, the course was designed to teach recruits how to handle themselves and their equipment in simulated field conditions. The massive influx of inductees at Fort Belvoir prompted a wave of temporary construction at the post during World War II. Housing was constructed for approximately 24,000 enlisted men and officers.

Following World War II, the engineer training role at Fort Belvoir waxed and waned according to wartime needs. In 1945, both the Engineer Replacement Training Center and the Engineer Officer Candidate School were phased out; however, both programs were reactivated in the1950s during the Korean Conflict, and again in the1960s with the Vietnam build-up. Both conflicts required a reassessment of the installation's training function and methods, and a revamping of its physical plant.

By 1950, many World War II temporary barracks had been adapted for other uses. When new enlistees and draftees arrived on the post, they had to be housed in six-man tents while the barracks buildings were reconverted back to their original function. The types of training offered also reflected shifts in warfare technology and philosophy; a Close Combat Range was installed on the peninsula south of the village of Accotink, and on North Post, a Chemical/Biological/RadiologicaI School was instituted. In general, emphasis at Fort Belvoir in the 1950s began shifting from training to research and development. Throughout the decade, the Engineer Research and Development Laboratories (ERDL) were involved in experimentation with a wide range of technical military applications. The laboratories developed and tested new techniques for electrical power generation; camouflage and deception; methods of handling materials and fuel; bridging; and mine detection. They experimented with portable map copying machines, fungicides for use in tropical environments, and heavy earth-moving equipment. The Castle reported on ERDUs development of prefabricated buildings for use in Arctic environments, and the subsequent testing of these structures in Greenland and Canada. During the 1960s, the primary focus of research at Fort Belvoir shifted to the development of Army vehicles.

Perhaps no structure on the post illustrates more graphically Fort Belvoir's research and development phase than the SM-1 (Stationary, Medium Power, First Prototype) Nuclear Plant. This facility was developed to generate electricity for commercial use, and to cut back the Department of Defense's dependency on fossil fuels. The SM-1 Plant, which represented the first national nuclear training facility for military personnel, became operational in 1957 and remained in operation until its decommissioning in 1973.

Fort Belvoir's mission expanded between 1950 and 1980. The post began playing host to a variety of organizations, including the DeWitt Hospital, the Defense Systems Management College (DSMC), and the Defense Mapping School (DMS). The DeWitt Hospital, constructed in 1957, provides regional healthcare services. DSMC, founded in 1971, is a graduate level institution that offers advanced courses of study in weapon systems acquisition management for both military personnel and civilians. DMS, a component of the Defense Mapping Agency, was established in 1972 to provide instruction in tactical mapping, land geodetic surveys, and cartographic drafting.

In 1988, the post was transferred from the Training and Doctrine Command to the Military District of Washington. Fort Belvoir remained the home of the Engineer School until 1988. Due to a shortage of land for training at Belvoir, the Engineer School relocated to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, thus ending the 76-year association between the Engineer School and Belvoir.

Although its role as an engineer training center diminished after the move, Fort Belvoir continued to fulfill an important and valuable role today. The 8,600-acre post is one of the larger installations in the Military District of Washington, which also includes Fort McNair, Fort Myer, Fort Meade, and Fort Richie. The post's present mission is to provide essential administrative and basic operations support to its tenant organizations.

Few other Army installations in the world can compare with the singular mission of providing both logistical and administrative support to 90 diverse tenant and satellite organizations that call this post "home." Fort Belvoir is now home to two Army major command headquarters, as well as 10 different Army major commands, 19 different agencies of the Department of Army, eitht elements of the U.S. Army Reserve and the Army National Guard, and 26 DoD agencies. Also located here are a U.S. Navy construction battalion, a Marine Corps detachment, a U.S. Air Force activity, and an agency from the Department of the Treasury.

Fort Belvoir houses tenants from all armed forces. To carry out this mission effectively, Fort Belvoir has evolved from a traditional military installation to a more broadly based community. Today, Fort Belvoir functions in many ways like a small city, with its own ordinances, land use plan, building codes, utilities, public parks, and academic institutions.

The post continues to grow as Army and other DoD activities relocate to Belvoir because of base realignment and closure actions, and others leave leased facilities in the region. A number of improvements are under consideration to accommodate the expected growth at Fort Belvoir. These include the construction of additional recreational, community support and base operations facilities. Several on-post road improvements are also underway. In the face of this development, Fort Belvoir approved a landmark plan to protect wildlife habitat on the post, adding 600 acres to the post's already 1,450 acres of forest, wetlands and shoreline that have been set aside for wildlife refuge. More than one-third of the installation's acreage has been preserved as a designated wildlife sanctuary. The Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge was established in 1980 and includes over 1,300 acres of marsh and hardwood forest in the southwestern corner of the post, in an area formerly used for target ranges.