June 25, 1917

The city of Montgomery submitted a bid to the War Department to create Camp Sheridan, a U.S. Army training facility during World War I. One of 3,000 planned military bases, Camp Sheridan eventually served as the training ground for 30,000 men of Ohio’s 37^th Infantry “Buckeye” Division, which embarked for France in June 1918. The camp then housed the newly created 9^th Infantry Division, including noted author Lt. F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1931, veterans of the 37^th Infantry Division dedicated a memorial on the site fashioned out of native Ohio stone in recognition of the warm treatment they received in Montgomery.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

45th Infantry at Camp Sheridan, Alabama, c. 1918. (Photograph by Paul Richards, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Base Hospital at Camp Sheridan, Alabama, c. 1918. (Photograph Richards Film Service, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Camp Sheridan, Alabama. Photograph taken between 1917 and 1919. (American National Red Cross photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.