Fort Jackson

Fort Jackson Municipal Water Report Info
Fort Jackson, adjacent to Columbia, S.C., spans 53,000 acres as a U.S. Army Training Center. Named after President Andrew Jackson, a South Carolina native, the installation was established in 1917 to train soldiers of the 30th and 81st Infantry Divisions.

Between 1925 and 1940, it served as a settlement and training area for the S.C. National Guard before becoming a permanent Army installation in 1940, shedding its former designation of Camp Jackson. Following World War II, Fort Jackson transitioned to a replacement training center. During the Korean conflict, the 8th and 31st Infantry Divisions trained at this facility.

In 1973, Fort Jackson received its designation as a U.S. Army Training Center. Since 1995, it has housed new training facilities and educational institutions, including the U.S. Army Soldier Support Institute, the Department of Defense Chaplain Center and School, and the Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment.

Today, Fort Jackson stands as the largest and most active Initial Entry Training center in the entire U.S. Army, training 50 percent of all soldiers and 60 percent of women entering the Army annually.

The Birth of Camp Jackson
The United States declared war on Germany on April 7, 1917, and on May 24, 1917, Congress passed War Bulletin Number 32, authorizing the President to expand American military forces. Columbia, SC was designated as a site for one of the new Army divisional training camps on May 19, 1917, and by June 2, 1917, the War Department granted final approval for the location of an Army training center in Columbia, SC, initiating construction of Camp Jackson.

Speed was the priority in constructing the new Army cantonments. During the first phase of construction from June to December 1917, more than 1500 buildings were completed, with another 550 structures added the following year. Camp Jackson's original building inventory included 119 officer's quarters, 402 enlisted barracks, 403 bathrooms, 35 additional mess halls, 189 stables, 26 support administrative buildings, 13 post exchanges, 12 guard houses, 51 warehouses, 16 shops, 3 garages, 102 sheds, 4 magazines, 7 community buildings, 3 fire stations, a post office, a laundry building, a bakery, a telephone/telegraph building, a sewage disposal facility, and a base hospital with more than 60 buildings. Construction also included water supply and distribution systems, sewage infrastructure, electrical systems, telephone/telegraph lines, roads, and railway tracks....