World War II Temporary Military Buildings: A Brief History of the Architecture and Planning of Cantonments and Training Stations in the United States

Abstract : The Military Construction Authorization Bill of 1983 requires the demolition of World War II-era temporary buildings on Department of Defense (DOD) installations. Before demolition can proceed, however, the historical significance of all affected buildings must be documented and assessed, as required by Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. In 1986, DOD entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers to document the temporary buildings erected on U.S. military installations during mobilization of World War II. In its role as the Tri- Services Cultural Resources Center, the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (USACERL) coordinated a study of surviving DOD temporary structures, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106. This study describes the principal types of temporary structures built during mobilization for World War II (1939 through 1946), documents their approximate numbers and locations, and provides a historical context to support DOD's future assessment of this architecture's historical significance. Demolition, National Historic Preservation Act, Military installations, World War II, Temporary buildings