The Exchange at 125: From a Little Frontier Room Sprang One of America’s Largest Retailers
July 2, 2020 |
The post exchange at Vancouver Barracks, circa 1930.
Col. Henry Morrow at Vancouver Barracks in Washington opened the first canteen on Nov. 29, 1880, to keep his troops from going into town for personal necessities but winding up in unsavory places. The one-room canteen provided newspapers, magazines, paper, pens, billiards, games, food and drinks.
After canteens grew in popularity on posts throughout the West, the War Department on July 25, 1895, issued General Orders No. 46, directing all Army commanders to establish “post exchanges”—the new name for canteens—on their installations.
Those simple post exchanges grew into today’s Army & Air Force Exchange Service, the Department of Defense’s largest retailer.
