Kentucky and the Great War

On June 11, 1917, Kentucky joined the rest of the Nation in the fight to end the aggression in Europe. On that day, it was officially announced that one of 16 new Cantonments would be built in Louisville, Ky. It was the news that the city had been awaiting for several months. When war was declared on April 6, 1917, the US Army was making plans to increase it's man power by organizing new Divisions. The 84th Division would draft men from the states of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

The new training camp would be built somewhere in one of the three states. Multiple cities entered into the race to win the construction project. Along with Louisville, Bowling Green, KY., Lexington, KY., Evansville, IN., Fort Wayne, IN., Indianapolis, IN., and Jeffersonville, IN were bidding for the project. Jeffersonville, IN. was a serious competitor as it was the US Army's Quartermaster's Depot, which stored most of the military goods and equipment, that would be needed to supply the new cantonment. 

The contract to build the camp was signed in Washington DC on June 20, 1917. The army construction quartermaster left for Louisville that same day, and arrived by train the next. Construction began two days later on June 23, 1917.

Construction continued at a blinding pace. 1787 buildings were built between June 21st and August 28th, when the project was considered to be substantially complete. A total elapsed time of 69 calendar days from when the contract was signed. Along with the structures, 16.3 miles of new roads, 30.8 miles of new sewer lines, 38.7 miles of new water lines, all new electric and telegraph lines, extension of the street car line into the camp, and 6.75 miles of railroad track and spurs were built. The first soldiers arrived at Camp Zachary Taylor on September 8, 1917, and all construction was complete on November 23, 1917.