BALTIMORE (Map, News) - What began as a fruit farm in a village called Admiral is now Fort George G. Meade, a burgeoning military base that furnishes the country with critical intelligence. The Army base, home to the National Security Agency, is celebrating its 90th year protecting the nation, prompting historians and officials to review its rich history.

“It’s important to pause from time to time, in all the bustle of day-to-day business, to reflect on the past,” Installation Commander Col. Kenneth McCreedy said. “It may be even more important today, with all the changes coming from BRAC, to recognize and celebrate all the people who make up the story of Fort Meade over the past 90 years.”

The federal government’s Base Realignment and Closure measure will bring thousands of jobs to the base over the next five years, including more intelligence, security and media positions.

Today’s sophisticated post was founded in 1917 during World War I as Camp Meade, named for Pennsylvania Civil War general George G. Meade, who led the Union forces to triumph over Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Those stationed there “built a post from the ground up, trained millions of men and women for two world wars, helped defend the capital through 40 years of Cold War and established a national intelligence treasure,” McCreedy said.

In its first year, Camp Meade was home to the first women to wear Army uniforms. The “Hello Girls” were trained to operate telephone lines overseas.

“More than 10,000 women applied for 450 positions, because the suffrage movement was going on,” said Barbara Taylor, exhibit coordinator for the base’s museum. “Almost every single one of them was sent overseas, and a lot of them were on the front lines, with shells coming down around their ears.”

The camp was also home to a “remount depot” in those early days, where thousands of horses were trained for cavalry forces. About 12,000 horses were trained there in 1917 for use on the front lines, Taylor said. Many of them died in combat, when their feet or eyes were burned with mustard gas.

A Tank School and Tank Corps was formed in 1919, and soon after, a soldier who would become president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was stationed there.

And while Eisenhower was at Meade, a dog named Tank Corps Joe kept the soldiers company, riding with them in training tanks and sleeping in the barracks. The dog was honored with a military funeral when he died, with hundreds of soldiers lining up in the rain to pay their respects.

Camp Meade had its first identity crisis in 1928. It could no longer remain a “camp” because it was putting down permanent roots that extended beyond its duties in World War I. It had to become a “fort,” but there was already a Fort Meade in South Dakota.

Instead, Camp Meade was renamed Fort Leonard Wood in honor of Spanish-American War Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood.

But Pennsylvanians were outraged that their general was no longer honored at the nearby military base. Congress suspended Army funding in protest, and in 1929 the post settled on the name Fort George G. Meade.

The other Fort Meade still exists today as a training ground for the South Dakota National Guard.

During World War II, the base quickly changed gears, housing a prisoner of war camp and the central prisoner of war information center. It also was used as a basic-training camp, although supplies were strained during the war, Taylor said.

After the war, the fort took one of the largest turns in its history when it became home to the National Security Agency in 1952. The agency went on to dig up critical information during the Cold War.

Eventually, Meade made intelligence its primary job, and in 1992, the training and gunnery grounds were closed.

The post is celebrating its anniversary and colorful history with events throughout the year, including a summer concert series and even a Tank Corps Joe pet show.

For a list of events, visit www.ftmeade.army.mil/90th-anniversary.html.

Fast facts on Fort Meade

» Covers 5,067 acres.

» Home to 10,500 military personnel and five Anne Arundel County public schools (four elementary, two middle and one senior high).

» Fort Meade and the National Security Administration combined equal the largest employer in Maryland.

» Contributes almost $4 billion to the state economy.

» Fourth-largest work force of Army installations in the continental United States.

» Has 42,000 civilian and military employees, a population of 109,000 and thousands of daily visitors.

» Named for George Gordon Meade, born Dec. 31, 1815, in Spain to a Philadelphia businessman temporarily living there with his family. Meade later attended boarding school in Philly and Baltimore before graduating from West Point in 1835. He fought in the Seminole Wars in Florida and the Mexican War before leading the Union troops to victory in Gettysburg during the Civil War.

Source: Fort Meade

Fort Meade through the years

» 1917-1919: Construction of Camp Meade begins the year the United States enters World War I. More than 10,000 soldiers train there for the war.

» 1928: Camp Meade changes its name to Fort Leonard Wood until 1929, when it becomes Fort Meade.

» 1940s: The U.S. enters World War II. A training center for both a tank-destroyer force and a special-services unit opens, as well as a prisoner of war camp and information bureau. More than 3 million soldiers pass through Meade between 1942 and 1946.

» 1952: National Security Agency is created.

» 1960: Tipton Army Airfield is completed.

» 1992: Training and gunnery ranges close and are turned over to the Department of the Interior and the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge.

» 1997: Defense Information School is completed.

» 1999: Tipton Airfield is turned over to civilian control.

lgreenback@baltimoreexaminer.com