First doughboys arrive at Camp Custer

dc.date.accessioned	2019-09-25T15:58:10Z
dc.date.available	2019-09-25T15:58:10Z
dc.date.issued	1917-09-00
dc.identifier.uri	http://dspace.willardlibrary.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/1000000558
dc.description	It was September 1917 that the first draft contingent arrived via the interurban at Camp Custer — the Army training camp carved out of the rolling countryside chose by Spiritualists before the Civil War for a Utopian city named Harmonia. On June 11, 1917, the federal government announced its selection of the site for the camp, which cost $8 million to construct and, when first opened, contained 2,000 structures ready to accept more than 36,000 troops. Material used to build the camp would have filled a freight train 36 miles long. During World War I, 90,000 men passed through Camp Custer, and 100,000 demobilized there after the war. The military reservation — later named Fort Custer — ceased to be on June 15, 1968, when the U.S. government declared the land federal surplus property.	en_US
dc.format.medium	4x5 BW negative
dc.subject	fort custer army military WWI	en_US
dc.title	First doughboys arrive at Camp Custer	en_US
dc.type	Image	en_US
dc.description.envelope	FORT CUSTER SEPT 1917 FIRST ARRIVALS SCENES FROM YESTERDAY SEP 29, '79 (CALLED CAMP CUSTER)
dc.description.photographer	Submitted
dc.description.taxonomy	Geographic\|Battle Creek Area History\|Wars\|World War I	en_US