Fort Devens, From Boys to Men

This is a story of the World War I and World War II mobilization barracks built by the Quartermaster Corps staff, contractors, union laborers, and professional advisors who, when everything hit the fan, did the impossible. Camp Devens was carved from stands of scrub pines in central Massachusetts in 1917 as one of 16 National Army Cantonments that were needed to mobilize an army for World War I . This is the story of how a downsized, antiquated army rushed to provide housing for an army that was on requisition, to fight battles that had already been scheduled. In 90 days, a military city was planned, built, and occupied. And then as one war passed, troops went home, budgets were cut again, and the camp was all but forgotten…until the next war. In 1940, the place, now called Fort Devens, was again needed to mobilize an army that was already requisitioned. The barracks, and other buildings, from the 1917 horse drawn army had burned, or rotted, or been torn down. New facilities for a new motorized army were needed. Again, in only about 90 days a new military city was built on the same footprint as the old city. The 1940 construction was a little more durable and better cared for. The last of the World War II barracks at Fort Devens would stand until 2006.