(This article is part two of four to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the closing of the Camp and the 10th anniversary of the opening of the POW Camp Concordia Museum.) Part 2 continues to tell the story of the construction of POW Camp Concordia in 1943. Learn more about the WWII POW Camp Concordia at Victory Day on May 3 from 10-3. The free event features tours, WWII re-enactors demonstrations, and presentations.
Part II – 2025 POW Victory Day
In 1943 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the Concordia site. Construction of 308 buildings began in February. Ninety days later the Camp was turned over to the Army, but construction continued through June. Seventeen contractors from Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Colorado, Illinois, and Kansas built the Camp in a section of farm ground north of Concordia. No churches, schools, cemeteries, power lines, pipelines, or other utilities were present to complicate construction. The total estimated cost was $1,786,379, which included $552,717 in payroll. It took 513,377 man-hours to build the Camp. Construction workers were paid $.35 to $.50 for semi-skilled labor and $.75 to $1 for skilled labor. Contract workers were draft-deferred, which was a powerful incentive.
Camp Concordia’s first commander, Colonel John A. Sterling, named the streets for past and present military men and politicians. In addition to U.S. 81 on the south, the Camp was bounded by sand-surface roads. Roads within the Camp included a mile and a half with a crushed-rock base and bituminous surface and two and one-half miles of compacted gravel. Estimated cost was $30,000. The cost for fencing was $23,000.
The Camp required 350,000 gallons of water per day. Wells provided adequate water. The redwood water tower held 100,000 gallons. (Today only the base to the tower remains.) Cost for 41,930 feet of cast-iron water main, 37 fire hydrants and water tower was $80,132.
Most buildings were heated by coal burning cannon stoves. Steam heat was used for the 177 bed Hospital, Nurses Quarters, Officers Club and Recreation Building.
Victory Day at POW Camp Concordia is Saturday, May 3 from 10-3. This year marks 80 years of the closing of the camp and 10 years since the POW Camp Concordia Museum opened. Watch for more of the POW Camp story in the next two issues of the Blade-Empire.
