Originally named Camp Marfa, this installation began as a supply post for U.S. Army border patrol stations in 1911. It served as a cavalry camp during the years of the Mexican Revolution. Renamed for Civil War general David Allen Russell, it became a permanent Army post in 1929. Deactivated at the end of 1933, it reopened in 1935 with artillery units. During World War II it became an army training camp and was home to a chemical warfare battalion as well as German prisoners of war. The fort was officially closed in October 1946.