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Established in 1940 by the Department of the Army, the 21,427 acre site was one of sixty plants at the onset of Word War II for the purpose of loading, assembling, and packing a variety of conventional ammunition, including medium and major-caliber projectiles, bombs, fuzes, boosters, primers, and percussion elements. It was owned by the government but a subsidiary of the Firestone Rubber Co. was the operating contractor. It was originally constructed as two installations - the Ravenna Ordinance Plant, for production, and the Portage Ordinance Depot, for storage - which were combined under one administration in 1943 and the name was changed to the Ravenna Arsenal. The small town in Ohio was chosen because of it's remote, non-coastal location, large tracts of land, suitable industrial work force, ample water supply, and excellent rail connections.