The San Antonio Arsenal was built by the U.S. Army in 1859 to furnish arms and munitions to frontier forts in West Texas such as Fort Stockton and Fort Davis. These forts protected wagon trains on their way to California. Confederate forces took over the 21-acre site during the Civil War to help support their efforts. After the war, the United States Army once again took possession of the complex. It served both world wars as a major supply depot. The Arsenal was closed in 1949, although its buildings continued to be used as federal government offices. In 1985, H-E-B bought ten acres of the Arsenal complex, remodeled the existing buildings and moved their corporate headquarters to San Antonio.