1850 Fort Wingate was established as a military outpost. The depot occupies approximately 22,120 acres (34 square miles) of land in McKinley County, New Mexico.

1862 The fort was designated Fort Wingate and was later garrisoned by units of the New Mexico volunteers, the 37th U.S. Infantry, and the 3rd Cavalry.

1940s At the beginning of World War I (WWI), the installation was designated as the Fort Wingate General Ordnance Depot, with the mission to store TNT. The depot was the largest storage depot of high explosives in the world.

25 February 1941 Construction started on the present Fort Wingate, a new depot several kilometers west of the original Fort Wingate. As the United States entered World War II (WWII), the installation became highly active with incoming and outbound shipments of high explosives.

1942 Storage of ammunition other than TNT began.

1944 The Technical Escort Unit (TEU) records state that 45 railcar loads of munitions were moved from Fort Wingate to the Black Hills Ordnance Depot.

1962 Plans were initiated to use Fort Wingate as a site for test firing the PERSHING and SERGEANT Missile systems. Several successful firings were conducted.

January 1993 Fort Wingate officially closed.