Fort Crowder
Fort Crowder was a U.S. Army post in southwest Missouri, constructed and used during World War II.
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[edit] Establishment and Purpose
Originally established as Camp Crowder south of Neosho, Missouri in 1941, the post was to serve as an armor training center. The U.S. Army selected the Neosho site for the base because of its proximity to water, railroads, and highways.[1] As it was constructed, it was re-designated as a U.S. Army Signal Corps training center.
It was named for Enoch Crowder, a Missouri general who was instrumental in developing the draft for World War I and the Selective Service. The post also served as an infantry replacement center and had a small German prisoner of war detention facility.
By 1943 the army had acquired 42,786.41 acres (173 km2) in Newton and McDonald Counties.
Writers for the 1960s-era The Dick Van Dyke Show, made the post the setting where Rob and Laura Petrie, portrayed by actors Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, met; Rob was a sergeant in Special Services and Laura was a USO dancer. Cartoonist Mort Walker was also stationed there and drew inspiration for Camp Swampy of his Beetle Bailey comic strip. Jean Shepherd featured many stories of his time at Camp Crowder in various monologues. The post is also notable as the birthplace of landmark LabVIEW programmer Michael Porter.
[edit] Post War and Cold War Use
In 1946, the post was deactivated and placed in a caretaker status. While the core of the post was retained, many of the wood temporary barracks were declared surplus and sold. The base's movie theatre was disassembled and reassembled on the campus of what is today the University of Missouri - Kansas City where it was the University of Kansas City Playhouse until being torn down for a new theatre. A walled patio and fireplace with masks of Comedy and Tragedy were built near the theater and are still landmarks on the university campus.
In the early 1950s, local congressman Dewey Jackson Short, senior member of the House Armed Services Committee secured authorization and some funding to build two permanent barracks and a disciplinary barracks and reactivate the post as a permanent installation, Fort Crowder. Its mission was to be a permanent home for the Army's military police training school. With Short's defeat in the 1956 election, the fort was deactivated again. As that took place, about 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of the post was turned over to the Air Force to construct Plant 65, a rocket engine manufacturing facility that was operated by contract to the Rocketdyne division of North American Rockwell. The facility constructed and tested engines for the Mercury and Gemini programs until its contract ended in 1968.
The permanent barracks, were obtained as surplus and formed the core of the community college campus for Crowder College.
[edit] Final Disposition
With the end of the North American Rockwell contract, the remaining Federal government holdings were transferred to the General Services Administration as surplus property for interim management and eventual disposal. In the mid-1980s, the remaining parcels of the former post were transferred to the Missouri Department of Conservation for wildlife management, the Neosho public school district for a school farm, the Missouri National Guard to operate a military training facility under license from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on 4,358.09 acres (18 km2). The remainder of the land was given to various public and private entities.
Past operations include rocket engine testing and manufacturing, aircraft maintenance, industrial waste treatment facility operations, landfilling, underground fuel storage, burn pits and lagoons. In addition, during the early 1950's the post was used as a reception center for newly inducted draftes and enlistments who were issued the initial uniform clothing allowance and the formed in to packacts for shipment to other army post for initial testing and subsequent assignment to a basic training command.
[edit] Environmental issues
Groundwater and soil contamination has been identified in various areas of the base's original property boundaries. Trichloroethylene contamination in soils and groundwater has been documented at the site and may include off-site contamination in a number of private wells. Waste material generated from the former Fort include aviation and vehicular fuels, oils, greases, metals, paints and solvents.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Fort Crowder is at coordinates 36°48′14″N 94°21′30″W / 36.8040277°N 94.3582890°WCoordinates: 36°48′14″N 94°21′30″W / 36.8040277°N 94.3582890°W
