Earlier in 2023, history was made at Fort McCoy when four World War II-era barracks were moved from the 1600-block to other areas of the cantonment area in an effort to save the buildings for reuse in spaces in other blocks.

Contractor JMJ Construction of New Lisbon, Wis., and Heritage Movers of Blue River, Wis., successfully moved the first two of the four barracks on Feb. 24 and March 2. Then they moved the last two buildings from the 1600 block to the 1800 block and 2800 block on April 4 and April 6, respectively.

Once the buildings were moved, they were set on blocks and fenced off until further work could be completed in their new areas. Well, that work recently began this summer in early August with the building of the new foundations for the buildings, said Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works (DPW) General Engineer Gareth Ferguson.

As of the end of December, Ferguson said three buildings were on their foundations and the fourth will soon be in place.

The original contract amount to do the move of the four buildings and complete all the work was approximately $1.7 million, DPW officials said.

The contract scope of work shows that in addition to moving the buildings to their new locations, the work includes building new concrete foundations, installing new furnaces, hot water heaters, and completing site work such as installing utilities and completing grading and sidewalks, said DPW Construction Inspection Branch Chief Dan Hanson.

The contract scope of work also includes repairs to anything damaged during transport.

And looking back at Fort McCoy’s history, all four of the buildings were originally built 81 years ago in 1942 during the construction of Fort McCoy’s cantonment area. An article in the Aug. 28, 1942, edition of The Real McCoy newspaper discussed the actual construction of the cantonment area and these buildings.

“Actual building and grading operations for the erection of the hundreds of buildings began March 20, 1942, although the original survey by a corps of engineers was made in July 1941. Authorization for construction was given by the War Department on Feb. 9, 1942.”

The article also states, “Each of the new buildings is of the most modern military design for comfort and welfare of the Soldiers. All are equipped with the latest of scientific appliances. The first Soldiers to move into the new area were the Camp McCoy Military Police. Hundreds of mechanics of every type and description were employed to grade and construct the hundreds of buildings, warehouses, recreation centers, chapels, and other necessary buildings. A few months ago, this new camp site was a countryside consisting of beautiful hills and valleys studded with scrub oak, jack pine, and wild grass. Today it is one of the finest military camps in the world.”

Ferguson said the work on the building will be completed soon.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.” Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.