Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years

Camp Franklin
In August 1918, the Franklin Cantonment, was authorized
and constructed within a mile of Camp Meade. Named
in honor of Benjamin Franklin, the first U.S. Postmaster
General and thereby developer of America’s first national
communications network, the camp was designed to be
the home of the Signal Corps Camp of Instruction. The
400-acre camp consisted of 600 buildings and housed
11,000 men and women at a cost of $4 million–about $60
million in modern money. It was located between Ernie
Pyle Street and Chamberlain Avenue from Rock Avenue
to Mapes Road. In November 1918, all signal assets
moved from Fort Leavenworth to Camp Meade. Then in
March 1919, the Camp Franklin Signal Corps personnel
also moved to Camp Meade.
Signal soldiers used radiotelegraph, telephone and
telegraph technology to communicate on the battlefield.
When the WWI ended, the U.S. Tank Corps, both heavy
and light forces, returned home to open the first American
WORLD WAR I YEARS
Tank School at Camp Meade. They occupied the area
once known as Camp Franklin.
***
Camp Franklin housed mostly signal soldiers who trained
and prepared to keep communications open on and off the
battlefield with some communications extending all the
way back to the states. Signal soldiers used radiotelegraph,
telephone and telegraph technology to communicate on the
battlefield.
(Pg. 28) (Top) Franklin Cantonment Camp. (Middle)
Soldiers practice signaling with a heliograph signal lamp in a
practice trench. (Bottom) Telegraph unit training in a dugout
at the Signal Corps School, Camp Franklin, December 1918
(NARA Photo)
(Bottom Left) Taking a message from a dugout at the Signal
Corps School, December 1918 (NARA Photo) (Top Right)
Wig Wag training at the Signal Corps School, December
1918 (Bottom Right) Learning to operate a field sending set
at the Signal Corps School, December 1918 (NARA Photo)
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