to house laboratories used in support of REDSTONE missile development. As the  program progressed, these structures became inadequate and, in 1953, some new construction was started. This involved  three buildings—405, 405A, and 405B—which were used as missile assembly and component hangars to meet a modest  fabrication schedule of one missile per month. Other laboratories were still housed in old warehouses. The next increment in the construction program came about in 1954, as a result of a growing national interest in missile research and development. This  building effort included a test stand with ancillary buildings to permit testing of a complete missile under full thrust, a guidance and control (G&C)  laboratory, and an engineering building (488, which was later renumbered 4488 and became the headquarters building of ABMA). When ABMA was  activated, it inherited the new construction plus the old chemical warehouses 23 . The crash nature of the JUPITER program (so named in April 1956) demanded additional structures, and 11 construction projects were considered  absolutely necessary by ABMA. These, in part, included an addition to the structural fabrication building, a structures and mechanics laboratory, an extension to the G&C lab, a guided missile test shop, a missile assembly-inspection hangar, and modifications to some of the 1954 construction. A total  of $25 million was requested to satisfy these purposes. As it turned out, authority for $23,968,379 was received; and, on a balance sheet of 5 January  1962, the Mobile District of the Corps of __________________________

23. J. G. Zierdt, Chf, ABMA Cont Off, 28 Apr 56, subj: FY 57 MCA Const in the JUP Prog, in ABMA Ref Book, subj: Facil, MCA, Hist Off files.