Camp Hancock served as an infantry post from 1872 to 1877 and as a quartermaster depot and signal office until 1894. Originally named Camp Greeley for Horace Greeley, it was renamed in 1873 for George Winfield Hancock, commander of the Department of Dakota. Its main purpose was to protect the supplies, equipment, and engineer crews of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and by 1883 it also functioned as a storage station for U.S. Army quartermaster supplies. A Signal Corps reporting station established there in 1874 transmitted military messages and maintained records of the nation's weather patterns. After the army post was decommissioned in 1894, its buildings housed offices and the director's residence for the U.S. Weather Bureau station until 1940, and the site was later occupied by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service until May 1949. Nearby, the town of Edwinton was established on the Missouri River in early 1872 and named for Northern Pacific Railroad chief engineer Edwin L. Johnson; on July 17, 1873, Edwinton was renamed Bismarck to attract German investors and encourage railroad construction, and the growing town had a population of 800 and more than 100 buildings, including many saloons and gambling houses.