Camp Thornton opened on this site in the spring of 1934 as a home for young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. At first they slept in tents in grass and weeds three feet tall, and later they built their own military style barracks with mess halls, washrooms, toilets, showers, officer quarters, a lounge, and parade grounds. The federal government created the CCC to help unemployed men and their families; enrollees served six months at a time, with 18 months the maximum, received $31 per month, and sent $25 home to their families. Army and Naval Reserve officers governed the corps, while civilian instructors taught trades such as concrete construction, bricklaying, carpentry, machinery operation, and tree planting. Flagstone picnic shelters, roadways, and bridges built by the CCC still stand throughout the Cook County Forest Preserves and other local, state, and national parks around the country. Camp Thornton existed until 1942, then served as a German P.O.W. camp from June 1945 through April 1946, housed Illiana Christian High School from September 1946 through December 1947, began use by the South Suburban Council of Girl Scouts as a camp in 1951, and saw its last portions demolished in 1989, though foundations remain visible south of the site.