By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Midway Village Museum is searching for additional artifacts it hopes can help tell the story of Camp Grant, a former U.S. Army facility that brought thousands of soldiers to the city’s outskirts during World War I and II.
The museum is working on creating a new permanent exhibit about Camp Grant, and on Thursday it held a news conference in hopes of reaching families connected to the former military training site.
“There are a lot of people from the region and from the country that came through Camp Grant that might have pieces in their family … or diaries, or stories to help us tell the story of Camp Grant,” said Patrick O’Keefe, executive director of Midway Village Museum.
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Thousands of soldiers trained at or were discharged from Camp Grant, others had civilian roles or attended dances or parties with soldiers from the camp. It was also used by the Illinois National Guard and the Civilian Conservation Corps.
There are “all kinds of ways that local families have been touched by the camp that had a lasting impact on Rockford,” said Laura Furman, curator of collections for Midway.
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The museum hopes to safeguard and display those historic artifacts for future generations.
Midway was spurred to launch the permanent exhibit after the Camp Grant Museum and Command Post Restaurant closed over the shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Yolanda Weisensel and her late husband, Stanley, had run the museum and restaurant since the mid-1990s. In fall 2020, she auctioned off its memorabilia, and Midway Village acquired much of its collection.
The museum bought maps, photographs, aerial images that show the development of the camp, ID badges from civilian involvement “and other things that really show how far the tentacles went out into the life of the community,” Furman said.
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“We feel like we’ve got a great amount of artifacts, and I think the exhibit as we’re building it now … will be really exciting and engaging for people of all ages to really enjoy and appreciate and understand the story of Camp Grant and it’s impact on our community,” O’Keefe said.
Camp Grant was established in 1917 as the primary location for infantry training. It covered more than 5,600 acres during World War I and roughly 3,200 during World War II before it ceased operations in 1946. Much of the land is now part of the Chicago Rockford International Airport.
“It had a huge impact on the demographics of our community during those wars. It had a great impact on the infrastructure that was added to the community,” Furman said. “Also a really big impact on our economy with thousands of soldiers spending money at Rockford businesses while they were here.”
There will be a future capital campaign to raise money to complete the exhibit after designs are finalized. The total amount of funding that needs to be raised hasn’t been determined yet, O’Keefe said.
How to help | Camp Grant collection
Midway Village Museum is seeking stories and artifacts connected to Camp Grant. You can go here if you want to add something to the Camp Grant collection.
You can also donate to the Camp Grant Collection Fund here or visit midwayvillage.com for more info.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.