Fort Knox (Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties, Kentucky)
Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties · Kentucky · Civil War, World War II
History & Significance
When the United States entered the First World War in 1917, Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, was the first of sixteen new Army cantonments completed to mobilize and train soldiers. The first field artillery unit from the 84th Division moved to the artillery range at West Point on April 1, 1918.
That summer the War Department selected Stithton, a small farming community south of West Point, to establish a Field Artillery Brigade Firing Center Cantonment for six brigades (45,000 men). In August the cantonment at Stithton was named Camp Knox in honor of General Henry Knox, the Continental Army's Chief of Artillery during the Revolutionary War and first Secretary of War.
That October, Camp Knox's Godman Field became the first airfield in Kentucky when it was built for the 29th Aero Squadron. Following the November 1918 armistice, construction slowed and the post underwent peacetime reorganization.
In early 1932 Camp Knox was selected to be the home of the Mechanized Cavalry and was made a permanent military installation and renamed Fort Knox, soon after which the Army's oldest mounted unit, the 1st Cavalry Regiment, traded in their horses for armored combat cars. A new Armored Force was established in July 1940 with its headquarters at Fort Knox.
By 1943, there were 3,820 buildings on 106,861 acres. During World War II, the installation served as a major training center and also housed a prisoner-of-war camp. For 60 years, Fort Knox was the home of the U.S. Army Armor Center and School.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Knox
- https://home.army.mil/knox/about/history
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fort-Knox
- https://history.ky.gov/markers/camp-knox
- https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/946
- https://www.fortknoxhousing.com/history