History - Lest We Forget
Camp Grant Museum is housed in the building that was one of three fire stations and later the Induction and Muster Out Center for Camp Grant during the two World Wars.
Camp Grant came into being in the early months of World War I. The land was inspected on June 2, 1917. The Camp was bounded on the north by the City of Rockford, farm lands on the east, and the Kishwaukee and Rock Rivers on the south and west respectively.
The actual work on the Camp began on June 30, 1917. Two months later, 1100 buildings were completed. The Camp was designated Camp Grant in honor of President Ulysses S. Grant on July 15, 1917.
There were 500 cooks and bakers feeding more than 18,00 men and women. In 1918, it housed 50,000 officers and enlisted men and encompassed 5,460 acres. The firing range covered 312 of those acres.
The Camp remained an active army site until 1924 when it was turned over to the Illinois National Guard. In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps stationed approximately 1100 men put out of work by the Great Depression.
In 1940, the property reverted back to regular Army use for World War II as an induction center, a training center, a prisoner of war camp, and a medical training unit.
With the Camp's reactivation, a camp police force and fire department were formed. Major George M. O'Connor, then a provost marshall, appointed Ross Atkinson, former Winnebago County Sheriff, as head of the military police. The fire department was headed by Page Crain, a former Rockford Fire Department captain.
Two military organizations that scored enviable records overseas were the famed 86th, known as the Black Hawks, and the 2808th Engineers, builders of bridges and railroads from Sicily to Florence passed through Camp Grant.
Many postcards and pictures line the walls of the Post showing the life at Camp Grant.
Camp Grant came into being in the early months of World War I. The land was inspected on June 2, 1917. The Camp was bounded on the north by the City of Rockford, farm lands on the east, and the Kishwaukee and Rock Rivers on the south and west respectively.
The actual work on the Camp began on June 30, 1917. Two months later, 1100 buildings were completed. The Camp was designated Camp Grant in honor of President Ulysses S. Grant on July 15, 1917.
There were 500 cooks and bakers feeding more than 18,00 men and women. In 1918, it housed 50,000 officers and enlisted men and encompassed 5,460 acres. The firing range covered 312 of those acres.
The Camp remained an active army site until 1924 when it was turned over to the Illinois National Guard. In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps stationed approximately 1100 men put out of work by the Great Depression.
In 1940, the property reverted back to regular Army use for World War II as an induction center, a training center, a prisoner of war camp, and a medical training unit.
With the Camp's reactivation, a camp police force and fire department were formed. Major George M. O'Connor, then a provost marshall, appointed Ross Atkinson, former Winnebago County Sheriff, as head of the military police. The fire department was headed by Page Crain, a former Rockford Fire Department captain.
Two military organizations that scored enviable records overseas were the famed 86th, known as the Black Hawks, and the 2808th Engineers, builders of bridges and railroads from Sicily to Florence passed through Camp Grant.
Many postcards and pictures line the walls of the Post showing the life at Camp Grant.