Camp Merritt, The Camp Beautiful

New York: McConnell Printing Company, 1919. General wear. Minor stains. Rusted staples.. 15pp. Illustrated wraps.Camp Merritt was an army base that was activated for use during WWI located in Dumont and Cresskill, NY. The booklet features information and images from photographs of the camp buildings, various administrative offices, money and post exchange, tailor shops, hospital, enlisted men's clubs, officer clubs, churches, recreations/entertainment spaces (movie theater, library, etc.), vocational training courses and classrooms, telegraph office, visitor center, soldier quarters and information how to get to the base from surrounding areas, such as New York City. The front cover has a blue engraving of a fire place with the following quote engraved on the mantle "We make War Against War". This fire place was actually located in Merritt Hall on the base, which was the enlisted men's club. The back cover has the seal of the camp with the caption "Merritt-Men" underneath. Included are several black and white printed photographs of the camp, its grounds and buildings, as well as a map of the camp itself at the back of the booklet. Camp Merritt would be decommissioned after the war in 1919, and sold to the Harris Brothers Company of Chicago in 1920. Unfortunately the buildings of the camp were destroyed during a series of fires shortly there after. OCLC 4 (Mar 2020). Measures 7 1/2" by 4 1/2" It was one of three camps under the control of the New York Port of Embarkation (US Army command that oversaw the movement of US troops and supplies from NY/NJ to overseas destinations). Camp Merritt had the capacity to hold 38,000 transient troops. When the troops were ready to be deployed they would march to Old Closter Dock at Alpine Landing and take ferry boats to piers in Hoboken, NJ, and from there head to Europe and the Western Front. All total, of the approximately four million troops sent to Europe in WWI, about one million were funneled through Camp Merritt. This booklet was given to troops as they returned from overseas, most likely after the war finished in November 1918 and started returning home in 1919.