First established in 1917, Fort Meade was named for General George Meade, a commander in the Union Army during the Civil War. When it was first opened it was named Camp Annapolis Junction and sat on roughly 19,000 acres. Shortly after opening in 1917, it was renamed Camp Admiral then Camp George Gordon Meade. In the early 1920s, it was shortly known as Fort Leonard Wood before becoming Camp George Gordon Meade once again. During World War 2 it was used as a training facility and briefly as a place to hold prisoners of war. In the 1950s, the National Security Agency headquartered at Fort Meade.
The Fort George G. Meade Museum is a popular destination for many who visit the army base because of the items on display, including a helicopter and as "Ajax" missile. In the late 20th century, many areas were found to be contaminated at Fort Meade, including an old ordnance disposal area, a waste dump from the 1940s, and a closed sanitary landfill. Today, Fort Meade is used by many federal agencies because of its location close to Washington DC. Today, many agencies are moving or have moved their operations to Fort Meade.