History World War I

On June 24, 1917, the work of building suitable quarters for housing, and providing drill grounds, rifle ranges, etc., for the training of a division of 43,000 men of the new National Army, was begun. In a little more than three months after the erection of the first building, 180 barracks were ready for the reception of the first contingent of the men who were to be trained. And in the short period of five months the corn fields, pastures, and orchards had been razed, and in their place long rows of bare, unpainted structures had sprung up; macadamized roads built; sewers put in; heating, lighting and water systems installed; bridges built; and a remount station and rifle range constructed.

Originally called the National Army Cantonment, the name was later changed to Camp Grant, in honor of President Ulysses Grant.

The total cost of the camp was $7,000,000. The largest number of men working at any one time was 8,500, but it is estimated that at least 50,000 individuals worked on the big job.

The total area of the camp was 5640 acres, within which eighteen miles of water pipe were laid. The camp water plant pumped 6,000,000 gallons of water per day. Three hundred and fifty miles of electric wire was strung. The 1,520 buildings had an aggregate floor space of 2,200 acres. Forty-eight million feet of lumber, 680 tons of nails and 21,000 barrels of cement were used in constructing the buildings and their foundations. In all, 4,500 carloads of material were hauled into camp by railroads.

Fifty-nine steam-heating plants furnished heat for the camp through a system of thirty-two miles of pipes. Each of the big power plants contained a battery of from two to ten 250-horsepower boilers. In contrast to the heating system, an ice plant turned out 20,000 tons of ice a day to supply the cold-storage house and the refrigerators of the 180 barracks. From these barracks fifteen tons of rubbish were carted away each day to the garbage incinerator to be burned. Most of the garbage from the camp was sold to near-by farmers for feeding to hogs.

The base hospital unit contained 61 buildings, which were erected at a cost of $500,000. Thousands of dollars worth of equipment and supplies were purchased for the hospital.

Camp Grant had a remount depot, which had a capacity of 5,000 animals. At this station, animals for the army were assorted and assigned to the various army posts in the zone of the central department at Chicago. In connection with the remount depot was a school for blacksmiths. The remount depot buildings covered fifteen acres.

Fire protection for the camp was secured through an efficient fire department, housed in three fire stations. Two hundred and sixty-two fire hydrants were provided throughout the camp and 18,000 pails and as many fire extinguishers were placed in the various buildings for emergency use.

Eighteen miles of macadam road and a pile bridge 1,000 feet in length with an eighteen-foot driveway were built. Connecting with the camp system of roadways were two cement roads (Kishwaukee St. and 11th St.) leading from Rockford to the camp.