Camp Gruber (Braggs, Muskogee County, Oklahoma)
Braggs, Muskogee County · Oklahoma · World War II, Cold War
History & Significance
Construction on the Cookson Hills facility began in early January 1942 with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel establishing headquarters, and engineers began the task of building a thirty-five-thousand-troop facility. In February 1942 the camp was named "Gruber," after Brigadier General Edmund L. Gruber, a long-time artillery officer at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
The original contract called for the construction of 1,731 frame buildings, including 479 barracks, 100 hospital buildings, 55 administration buildings, a bakery, 12 chapels, a laundry, 210 mess halls, 221 recreation buildings, and 258 storage warehouses. Units of the 88th Infantry Division (Blue Devil Division), the 42nd Infantry Division (Rainbow Division) reactivated in 1943, and the 86th Infantry Division (Blackhawk Division) in 1945 trained at Camp Gruber; ultimately, more than 44,868 troops either served at or trained at the camp, which also employed four thousand civilian workers and incarcerated three thousand German prisoners of war.
On June 3, 1947, Camp Gruber was deactivated and soon became surplus property. During the 1950s and 1960s most Camp Gruber's original buildings and facilities were removed or destroyed. In 1967 the Oklahoma Military Department, Oklahoma Army National Guard (OKARNG), acquired 23,515 acres to establish Camp Gruber as a state-operated training area under a twenty-five year federal license from the Tulsa District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; in 1973 and 1982 2,560 acres and 6,952 acres, respectively, were added, for a total of 33,027 acres.
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Gruber
- https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CA022
- https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CA022