Camp Ellis Day will be held Saturday, September 6 in Ipava, Illinois. This is the second article in a series of three about Camp Ellis in 1945 as WWII closes and its uses after the war. We will answer the question, “Why can’t I see any of the camp anymore?”
Camp Ellis was a WWII Army camp that trained support services for the war efforts. Quartermaster, Engineer, Signal Corps, Medical, Special Services, and Prisoner of War units were all part of Camp Ellis.
The Reveille of Camp Ellis It has been 80 years since US Army Camp Ellis was a fully functioning military camp with soldiers, civilians, and prisoners of war stationed on a little over 17,000 Illinois acres of prairie and woods. To understand the transformation of the camp from a modern city built to serve 50,000 people to corn and soybean fields, repurposed military buildings, and a graffiti-covered rifle range, we need to take a good look at what happened in late 1944 and 1945.
By summer 1944, Camp Ellis was nearing its peak in productivity. The Army assigned the 4624th WAC unit with 106 women to the camp earlier in the year. In March, the hospital commander inaugurated a groundbreaking unit called the “Reconditioning and Rehabilitation Program” for wounded returning soldiers who were regaining use of their injured bodies. Peak civilian employee numbers hit 1,600, according to a former civilian administrator.
By May, the camp saw the first Quartermaster Units sent for overseas assignments, but in their place, the Training Group Units began operating at the camp. September 1944 brought a close to the training of 124 Quartermaster Units, and in November, the Training Group was deactivated. Regular army training came to an end in December 1944.
By January 1945, the Medical Group had locked its doors and sent pharmacists, medical, and dental technicians overseas to serve the army. In late January, they saw the last Engineer Units sign out of Camp Ellis. Engineer Units from Camp Ellis totaled 45.
Civilian employees continued to work at the camp, and ads for more civilian employees ran in the weekly The Camp Ellis News. High wages were offered to entice new employees to work at a military camp that would soon no longer be needed.
May 8, 1945, was declared Victory in Europe Day worldwide. Camp Ellis held a solemn observance and was reminded by their camp commander, Col. Sullivan, that much work had to be done to win. Six days later, the 7th War Bond Drive began at Camp Ellis.
By the time VJ Day was observed on September 2, 1945, the award-winning The Camp Ellis News had published its last edition. Camp commander Col. John S. Sullivan had stepped down and taken terminal leave until his retirement from the Army on December 31, 1945.
Rumors of the camp’s closing were being published everywhere. On September 13, 1945, an article in The Rushville Times listed the current number of military personnel at the camp as 5,000, with over 1,000 civilian employees. A weekend shipment of German POWs from Ellis to camps in Michigan and Wisconsin left “only 400 prisoners here as of last weekend.”
By the first of October, the camp was unofficially considered surplus and non-operational, but in December 1945, the Illinois Adjutant General urged the War Department to remove it from the surplus list until it could be considered for a post-war training area. Ten days later, the War Department did just that, and Camp Ellis’ name was pulled from the list on December 17, 1945.
By December 27, 1945, only 200 civilian employees, 50 military enlisted men and 11 officers were left at the camp.
1946-1955: Camp Ellis experienced multiple status changes.
• March 1946: Listed as Class II Army installation; land was to be sold back to original owners.
• Two weeks later: Brigadier General John J. O’Brien requested removal from surplus list.
• September 1946: Request granted; camp removed from surplus designation.
• Rest of 1946: Camp status remained uncertain.
• December 1947: Movement on camp’s status; placed under Fifth Army Command until June 1948.
• January 6, 1949: Reported 89 buildings (mainly lavatories) to be sold.
• November 1949: Illinois National Guard took over Camp Ellis; parts of camp dismantled.
• June 19, 1950: 160 buildings allocated for school use; chapels allocated to qualified groups.
• May 16, 1950: A memo stated that the land would be sold back to the original owners at the original purchase price (later rescinded).
• Sale bill published: 1300 frame buildings, utilities, sewage plant, filtration system, pumping station, and 180,000 sq yards of steel landing mats.
• End of 1950: Illinois National Guard left camp.
• Spring 1951: Land leased to farmers for growing crops; still owned by government.
• November 22, 1951: Used by Chanute Air Force Base for survival training.
• 1952-1955: Camp alternated between surplus status and non-surplus status.
• Consideration by Atomic Energy Commission to build a plant, but later abandoned.
• January 1955: Reports of land being sold back to original owners and for sale in Peoria Journal.
Many know my personal tie to Camp Ellis. The government took farms from my grandparents (Elzie and Vera Chenoweth) and great-grandparents (Wm and Dollie Chenoweth) to build the camp..
Elzie and Vera Chenoweth’s 40 acres of their farm were:
• 1943: Taken by the government for Camp Ellis, $3,069 paid for 40 acres.
• March 1955: They re-purchased for $5,600, an increase of 186%.
My grandparents were never bitter about moving from the Table Grove area. They often said their sons were too young to serve in the military, so this was their contribution to the war effort. I come from a long line of resilient people.
