In December 1943, Governor Herbert B. Maw dedicated a five acre site at this location for use by the War Department during the latter part of World War II. The first occupants of the camp built here were approximately 200 Japanese-Americans, part of the thousands relocated to the intermountain west from the west coast during the war, and the internees lived here during the summer and fall of 1944. Beginning in the fall of 1944 and continuing through July 1946, German and Italian prisoners of war were housed here, eventually reaching a total of 340. After the prisoners were released in 1946, the camp served as living quarters for farm workers until about 1970, when the buildings were torn down.