CAMP ZACHARY TAYLOR
World War 1 Training Camp for the 84th division 1917-1920
Field Artillery Central Officers Training School (F.A.C.O.T.S.) 1918-1920
HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS COMPANY
1st BRIGADE, 25th INFANTRY DIVISION 1917-1919
U.S Army Chaplin School 1918-1919
1,563 Buildings – Housing 45.424 Personal
Constructed in 1917 in Louisville, Kentucky in 90 Days
Where over 150,000 men were trained during World War I
Camp Zachary Taylor consisted of One Main Camp and Three satellite Camps. The three other sites were: The Remount Station, located at Eastern Parkway and Crittenden Drive. The Maneuver Field, on the west side of Preston Highway starting at Belmar Drive and running west to Crittenden Drive, and then west to the L & N Railroad tracks, south to approximately Fern Valley Road, then west to Grade Lane and North East to Preston Street. This site is mostly consumed by The Louisville International Airport. The Rifle Range, located approximately six and one half miles south of the Main Camp. It was located in the South Park area, south of the Outer Loop between the L & N RR. and Preston Highway. The City of Minor Lane Heights now occupies the majority of the former rifle range. The north end of the Main Camp was the site of the Clark homestead, the parents of George Rogers Clark. Known as Mulberry Hill, the original homestead encompassed the land from Clarks Lane to McKinley Ave, and between Poplar Level and Pindell Avenue. A portion of this area, which is located at Poplar Level and Truston Avenue, is now the location of George Rogers Clark Park. The original homestead buildings were torn down in 1917 to make way for the Camp. Today those buildings were considered to be some of the most important and historical structures in the United States. Their raising was a terrible loss. Sadly, they were torn down to make a maneuver field. No new buildings were constructed over the area where they stood.
Another part of the camp was the Artillery Range. It composed of 16,000 acres, and was located near West Point, Kentucky. This area was soon named “Camp Knox”, and served as the firing range for the 325th, 326th and 327th Field Artillery Regiments. Camp Knox was renamed after the end of World War I to its current name of “Fort Knox”.
On June 11, 1917, Louisville Kentucky had been selected by the U. S. War Department as the site for a huge military camp. Camp Zachary Taylor was built approximately six miles south of town, on rolling farmland covered with cornstalks, cow pastures, barns and vegetable gardens.
The Courier Journal newspaper broke the news to the city, and according to newspaper articles in the days after the announcement, business people and others saw it to be worth thousands of dollars in revenue for a city of 235,000.
As time has shown, Camp Taylor forever altered the landscape of the area that is mostly between Poplar Level Road, Preston Highway, Easter Parkway and Durrett Lane. The buildings in the camp were hastily hammered together, and it became the nation’s largest military training camp in the United States. Covering over 20,000 acres. At the conclusion of World War I, the camp was dismantled. It is believed that many of the homes in the area were built with wood from the barracks, stables and barns.
There were 10,000 workers employed at the peak of the construction, which was August 19, 1917. Because there weren’t enough local tradesmen, workers were shipped in by train from places such as Chattanooga, Tenn. and Indianapolis, Ind.
Short of housing, Uncle Sam paid to put up the men at the old Galt House at First and Main streets. At some time during the construction, about 300 men were housed in barracks as they were completed. Some were housed in tents on the construction site.
One day, according to newspaper accounts, 2,000 men carrying tool satchels lined the street waiting to check in at local hotels. By late August, a complex big enough to house one-fifth of Louisville’s population — 47,500 men at one time — had risen, stretching from the present-day grounds of Joe Creason Park and the Louisville Zoo southwest to Durrett Lane at Preston Highway. Some 49.2 million board feet of lumber went into building the camp. Total cost: $7.2 million. That cost today would equate to over $200 million.
Its headquarters were located on what’s now the northwest corner of the Interstate 264 interchange at Poplar Level Road. It was diagonal from the present grounds of Camp Taylor Memorial Park. A popular boardwalk and amusement area attracted soldiers — and young women hoping to meet them — on both sides of Preston Highway near Springdale Avenue.
In downtown Louisville, The Soldiers Club was also a popular place for men to take leave. It was located at 619 south 4th Street. This building was first known as the Kentucky Electric Building, prior to its renovation in 1999 by the Public Radio Partnership. It is now named the HSA Broadband Building. See page 4 for more info on this Historic Building that has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The hospital complex sprang up on a 53 acre site just north of what is now the Durrett Education Center/Male High School on Preston Street.
The following is a page from the Military Report on the building of Camp Zachary Taylor
Reasons for Selecting Louisville, Ky. as Location of Army Cantonment, 9th Division.
Evansville, Ind., Fort Wayne, Ind., Indianapolis, Ind., Bowling Green, Ky., Lexington, Ky., and Jeffersonville, Ind., are referred to as Competing Locations.
1.) This brief offers 2,000 acres of land, 1,000 for cantonments and 1,000 for maneuvering, all in one body, in semi-circle, within six miles of Louisville’s civic center. Equal in extent, superior in soil drainage and location to that of any competitor.
2.) More centrally located than any competitor with reference to training district.
3.) One of the three sites (Indianapolis and Fort Wayne the other two) having the three great East and West Railroad systems – Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio and New York Central. Superior to those two cities, which can only offer cumulative East and West lines, in that it has the three great Southern Systems –Louisville & Nashville, Illinois Central Railroads, and in addition a direct line to Norfolk Va., the Chesapeake & Ohio R.R. Therefore the best railroad center.
4.) One of the only two sites (Evansville the other) which has a never diminishing supply of water. The Ohio River supply is not dependant on wet or dry seasons. Superior to that other one is the great Reserve Capacity of its filtration plant.
