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BY ERIC MODEL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY
Today it is known by many simply as "The Cresskill Circle."
The intersection where Knickerbocker Road, Madison Ave. and Grant Ave. converge at the border where Cresskill, Dumont, Haworth and Demarest meet is a busy one. There is a classic New Jersey traffic circle there. In the middle lies a monument.
Because the intersection can be a difficult one to maneuver, it is understandable if drivers are preoccupied as they pass through. But if one were to stop to look, they might come to appreciate that the Cresskill circle is, in fact, a place of history.
That spot was once the site of Camp Merritt, a military base that was activated for use in World War I.
With America's entry into the First World War, the United State Army needed an embarkation camp near Hoboken where troops could assemble for ship transport to France. So, it was from this camp that thousands of soldiers were deployed to Hoboken before being shipped off to Europe.Camp Merritt was decommissioned in November 1919. At its peak, the camp contained 1,302 buildings over a 770-acre (3.1 km) area.
The place was named was in honor of Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt, U. S. A., a veteran of Civil War, who commanded the first U.S. expedition to Philippines, 1898.
The place came to exist because going back as far as the 1890's even as recruits for service in the Spanish-American War had been assembling at Sea Girt in May 1898, the federal government started looking for a permanent campground for 50,000 mobilized troops, if necessary, with ample ground on the upper part of the Palisades in Bergen County for rifle ranges and maneuvers.
So it was on May 10, 1898, General Miles sent Lieutenant Mott, of Major-General Wesley E. Merritt's staff, to make a report on the advisability of using the brow of the Palisades between Alpine and the State line for this purpose. The brief war with Spain ended, however, before any action on these plans was taken.
It was not until July 1917 that Brigadier-General William Wright, Commanding General of the Port of Embarkation, selected the site centered on the location, allowing troops to be carried by boat from the Alpine Ferry to transatlantic steamers at the port of Hoboken.
Construction started Aug. 20, 1917, and continued through 1918. Camp headquarters opened Sept. 17, 1917.
A total of 1,302 buildings were built to house, equip and train 50,000 men at a time, including 611 two-story wooden barracks, capable of quartering sixty-six soldiers each; 189 lavatories, 165 mess halls; 44 barracks for officers' quarters; 27 administration buildings; 39 warehouses; 15 post offices; 4 fire stations; 5 garages; 93 hospitals, and 94 auxiliary buildings (which included seven tailor shops, a 24-chair barber shop, a motor repair shop, a refrigerator plant, and a theater capable of seating 2,500 people).
Facilities-Camp Base Hospital: Pending opening of base hospital, use was made of nearby civilian medical facilities. Organized Oct. 1917; formally opened Jan. 9, 1918.
Other Facilities: Included 39 warehouses (capacity, 1751 carloads), bakery (capacity, 22,000 loaves per day), delousing plant (handling 260 men per hour). Cantonment of 1,264 buildings. Troop capacity on June 30, 1919-About 44,500, including space for 38,000 transients, 500 inmates of detention camp, and 6,000 members of permanent garrison.
Camp Merritt also required the construction of 14 miles of paved roads; a mile long railroad spur connecting the West Shore Railroad to camp warehouses; eleven miles of water lines from the Hackensack Water Company's plant at Oradell; 267 miles of electric wire, requiring 1,029 electric poles; 235 street lamps; two large power plants to supply heat to 126,400 square feet of radiators; and a sewage disposal plant connected to 12.5 miles of pipe. Order was maintained by a force of 300 military policemen. An Officer's Club was built by private donations in May 1918. The soldiers participated in a camp basketball league and frequent athletic competitions.
The first troops arrived in August 1917. Almost 13,000 arrived that December. On average, they spent one or two days there before moving on to Hoboken to board ships to Europe.
Camp Merritt was short-lived. The Spanish influenza of 1918 resulting in many deaths at the site and led to its decommissioning in November 1919. By June 30, 1920 it was closed, when the camp was abandoned, to be sold.
The monument was later erected to honor those soldiers that died due to the spread of the Spanish flu throughout the area. The 66-foot (20 m) tall granite monument stands in the center of the Camp Merritt Memorial Circle at the intersection of Knickerbocker Road and Madison Avenue is inscribed with the names of 15 officers, 558 enlisted men, four nurses and one civilian, who died at Camp Merritt during the war.
These days, Camp Merritt is also commemorated in name by an elementary school present at the site of what was once a popular soldiers' theatre.
Mostly, life goes on at the Cresskill Circle – except for the occasional article, like this one, at the time of Veterans Day that remembers those passing through who fought and sacrificed for our country.
An acknowledgment and thanks to Bergen County historian Kevin Wright for his research on this story. For more by Kevin Wright on Camp Merritt, click here.
Eric Model explores the "offbeat, off the beaten path overlooked and forgotten" on SIRIUS-XM Radio and at www.journeysinto.com.
