Evolution of Fort Devens: From Training Camp to Fort during the Twentieth-Century Wars, and from Closure to Economic Redevelopment

Camp Devens was built in 1917 as a temporary training area for soldiers during World War I.  Instead of tearing down buildings and abandoning the camp after the war ended, the United States Army purchased the land. This was the first step in Devens’s transition into a permanent army base and the beginning of a century of change. During the 1920s and 1930s, it was used in the summer as a Citizens’ Military Training Camp for young men. In 1932, the name was officially changed to Fort Devens thanks to the efforts of Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Lowell, who recognized the economic significance of Devens to the community and state. During World War II, Fort Devens processed more than 600,000 soldiers and, afterwards served as a satellite campus for the Massachusetts State College (now the University of Massachusetts) for many veterans entering higher education. In 1951 Fort Devens became home to the Army Security Agency Training Center where thousands were trained as linguists, cryptographers, code operators, traffic analysts and specialists. Soldiers continued to pass through Fort Devens during the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf wars. At one time the largest army base in New England, Fort Devens was inactivated in 1996. While reserve units still train at Devens, the focus has turned to economic redevelopment. MassDevelopment, a state agency that promotes economic growth, purchased much of the land, and brought in such companies as Bristol-Myers Squibb and American Superconductor. For almost one hundred years Devens has grown and changed, both internally and in relation to the surrounding communities.
The Fort Devens Museum, incorporated in 2000, is currently located at 94 Jackson Road,  Devens, MA  01434. The museum’s mission is to collect documents, artifacts, and photographs important to the history of Fort Devens, and to educate the public about this history and the impact it had on the lives of military personnel, their families, the surrounding communities, New England, and beyond. Using information gathered and interpreted at the museum, the presenters of this poster session will display three storyboards detailing three different time periods at Devens:

• Building Camp Devens, 1917
  
• Fort Devens During World War II, 1941-1945
  
• Building a New Devens, 1996-Present
  

These storyboards will show vintage images of soldiers and buildings accompanied by descriptions. They will be placed into the context of local, national, and international events. Informational rack cards will be available as handouts in order to provide in-depth coverage of such topics as:

• Influenza Epidemic, 1918
  
• Citizens’ Military Training Camp, 1920s-1930s
  
• Edith Nourse Rogers
  
• World War II POW Camp
  
• Fort Devens Cemetery
  

The storyboards and handouts tell an important part of the evolution of  Fort Devens: not only of military life and war, but also of camaraderie, community, and economic revitalization.