5.) The only site offering a five cent fare on double tract street railway from the camp to all parts of the “neighboring large city” – Louisville.
6.) One of the three sites where sanitary sewerage will be provided by the municipality.
7.) One of the three sites where rifle ranges are immediately close to the ground offered, and the one affording the closest artillery range.
8.) No other competing location can offer every one of these prime requisites.
9.) No competing city offers any important or unimportant requisite which Louisville does not offer equally as good.
10.) Leading Louisville citizens have guaranteed to give the camp an atmosphere of patriotism efficiency and morality.
Its selection will be best for the army, best for the nation and best for the boys.
This Main Camp Area comprised 1,495 acres. It bordered the Southern railway on the west, which was ideal for the purpose of shipping materials and men to the work site. A new rail yard was build and unloading tracks were laid almost overnight and the first shipment of materials arrived about a week later. Within a couple of weeks and some delays by The Southern Railroad Co, there were 691 miles of new track laid for the soon to be build warehouse area and unloading yards. There were 114 miles of yard track laid at the Remount Station. The Louisville Railway Co. extended their line to just north of Durrett Lane. It was double tracked, and a loop was constructed at the end of the line. A depot was built there and named Dumesnil Station.
There was very little grading or earth moving done to the landscape. The ground was already cleared for farming, but some brush that was standing had to be cleared. Out of the $7.2 million dollars spent on the entire facility, only $6,566.00 was spent to clear the site for preparations to start construction. Several building were rotated differently than shown on the original building plans, to either conform better to the slope of the grade, or to avoid mature shade trees that were kept for that purpose. In some cases, the barracks, that were 43′ x 140′, would have been at ground level at one end, and 12 feet above grade at the other. So they were turned to some degree to keep the building lower to the ground. This also saved on lumber (which was the main construction material) and labor.
For the most part, the entire camp was built to fit the landscape. This allowed for construction to begin immediately. Very little grading was performed, and that would have been mostly on the construction of roads. It was also noted that majority of grading was done at the barns and sheds where the buildings had dirt floors. The topographic shape of the terrain is mostly the same today as it was at the start of construction in 1917. Today the landscape is mostly transformed and obscured by trees that were planted after 1920.
Some roads have been altered, and several added when the property was subdivided in 1920. The addition of the Henry Watterson Expressway (I-264) and Interstate 65, now take up part of the perimeter land that was to the south (the Main Railroad yard and Warehouses), and west of the camp. Preston Highway and Poplar Level Road were two lane county roads. They were paved for automobiles, but built for horse and buggy traffic. Today, both of these main thoroughfares have been widened to four lane roads. Some of the camp’s original perimeter has been consumed by these improvements.
The Remount Station was located at Eastern Parkway, on the west side of Crittenden Drive and ran south. At this location was the training facility for the caring for, and learning to ride horses. It consisted of 81 acres total, and was approximately 3 blocks west of the northern end of the Main Camp.
The 84th division had been deactivated, and the camp was becoming vacant. By June of 1918, the camp was nearly vacant. The Headquarters building was empty. The F.A.C.O.T.S. had taken control of the facility, and by February 1919, the camp was near the end of it’s life.
The rifle range was located just south of the Outer Loop between Preston Street and the L and N Railroad. The land was very level, and rectangular in shape. Across the length of the entire tract was a natural hill of 200 feet in height. This made for an admirable backstop for the targets. However, the low lying land was subject to flooding from a nearby creek during extremely high water. Extensive ditching was required to be dug to keep the range and the trench drained. The large ditch was over a mile in length. A small dike was also constructed to hold the backwater off of the range. The trench was lined with a wooden platform.
There were two Trenches, the Target Trench, and the Firing Trench. The Target Trench was 1,898 feet long. The Firing Trench was 2,794 feet long. The digging of the trench and building the platforms took approximately 99,500 man hours, or 310 men, over eight weeks from start to finish. There was one Trenching Machine listed as employed, and 299 teams (of horses). It is most likely the Trenching Machine was for the use of trenching water and sewer lines. It is also most likely that teams of horses pulling graders were used for the purpose of digging the over one third mile long target trench.
The Maneuver Field was described by the Louisville Board of Trade in their presentation brief on May 24, 1917, to the United States War Department, and addressed to the Commission Investigating Possible Sites, as follows:
The Maneuver Tract lies just across the Preston Street Road from the Southwest Corner of the Camp Site. It consists of about 980 acres situated just West and South of the Camp Site and is approached by three separate entrances from the Preston Street Road from which it is distant one-half mile. It is approximately a rectangle about one mile by a mile and a half. It is a perfectly level tract of hard soil and has a minimum of trees, although with enough shade for resting purposes. An excellent metal surfaced road, known as Ash Bottom, passes through the center of it. The main line of the L. & N. R.R. borders it one the West, from which a side tract can be put upon the land. This property also contains a very large never-failing spring of pure water.
We had the pleasure of taking your Board over this property also. It lies within the six-mile circle from the Civic Center of the Louisville City Hall. This is suitable for Infantry, Calvary and Artillery Maneuvers.
The 980 acres were increased to the final 1270 acres on May 30. 1917. The Louisville International Airport (formerly Standiford Field) and the I65-I264 interchange and property on the west side of Preston Street north of I-264 to Belmar Drive, now lay over where the 1,270 acre Maneuver Field used to be. Some of the ground was wetlands, but drainage canals were built to keep it dry to allow its use for maneuvers almost year round.
Troop regularly marched the six and a half miles down Preston Street to the Rifle Range and then back. Preston Street is the road shown between the Main Camp and the Maneuver Field.
The total for all four tracts of land was 3376 acres.