Camp Grant Museum Traditional Cache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(not chosen)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
"If'n it weren't fer Camp Grant ah wouldn't be here."
Truth told mah gran pappy served at Camp Grant during WWI as a horse sergeant, an met up with the daughter of a Swedish immigrant who was attending Rockford College (an all girls school at that time). The rest is history.
The Museum strives to preserve some of Rockford's local history. The building was one of three fire stations and later the induction and muster out center for Camp Grant during the World Wars.
Camp Grand came into being in the early months of World War I. The land was inspected on June 2,1917. The camp was bound 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 1,100 buildings were completed. The camp was designated Camp Grant in honor of U.S. Grant on July 15,1917.
There were 500 cooks and bakers feeding more than 18,000 men. In 1918 it housed 50,000 officers and enlisted men and encompassed 5,460 acres. The firing range covered 312 of those acres (now Atwood park).
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 stations approximately 1,100 men put out of work by the 'Great Depression' there.
In 1940 the property reverted back to regular army use for World War II as an induction center, a prisoner of war camp, and a medical training unit...
C'mon in to find out more. There are many post cards and pictures which line the walls showing the life at Camp Grant and early Rockford.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Pbeare cbfg, uvqr n xrl.