Historian David Erdman describes how Camp Greene, built in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1917, trained millions of American soldiers for World War I through trench warfare simulations. The camp left lasting marks on the city, drawing crowds that rivaled even Panthers games, and the Dowd House still stands as a physical reminder of Charlotte's role in the Allied victory.
You know, we're celebrating this year, 2018, because 100 years ago on November 11th, World War I ended. It was known as the war to end all wars. It was known as the Great War. We never thought there would be a World War II. America got into World War I pretty late. The war started really in 1914. There was a very strong sentiment in America to stay out of this war. When Woodrow Wilson, our president, called for troops and called for getting in the war, America had to train up millions of soldiers. There was no Fort Bragg at the opening of World War I. Camp Greene in Charlotte started on July 1st in 1917. They were training troops to fight a war that had already started, and they knew what the main characteristic of the war was, and that is trench warfare. So they dug trenches at Camp Greene and put up sandbags and trained the men to live in those holes so that they would have some sense of what it would be like— hot, cold, mud, rain, all the miseries. To this day, the one building that remains from Camp Greene is the command center which was the plantation house still called the Dowd House off Wilkinson Boulevard. The plantation belonged to the Dowd family, and we still have Dowds in Charlotte. We have a Dowd YMCA here in Charlotte. There's never been an event except a Panthers football game that would bring as many people to Charlotte at one time as Camp Greene brought, and they stayed and stayed until they got shipped to Europe. This city Can be and should be very proud of the role it played in winning the First World War.
