Camp San Luis Obispo
| Camp San Luis Obispo | |
|---|---|
| San Luis Obispo, California | |
 Camp San Luis Obispo
Camp San Luis Obispo
|
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| Coordinates | 35°19′17″N 120°44′20″W / 35.32139°N 120.73889°WCoordinates: 35°19′17″N 120°44′20″W / 35.32139°N 120.73889°W |
| Type | Military Base |
| Site information | |
| Owner | State of California |
| Controlled by |
 California National Guard
|
| Condition | In use |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1928 |
| Built by | California Army National Guard |
| In use | 1928 – Present |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | 1941-03-10 – 1941-08-22 1941-09-05 – 1941-12-08 40th Infantry Division Deployed to Pacific Theater. 1942-01-17 – 1942-03-01 1943-01-18 – 1943-03-27 35th Infantry Division Deployed to France. 1942-04-24 – 1942-08-14 1942-10-20 – 1943-01-15 7th Infantry Division Deployed to Pacific Theater. 1943-03-28 – 1943-07-21 6th Infantry Division Deployed to Pacific Theater. 1943-11-20 – 1944-04-19 81st Infantry Division Deployed to Pacific Theater.. 1944-04-22 – 1944-07-02 96th Infantry Division Deployed to Pacific Theater. 1944-10-01 – 1944-11-23 1944-12-04 – 1945-02-05 86th Infantry Division Deployed to France. |
Camp San Luis Obispo is the original home of the California Army National Guard. It served as an Infantry Division Camp and Cantonment Area for the United States Army during World War II.
Camp San Luis Obispo, formerly called Camp Merriam, was established in 1928 and is called the original home of the California National Guard. The camp is in San Luis Obispo County, which is on the Central Coast of California. State Route 1 passes through the camp about halfway between the cities of Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. Since World War II, the camp has had an area of 15,433 acres (62 km2). The camp originally comprised 6,274 acres (25 km2), and a further 9,159 acres (37 km2) was acquired during 1941. During World War II, the camp had quarters for 1,523 officers and 19,383 enlisted personnel.
During the Korean war, from early January 1950 to late 1953, the camp was again used by the US Army, for signal corps training. There was eight weeks of basic combat training, shorter than the usual 16 weeks for combat arms. Then there were technical schools covering perhaps all aspects of the signal corps, from lineman and teletype, to cryptography. It was also a Prisoner of War Camp during WW ll.
Cuesta College opened for classes in 1965 on a southwest portion of the camp, rented from the California National Guard. The Cuesta College Board of Trustees purchased 160 acres (0.6 km2) of the camp and 20 acres (81,000 m2) adjoining for a permanent campus. The land was on the other side of Chorro Creek from the temporary campus. Construction was started in 1970 and the transfer from the temporary site was completed in 1978.
El Chorro Regional Park was created in 1972 when over 700 acres (2.8 km2) of the camp were given to San Luis Obispo County. The park contains barbecue facilities, a softball field, volleyball courts and camping sites. Dairy Creek Golf Course is located in the southwestern portion of the park. An area in the northern portion of the park is off limits due to the discovery of unexploded munitions.
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Wikipedia