San Bernardino County history: Fort Irwin – Welcome to San Bernardino County

Fort Irwin has supported America’s military efforts for over half a century. On August 8, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set aside approximately 1,000 square miles in the Mojave Desert as an anti-aircraft training range.

This range served as a training ground for the anti-aircraft batteries stationed at Camp Haan on March Field in Riverside. It also acted as the first line of defense against potential attacks on Kaiser Steel in Fontana during WWII. The base, located 35 miles from Barstow, had been considered for military use as early as 1861.

Temperatures reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit made it an ideal location for training troops to prepare for the terrain that would be experienced in North Africa during WWII. Soldiers were housed six men to a tent, and the only permanent structures at the time were the Post Exchange, a fire station, dining facilities and the latrines.

By December 1942, with over 60,000 troops stationed for active desert training, it was redesignated as Camp Irwin by a War Department general order. It was named in honor of Major General George LeRoy Irwin, a WWI field commander who led his 57^th Field Artillery Brigade during the Marne-Argonne offensives against the Germans.

General Irwin came from a military family. His father, also a general, was one of the first recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor for distinguished gallantry. General Irwin was decorated with the Legion of Honor, the Croix de Guerre of France, and the Distinguished Service Medal of the United States.

In 1946, Camp Irwin was deactivated, turned over to the War Administration, and renamed a sub-installation of Fort MacArthur in Los Angeles. It was later redesignated as the U.S. Army Armor and Desert Training Center in the 1950s, and in 1961 the post was renamed Fort Irwin and classified as a permanent installation.

Today, the National Training Center and Fort Irwin continue to serve as the Army’s premier training center. After the 9/11 attacks, the National Training Center shifted its focus to continuous counter-insurgency operations with desert environments.

Notably, the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, which is operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is located on the grounds of Fort Irwin. For more information about Fort Irwin, please visit home.army.mil/irwin .

The information in this historical feature was originally part of a video series produced by the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk’s office.

Additional County Update News – July 24 , 2025