Welcome to Discover Fort Monroe.

Today, we're inside one of the former buildings of the TRADOC headquarters, the U.S.

Army Training and Doctrine Command.

This might be one of our most exciting building history videos yet, as we discover the vast amount of purposes this building has served.

Before we get ahead of ourselves and all the excitement, which I know just off this shot, it's hard not to.

Let's start at the beginning.

Back in the early 1900s, the Coastal Artillery Corps.

demands at Fort Monroe were increasing.

And this building was built in 1909 to be the coastal artillery School's Officers Division and the Coastal Artillery School complex, made up of three buildings sharing a similar design.

This building, Murray Hall, was named after the first chief of the Coastal Artillery, General Arthur Murray, who, legend has it, played a large role in the design of this building.

The Coastal Artillery School trained soldiers for the Coast Artillery Corps, and they were responsible for coastal, harbor and anti-aircraft defenses.

Down here in the basement.

They would use these rooms as labs, press rooms, and editorial offices for the Coastal Artillery Journal.

Now what really might blow your mind is if we go up, we end up in this massive room, which would later hold many military secrets.

However, during the time of the Coastal Artillery School, this was a ballroom on the second floor of the building that would host tea dances on Wednesdays and Friday nights, and on Saturday nights.

It was the ultimate dance destination.

The people stationed here at Fort Monroe were never short on dance partners, as visitors would come from the Chamberlin and even by ferry from Norfolk.

This gallery and overlook behind me would house the military bands as they would play music and guide an epic night of dancing.

This room would stay as a hub for people to come together.

But after the Coast Artillery School was moved to Fort Winfield Scott in 1946, it took a much more serious tone.

In the early 1950s, the U.S.

Army HQ and ground forces moved in, and this room was named the Morelli Auditorium after General Donald Morelli, who was the first Deputy Chief of the doctrine and pioneered land air battle communications.

This room would continue to be a hub of top secret and non secret communications and war planning.

No better example of that exists than the fact that the winning doctrine for the first Gulf War was planned right here in this room.

Murray Hall, Morelli Auditorium and the other campus buildings were reorganized and renovated when the Army moved in.

And in 1955, CONARC was founded.

But when they realized it was too much for one headquarters, the organization was split and TRADOC was formed.

The U.S.

Army Training and Doctrine Command was established here at Fort Monroe in 1973 with the purposes of land, air war planning, organizational adaptability, communication, and the training of future soldiers.

The beautiful features inside the auditorium aren't the only original elements to this building.

On the outside, above the entrances, we see coastal artillery, Defendamous and intricate ironwork balconies that once carried doors and windows.

And on the inside we see these original stairs, the skylight above the stairs providing me with this beautiful natural light and some incredible ironwork columns.

Since the army left, the Fort Monroe Authority has worked to preserve this building and keep away vandalism like we saw on the post exchange.

Thank you for watching this week's episode of Discover Fort Monroe.

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