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MILITARY RAILROADS
OF THE NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA:

CAMP SHANKS

Orangeburg, NY
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History

In September of 1942 three hundred local property owners, many of them farmers, were informed by government officials that the United States Army was to purchase their property under the War Powers Act. They were given a scant two weeks to vacate.

The Army seized 1,365 acres of farmland and homes, and combined with 675 acres of land leased from New York State, created Camp Shanks, a military installation designed to accommodate the largest troop deployment in the U.S. during World War II. By warʼs end, 1.3 million service personnel had been processed through the camp.

The facility opened on January 4, 1943 with only a handful of barracks built. Construction went on round the clock through the severest winter ever recorded for the Hudson River area with temperatures hitting an all-time low of 26 degrees below zero. The camp was completed in May at a cost of $45.4 million and named for Major General David Carey Shanks, the commander overseeing the deployment of 1.7 million soldiers from Hobokenʼs Port of Embarkation during World War I.

Camp Shanks served as a point of embarkation for troops departing overseas during World War II. Dubbed “Last Stop USA”, the camp housed about 50,000 troops spread over 2,040 acres (8.3 km2) and was the largest World War II Army embarkation camp, processing 1.3 million service personnel including 75% of those participating in the D-Day invasion. In 1945 Camp Shanks housed German and Italian prisoners of war.[1]

After the war, Camp Shanks was converted into housing for veterans with families attending colleges and universities in the New York City area under the GI Bill; the settlement, then known as Shanks Village, closed in 1954.

A small museum opened near the site in June 1994.

Locomotives

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  To date  we only hve confirmation of one locomotive that worked the camp: 

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US Navy - Iona Island Naval Ammunition Depot, Stony Point, NY
 Steam Locomotive Roster

With special thanks to:

Index:

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