Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years

Leonard Wood to Meade
When the War Department declared Camp Meade
a permanent Army Post in 1928, they also took the
occasion to change the name. The new permanence
and construction of buildings made of foundation and
brick meant Meade could no longer be called a camp or
cantonment.
Changing the name from Camp Meade to Fort Meade
presented a new challenge. The name Fort Meade had
already been given to an 1878 cavalry fort located near
Sturgis, South Dakota. The South Dakota Fort Meade
was originally established as a military post to protect
Black Hills miners and settlers. It is also the home of the
Fort Meade National Cemetery.
To avoid the naming confusion, Camp Meade became
Fort Leonard Wood in honor of the late major general
who had served alongside Theodore Roosevelt in the
Rough Riders. Later, Wood served as Chief of Staff of
the Army in 1910, which allowed him to establish the first
combined arms divisions. He is also noted for establishing
a system for training young college students to become
Army officers through a series of summer camps starting
in 1913.
The newly permanent Fort Leonard Wood was
appropriated $410,000 to build permanent brick barracks
and other buildings. Officials chose to use the local
Georgian style of Maryland architecture as a basis for
their designs, establishing the look and feel of the fort
that is still with us today.
Hodges Hall, today located at 4451 Llewellyn and
serving as the Garrison Headquarters, was originally
constructed as barracks and was built with plans from
Doughoregan Manor, constructed in 1727 for Charles
Carroll, II. The original structure is still extant in Ellicott
City, Maryland.
The Mount Clare Mansion located in Carroll Park in
Baltimore, at the corner of Monroe and Washington
Boulevards, served as a model for the barracks building
called Hale Hall which housed soldiers of 66th Light
Tank. In later years, additional wings were added to Hale
Hall, until it became the largest brick structure on Fort
Meade.
BETWEEN THE WARS
By Barbara Taylor
The permanent Army fort would only retain the name
Leonard Wood for a short time. In 1929, a rider was
attached to the Military Appropriations Bill changing the
name to Fort George G. Meade.
The period of construction that began in 1928 and
developed into the historic district of Fort Meade today,
was completed in 1930, with 251 permanent buildings
completed.
Fort George G. Meade is the only military installation
ever named by Congress. The first name and middle initial
were added in an effort to differentiate the Maryland fort
from the South Dakota one, but the change was not fully
successful.
Today, Fort Meade, South Dakota is the home of a
Veteran’s Administration hospital and is still at times
confused with Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
***
(Left) Gen. Leonard Wood (1860–1927) served as Chief of
Staff of the United States Army. (Photo courtesy of the George
Grantham Bain Collection in the Library of Congress).
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