Camp Pike
Camp Pike was established on 13,000 acres of land by the U.S. Army in 1917. The camp, named for explorer Zebulon Montgomery Pike, was originally used to train the Eighty-Seventh Army Division. The maximum capacity of the camp was 65,000 soldiers.
The cantonment was renamed Camp Joseph T. Robinson for the distinguished U.S. senator from Arkansas in 1937, and is currently home to the Arkansas Army National Guard and the Arkansas Air National Guard.
The original siting of Camp Pike was engineered by the Little Rock Board of Commerce, which donated the land and built roads for the Army. The Army itself constructed more than two thousand buildings on the site. Military engineer John R. Fordyce supervised construction of the camp. The contractor on the facility was Jason Stewart and Company of New York and St. Louis.
The camp was originally commanded by major-general Samuel D. Sturgis.
References
- Bernie Babcock, Yesterday and Today in Arkansas: A Folio of Rare and Interesting Pictures from Mrs. Babcock's Collection for Stories and Legends of Arkansas (Jordan & Foster Printing Co., 1917).
