Camp Fremont

Camp Fremont was a World War I-era military base located near Palo Alto, California. Construction started in July 1917 and the post closed in September, 1919. The post was named for John C. Frémont, a US Army officer and government official who was prominent in California during the 1850s.

Creation of post
Camp Library at Camp Fremont (c. 1917)
MacArthur Park Restaurant – a former YWCA "Hostess House" designed by Julia Morgan in 1918

Camp Fremont was constructed on vacant land in and around the area of Palo Alto and Menlo Park.[1][2] Camp Fremont consisted of slightly more than 7,200 acres (29 km2) and contained approximately 1,125 structures, mostly temporary buildings constructed of wood.[3] During preparation for possible entry into World War I, the U.S. Army determined a need existed for a post on the west coast of the United States to train National Guard units for combat.

Construction started on July 24, 1917, and the new installation was named in honor of Major General John C. Fremont, an early hero of California.[4][5][6][7][8]

World War I

Camp Fremont served as a training site for the National Guard's 41st Infantry Division, which included soldiers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming. The 41st Division was later moved to Camp Greene, where it completed its training before departing for fighting in France.[9][10][11][12]

In August, 1918, Camp Fremont was home to the 12th Infantry. See photo dated August 6, 1918.

In the autumn of 1918, the flu pandemic hit Camp Fremont and killed 147.[13]

The 8th Infantry Division then occupied Camp Fremont. Slated for combat in France, the 8th Division was later assigned the mission of fighting in Russia during the Siberian Intervention.[14][15][16]

Camp Fremont was also home to the 332nd Auxiliary Remount Depot, part of the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. The depot was authorized 5,000 animals, and averaged about 2,300. Remount depots were organized to procure, train and condition horses and mules, and then dispatch them to the units that required them.[17]

Association with prominent individuals

Post closing and legacy

After the end of World War I combat, there was no longer a use for Camp Fremont, and the Army ordered the post closed.[24] The base hospital was acquired by the Public Health Service from the War Department and opened as "United States Public Health Service Hospital No. 24" on April 2, 1919. The 90 acre facility was operated as a tuberculosis sanitorium, with a capacity of 570 beds.[25] The remaining buildings were sold at auction, and the camp was abandoned in January 1920.[26]

Several new businesses were begun in Menlo Park and Palo Alto to provide goods and services to soldiers at Camp Fremont, many of which stayed in existence after the post closed. Menlo Park received its first paved streets and its first municipal water and gas services during World War I, both of which were constructed by the 8th Division engineers.[27]

Present day

The post hospital on Willow Road in Menlo Park later became the site of a Veterans Administration hospital. It is now also the location of Stanford University's Arbor Free Clinic.[28]

Two popular restaurants, MacArthur Park (which once housed Palo Alto's community center) and the Oasis Beer Garden (now closed) are both located in former Camp Fremont buildings.[29][30]

Camp Fremont gained a new degree of fame when it was referenced as the military base to which Master Sergeant Ernie Bilko was assigned (played by Phil Silvers) in the 1950s television sitcom The Phil Silvers Show.[31]

References

37°26′56″N 122°11′11″W[32]

  1. Annual Report of the Secretary of War, published by U.S. War Department, 1920, Volume 2, page 1644
  2. Annual Report of the University President, published by Stanford University, 1918, page 23
  3. The New International Year Book, 1918, page 718
  4. Newspaper article, Work Progressing On Camp Fremont, Berkeley Daily Gazette, July 27, 1917
  5. Newspaper article, Camp Fremont, Palo Alto, Will Be Completed, Deseret News, August 25, 1917
  6. Newspaper article, Fremont's Telephone System Completed, San Jose Evening News, November 10, 1917
  7. Newspaper article, Angelino Builds Army Cantonment, Los Angeles Times, November 11, 1917
  8. Compiled Monthly Bulletins, California State Board of Health, 1917, page 158
  9. Newspaper article, Off to Camp Fremont, Los Angeles Times, May 16, 1918
  10. The US Army in World War I - Orders of Battle, Richard A. Rinaldi, 2004, page 216
  11. The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1922, Volume 17, page 530
  12. The Official History of the Washington National Guard, published by the Washington National Guard, 1961, page 525
  13. United States War Dept. (1919). War Department Annual Report, Vol. 1. p. 2157.
  14. Newspaper article, History Of The Eighth Division, Ellensburg (Washington) Daily Record, December 31, 1919
  15. Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, 1920, Volume 5, page 368
  16. America's Part in the World War, by Richard Joseph Beamish and Francis Andrew March, 1919, page 560
  17. The Army Veterinary Service During the Great War
  18. Anne Cipriano Venzon, The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, 2013, page 263
  19. Official U.S. Army Directory, published by U.S. Army Adjutant General, 1918, page 96
  20. New Mexico World War I Records, 1917-1919, entry for James Edward Wharton, retrieved March 4, 2014
  21. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, compiled by J.T. White, Volume 46, 1963, page 239
  22. Historical Roster, 12th Infantry Regiment Archived 2012-07-07 at archive.today, Sarge's Home Page web site, by Bruce Holzhauer, accessed March 10, 2011
  23. Biography, Philip Johnston, American National Biography Online (February 2000), Published by Oxford University Press, accessed March 10, 2011
  24. "Fremont to Close Officially Jan. 31". San Jose Evening News. January 3, 1919. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  25. Annual Report of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1921. p. 301.
  26. Historic Spots in California, by Mildred Brooke Hoover, et al., revised by Douglas E. Kyle, 1990, page 382
  27. Palo Alto Online article, The Peninsula Mobilizes for War Archived 2017-05-25 at the Wayback Machine, by Don Kazak, undated
  28. Early History page Archived 2010-11-26 at the Wayback Machine, Menlo Park History web site, undated
  29. Palo Alto Online article, The Peninsula Mobilizes for War Archived 2017-05-25 at the Wayback Machine, by Don Kazak, undated
  30. "California Office of Historic Preservation page, Hostess House". Archived from the original on 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  31. Stanley, John (January 14, 2015). "DVD review: 'Sgt. Bilko: The Phil Silvers Show — Complete'". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, CA.
  32. "Camp Fremont (historical)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. May 16, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
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