Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis April 26, 2008...

During World War II the Barracks serves as an induction and separation center, basic training camp, and the largest technical training school for the Army Air Corps. There is a population that is a tenfold increase over the capacity in 1939. A detention camp is formed to house Axis prisoner of war.

 The original military post was built south of St. Louis, Mo., on the banks of the Mississippi River to replace Fort Bellefontaine. Selected for its strategic geographic location, the post was opened in 1826. Jefferson Barracks became the army’s first permanent base west of the Mississippi River. By the 1840s, it was the largest military establishment in the United States. During the Civil War, Jefferson Barracks served as a training post for the Union Army. There was also a hospital at the post for the Union army’s sick and wounded.