#FlashbackFriday: 35 Years Ago, the Exchange’s Largest Distribution Center Celebrated Its Grand Opening

On June 24, 1988—35 years ago this weekend—the Dan Daniel Distribution Center held its grand opening in Newport News, Virginia. The 1.4 million square-foot facility was the first DC in a $183 million modernization of the Exchange’s distribution system.

More than three years earlier, the Exchange bought 94 acres for the center from the City of Newport News—for $10. According to the Newport News Daily Press, although the Regional Development and Housing Authority offered the land for that low cost, it would receive $200,000 from the Exchange to pay for sewer improvements, and $600,000 to improve the rail service through the site.

The center was named for W.C. “Dan” Daniel, a U.S. congressman from Virginia who was instrumental in securing the deal. A Navy Veteran of World War II, Daniel served as national commander of the American Legion from 1956 to ’57 and was an advocate for Veterans’ rights and benefits. He was elected to Congress and served 10 terms, from January 1969 to his death on Jan. 23, 1988.

In this 1988 photo, Tom Foy, facility manager at the Dan Daniel Distribution Center, inspects a portion of the more than a million square-feet of space before the DC’s grand opening.

As a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Panel, Daniel had worked closely with the Exchange.

Although the grand opening happened months after Daniel’s death, the DC was in operation before he passed away: It began shipping its first packages on Oct. 26, 1987. After Daniel’s death, the center was named in his honor. At the grand opening, local leaders unveiled a bust of the late congressman at the center.

Local leaders unveil a bust of Dan Daniel, the Congressman who helped secure the deal for the Dan Daniel Distribution Center site. After Daniel died in January 1988, the DC was named in his honor.

A little more than a year after Dan Daniel’s grand opening, the Waco Distribution Center opened in August 1989. Both DCs were part of an effort to streamline distribution operations in CONUS. During the first half of the ’90s, several smaller distribution centers closed as operations became more centralized.

The Exchange’s current other major CONUS distribution center, the West Coast DC, opened July 20, 2001, at the Sharpe Army Depot in Lathrop, Calif., 60 miles east of San Francisco, relocating from a previous distribution center in Oakland.

Along with the three CONUS distribution centers, the Exchange operates DCs in Hawaii and Puerto Rico; in Germersheim, Germany; at Yokota Air Base and at Camp Kinser on Okinawa in Japan; and at Camp Humphreys in South Korea.

Sources: Exchange Post archives; “One Hundred Years of Service: A History of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service”; Exchange History on Flickr; Newport News Daily Press