The Cornhusker Ordnance Plant, later known as Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant (CAAP), was a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility located six miles west of Grand Island, Hall County, Nebraska. The original installation of 11,960 acres and approximately 20 square miles originally cost the Army $912,233 in 1942. The majority of the land for CAAP was obtained by eminent domain. This authority was issued by Federal Judge James Donohoe giving the government immediate possession of the 11,960 acres from approximately one hundred owners. This was ordered in accordance with a special war emergency statute.

Construction of the installation began in March 1942 and ended by October 1942. Quaker Oats Ordnance Corporation, which was a subsidiary of the Quaker Oats Company, was the first contractor to operate Cornhusker Ordnance Plant and in November poured the first 1,000lb bomb. Ultimately, CAAP would contain 645 buildings of various types, including 11 housing units, 219 ammunition storage magazines, administrative offices, maintenance and storage buildings, a motor pool, pistol range, a recreation area, 32 miles of railroad track, 50 miles of electrical lines, 12 miles of sanitary sewer collection, water production and distribution system, and 220,000 gallons of waste water treatment per day.

The most critical buildings at Cornhusker were the four large munition production facilities also called load lines. Each load line was basically a collection of large buildings interconnected with a series of covered w alkways. Three load lines were essentially identical. A fourth load line, constructed in 1945, was somewhat larger. Raw materials for munitions production were stored in large warehouses at the south end of each load line. A fifth load line, substantially smaller than the other four and arranged in the shape of a "T", was used for the production of fuses and boosters during the Korean War and the manufacturing of micro gravel mines for the Vietnam War.

During World War II, the plant produced more than 11 million 105mm shells and 750,000 bombs including 90lb., 220lb., and 260lb. fragmentation bombs, as well as 1000lb and 2000lb demolition bombs. At its peak during the war, 4229 employees worked at the plant. All ammunition production was terminated on 15 August 1945.The plant was given a "hasty decontamination" and cleanup before the government terminated the Quaker Oats Ordnance Corporation contract on 1 September 1945. CAAP was declared surplus (later placed in standby status) and much of the equipment at the plant was removed by other ammunition plants. Between 1945 and 1948, a portion of the installation was used to produce fertilizer, and empty buildings were used for grain storage until 1950.

When North Korea invaded South Korea in the summer of 1950, the Army reactivated CAAP. It terminated the grain storage contracts and awarded a contract to the Silas Mason Company to rehabilitate and operate the plant for the production of 3.5" and 4.5" rockets and 155mm shells. The plant employed over 3,000 personnel. In May 1954, Load Line IV stopped production and became the first Army ordnance plant line to be reconditioned and "laid away" in chemical preservatives. This procedure later became the standard and was used to lay away the other production lines when CAAP was placed in "standby" status on 17 April 1956.

The winds of war awakened CAAP again in September 1965 as the only ammunition plant to load bombs for Vietnam. The Army awarded the contract to perform engineering and operation of the plant to Mason and Hanger-Silas Mason Company. Approximately 1,500 personnel were employed at the plant. By February 1966, loading of 500lb, 750lb and 1000lb bombs commenced. CAAP also manufactured small air-dropped anti-personnel mines called the micro-gravel mines or "wafer mines, which were used extensively during the Vietnam War as part of the McNamara strategy.

CAAP would continue bomb loading until October 1973 when all production lines were shut down due to the Vietnam Peace Agreement. The Mason and Hanger-Silas Mason Company completed the shutdown of CAAP and the "layaway in a high-state-of-readiness" of the installation by September 1974. The Air Force used the site as a satellite ground support station from 1978 to1982.The Army finally disposed of the installation to the private sector and local governments. A long period of "lay away", a lack of technological advancements in munitions operations at the plant, and a number of long term environmental issues had contributed to the closing of CAAP.

CHAAP is located approximately two miles west of Grand Island, Nebraska. It was originally 11,960 acres, but presently consists of 356 acres awaiting restoration for public transfer and disposal to public buyers. The current working population at the facility is one civilian. The plant was operated intermittently over a period of over 30 years from 1942 to 1974 and has remained inactive from 1974 to the present. During past production activities the working population exceeded 5,000. In 1990 the facility maintenance contract was terminated following the facility's addition to the property excess list. The area surrounding CHAAP is primarily rural.