Arlington Hall
The Grounds at NFATC
Through the Years
Arlington Hall (the E Building), later coined Old Main and eventually Building E, was constructed in 1927 for the Arlington Hall Junior College for Girls. This construction was quickly followed by the east annex and the school’s gymnasium (the D Building).
South façade of the Main Building, Arlington Hall Junior College, in the 1930s
South façade of the Main Building, Arlington Hall Junior College, in the 1930s
When the U.S. Army’s Signal Intelligence Service took over the site, Arlington Hall housed an intelligence decoding and training center. The columned building was redubbed the Signal Intelligence Service Headquarters.
Signal Intelligence Service Headquarters in the 1940s
Signal Intelligence Service Headquarters in the 1940s
In 1989, with the Cold War nearly over, the Department of Defense decreed that Arlington Hall Station was no longer needed for intelligence gathering, decoding, and training. At an October ceremony that year, the Army lowered its guidon to the sound of a bugle, thus ending its 47 years of occupancy of the one-time junior college for girls. Congress transferred control of a large part of the property to the Department of State.