CAMP REYNOLDS HISTORY BOOK     

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In 1942, nearly 2,500 acres of rich Pymatuning Township farmland, located in Mercer County was transformed almost overnight into the largest camp of its kind in Pennsylvania.

Its impressive array of service clubs, gymnasiums, chapels, libraries, theaters, hospital, post exchanges, guest facilities, etc. rivaled those of any post in the country. Its purpose was to receive, process, and forward both officers and enlisted men to the European and Pacific Theaters of Operations.

On June 24, 1942 the War Department announced in Washington D.C. the authorization and awarding of contracts totaling more than $3,000,000 for a military installation, which was to be a personnel replacement depot near Shenango, a small village south of Greenville.

The specifications for the Shenango Personnel Replacement Depot called for a three-part camp consisting of a service area (theaters, gyms, etc.), a hospital and headquarters area, and a battalion area consisting of barracks and other facilities. The specifications also included a rifle range.

Gannett, Eastman, Fleming of Harrisburg, PA and Mellon-Stuart Construction Co. of Pittsburgh, PA received the contracts to design and build the camp to house 90,000 troops. 

Ground was broken July 8, 1942. In all, there were over 1,500 buildings built by the time the camp was completed. The work force worked ten hour days and six-day weeks. There were two 250,000 gallon water tanks and two 500,000 gallon reservoirs. In 1943 housing was built across from the camp for civilian workers.

Commanders

Camp Highlights

During its heyday Shenango Personnel Replacement Depot - Camp Reynolds had its own post office and published its own weekly newspaper, the Victory News.

Stage, screen, and radio headliners, together with sports notables and persons prominent in other fields of public endeavor, entertained the troops at the camp. Among the outstanding guests were band leaders Satchmo Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Blue Barron, Bob Strong, and Wayne King, singer-actress Judy Garland, the Mills Brothers, Virginia Weidler, Bonnie Baker, June Preisser, contralto Alice Stewart, boxers Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Two-Ton Tony Galento and Fritzie Zivic, and Pennsylvania Governor Edward Martin.

Others in the constant parade of entertainers were Major Bowes and his Amateur Hour, the Truth or Consequences radio show, the Camel Caravan, billiard experts Irving Crane and Charles Peterson, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians, the Harmonica Rascals, Stu Erwin and the cast of "Goodnight Ladies", Art Rooney, Andy Kerr, Olsen and Johnson's "Helzapoppin", a number of touring USO shows and amateur theatrical groups from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Sharon.

Major General John F. Reynolds

On September 21, 1943 the name of the camp was changed from Shenango Personnel Replacement Depot to Camp Reynolds in honor Civil War hero Major General John Fulton Reynolds. General Reynoplds was killed on July 1st, 1863 at the battle of Gettysburg.

Prisoners of War

In April 1944 Camp Reynolds was designated as a Prisoner of War Camp with four branch camps which were located in North East (Lakeside Hotel), Erie County, PA,  Kane, McKeon County, PA,  Marienville, Forest County, PA, and Sheffield, Warren County, PA. The original group of 300 prisoners arrived at Camp Reynolds in the first part of April 1944.

Of the 1800 plus prisoners of war around 800 were at Camp Reynolds with the remaining POWS being located at Reynolds' four branch camps.

The prisoners of war living at Camp Reynolds were placed in a rectangle of barracks in the northeastern  area of the reservation.  A high barbwire fence surrounded it and there were towers at the four corners occupied by armed enlisted men.

The POWS worked in and also outside the camp as well. They were divided into "on-post" and "off-post" prisoners.

A few of the prisoners did attempt to escape from Camp Reynolds. Many of the escapees were captured nearby. Those that did manage to get out of the area were mostly captured in larger cities, like Pittsburgh, PA, with the language barrier being a factor in their capture.

Race Riot

The Conversion

When the war ended and plans were under way for abandonment of the camp a wide variety of ideas for its post-war use sprang up. Many concerned people wanted to see the land developed rather than watch it revert back to potato farms. These individuals had the foresight to realize the possibilities of Camp Reynolds developing into a residential area and possibly an industrial complex.

The War Assets Administration controlled the area for disposition. In 1946 Silas Moss was elected president of the Greenville Business Men's Association (GBMA) and they began to acquire large buildings and the land of Camp Reynolds for the benefit not only of Greenville but for the entire area. Their first purchasewas a 57 acre tract which included the warehouse area.

The businessmen sold the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, located in Sharon, paying the first years rent in advance. They then leased the rest of the warehouses to other businesses.

After purchasing the warehouse the GBMA's trustees were constantly watching the sale of all the important buildings throughout the camp area. They purchased numerous buildings and the land costing over $76,000. They then turned buying more land.

The GBMA's trustees then created Reynolds Development. A year later the size of the project and the volume of transactions made it impossible for the committee members to handle the project on their own. At that time they hired Robert B. Parker, Jr., a graduate engineer who had previously represented an engineering consulting firm  who designed the camp but was also a professional consultant to the committee.

In addition to serving as managing engineer for the GBMA, Parker became general manager of the water company, the sewage disposal company and the Pymatuning Independent Telephone Company.

In 1950 homes started to be built. A large majority of the houses were prefabricated houses.

Area Expands

With the businesses in the industrial are and a growing residential area the former Army camp area be came known as Reynolds began to expand. The Reynolds Drive-In Theater was built in 1947, Reynolds Bowling Alley in 1958, the Greencrest Baptist Church in 1959 and Reynolds High School  in 1960, Later in the 1960;s the Reynolds Elementary School and the Reynolds Plaza were built..