McDowell Grove Forest Preserve

McDowell Grove Forest Preserve, located in Naperville, state of Illinois, is a 439-acre (178 ha) preserve on the West Branch of the DuPage River. The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County purchased the first tract of land for this preserve from Alexander McDowell in 1930. This original tract consisted of about 62 acres adjoining the West Branch of the DuPage River. McDowell Grove was home to a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp from 1934 to 1943. During that time the camp housed two CCC companies: Co. 2612 from 1934 to 1937 and later Co V-1668, which had previously been located at Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve. Workers from Camp McDowell completed numerous preserve improvements at McDowell, including dredging a lagoon, building several bridges, construction of a shelter and picnic area and building a limestone dam on the West Branch. At any one time, the camp housed about 200 men. The camp had military style barracks for housing of the 3,800 men who lived and worked in the camp during the five-year period. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army Signal Corps' Sixth Service Command took over the old Civilian Conservation Corps camp and used it as a facility for training students in the use and maintenance of radar technology. These trainees were civilian students who were part of the Engineering, Science, and Management War Training program.