Basement Waterproofing in Fort Devens, MA

Camp Devens, named after jurist and Civil War general Charles Devens, was established on September 5, 1917, as a temporary cantonment for training soldiers during World War I. About 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of land was leased then later purchased from 112 owners who sold 230 parcels of land in the towns of Ayer, Harvard, Lancaster and Shirley by the federal government. Some was fine farmland along the Nashua River and other was “sprout” land where trees had been cut leaving stumps.

The Fort’s siting was due primarily to its location at a major hub of the rail network in New England. Construction, by the largest labor force assembled in the United States, to build an entire city for 10,000 requiring barracks, training buildings, water and sewer systems, raced at the rate of 10.4 new buildings every day. It was a reception center for war selectees and became a demobilization center after the war. As one of 16 temporary cantonments, Camp Devens processed and trained more than 100,000 soldiers. Three divisions (the , the and the ) were activated and trained at Devens during the war.

In 1918, Camp Devens, was afflicted by the late 1918 deadly second wave of the 1918 flu pandemic. Approximately 850 soldiers, mostly privates, died at the camp during 1918 from the Spanish flu.