Camp Evans Historic District

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This article is about a historic district in New Jersey. For the American Civil War site in Virginia, see Fort Evans. For the Army's Evans 65 ft (20 m) utility ship with the same eponym (Lt Col Paul Wesley Evans), see List of ships of the United States Army. For the 1968 Camp Evans near Phong Điền,[1] Vietnam, see U.S. 11th Aviation Group.
Camp Evans Historic District
File:Camp Evans Historic District (38).JPG
The Marconi Hotel dedicated in 1914[3]:{{{3}}} at the Belmar Receiving Station is now InfoAge's "main campus"[4]:{{{3}}}
Camp Evans Historic District is located in New Jersey
Camp Evans Historic District
Nearest city Belmar, New Jersey
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Area 55 acres (22 ha)
Built 1912-4
NRHP Reference # 02000274[2]:{{{3}}}
Added to NRHP March 26, 2002

Camp Evans Historic District is an area of the Camp Evans Formerly Used Defense Site in Wall Township, New Jersey. The site of the military installation (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.) is noted for a 1914 transatlantic radio receiver and various World War II/Cold War laboratories of the United States Army (e.g., signal, vacuum tube, dosimetry, & photo-optics). From 1925 to 1935 the site was the headquarters for the New Jersey Ku Klux Klan.[5]

Belmar Receiving Station

The Belmar Receiving Station was established near the Belmar community together with a separate transatlantic transmitting facility at New Brunswick, New Jersey, by the American Marconi Company. The Belmar station included "a mile-long bronze-wire receiving antenna strung on six 400 foot tall masts with three 150 foot balancing towers along the Shark River. Outgoing Morse-code messages were sent via a telegraph land-line from the Belmar Station to the transmitter." The receiving site also had a telegraph land-line to a New York office.[6]

Original buildings[7] (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.) were built by the J.G. White Engineering Corp. between 1912 and 1914 as part of Guglielmo Marconi's "wireless girdle"[8] around the Earth. In one of the buildings being constructed for the Belmar station, the regenerative circuit was demonstrated on January 31/February 1, 1914.

In April 1917, the Belmar station was acquired as part of the Navy's World War I "Trans-Atlantic Communication System" and after the November 1918 Armistice with Germany, Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America regained the Belmar station,[9] which Radio Corporation of America owned from October 1919 until 1924.[10]

Klan

The Ku Klux Klan owned the site from 1925 to 1935.[5]

The Young People's Association for the Propagation of the Gospel purchased the Belmar station in 1936,[11] and The King's College opened in September 1938—when it was denied accreditation it relocated (currently is in the Empire State Building.)

The Signal Corps Radar Laboratory (SCRL) of Fort Hancock[12]:{{{3}}} (formerly "Field Laboratory No. 3")[13]:{{{3}}} in the late 1930s used "a field set-up at" the Belmar station to compare US radars with the British CH-CHL Radars.[14] (additional testing of hardware was "often done" at the nearby Twin Lights radar station,[15]:{{{3}}} e.g., a trial radar network in 1939.)

File:SCR-271-D-600.jpg
SCR-271 at Camp Evans

Evans Signal Laboratory

In 1941 the Belmar radio "site was renamed the Evans Signal Laboratory"[16] after Wall Township purchased "the original Marconi buildings and the surrounding 93 acres" for the Army to move the SCRL.[12] Initial construction "quickly built more than two dozen buildings and structures on the open land to the south and west of the Marconi buildings",[17]:{{{3}}} including 2 boiler houses, 4 long rectangular one-story buildings, and "two groups of radio antenna shelters".[3] Two models of the SCR-271 radar "were located near the intersection of Monmouth Boulevard and Watson Road" (the model D had a sign for the SCRL Installation and Maintenance School).[18]

Camp Evans

Camp Evans was designated by "War Department General Order, 17 February 1942";[13] the Camp Evans Signal Laboratory was named on March 31, 1942[19] (the date of the camp's dedication);[13]:{{{3}}} and in December 1942, the War Department directed the Signal Corps General Development Laboratories and the Camp Evans Signal Lab to combine into the Signal Corps Ground Service (SCGS) with headquarters at Bradley Beach, New Jersey (Hotel Grossman).[citation needed] The Camp Evans lab used "VT-158 tube[s] to adapt SCR-268s for" picket ships,[15] modified the SCR-268 into the SCR-602 which detected Japanese kamikazes[20] (producing 12 renumbered AN/TPQ-3 developmental models)[21] and on the SCR-584 tracking radar, did preliminary testing in December 1941 and added identification friend or foe.[17]:{{{3}}} The lab also improved components (e.g., for the proximity fuse) and established a special unit which tested[where?] captured German and Japanese radars.[22][verification needed] The laboratory was also responsible for Army radar development by civilian companies (e.g., GE AN/CPS-1 early warning radar, Rad Lab AN/CPS-4 height finder, Bendix AN/GPN-2 & LE AN/GPN-6 search sets, and Bendix AN/CPN-18 secondary surveillance radar).[17]:{{{3}}}

By August 1943, Lt Col Paul E. Watson was the director of the Camp Evans Signal Laboratory.[23] In addition to the Signal lab, Camp Evans had the Joint Army-Navy Tube Standardization (JANS) Laboratory and in May 1945, the Signal Corps Ground Services was reformed into the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories.[17]:{{{3}}} "Initial experimentation with an enemy mortar and artillery locating radar was conducted at Camp Evans in 1944."[24] By the end of the war Camp Evans had "approximately 134 buildings and structures on approximately 217-acres"[17]:{{{3}}} including the "Meteorological Branch of the Army Signal Corps"[25] (cf. the Meteorological Branch at McCook Field).[26]

Cold War events

  • Camp Evans' black engineers contributed[specify] to electronic research, development, product distribution and training,[27] e.g., Dr. Walter Mcafee at Fort Monmouth[28] "first calculated the speed of the moon" during Project Diana,[29] (it took 40 minutes to travel 15 deg, the width of the fixed radar beam rotating with the Earth.)[30]
  • By August 1951, the Evans Signal Laboratory had a Meteorological Branch[34] in Bldg. 39.[35]
  • After a visit on October 20, 1953. McCarthyism claimed that Camp Evans was a "house of spies", but none of the camp's employees which Senator McCarthy investigated in 1953 and 1954 were ever prosecuted.[citation needed]
  • The Project Diana site[40]:{{{3}}} with building 9162 was used for the NASA TIROS-1 satellite's downlink antenna ("60-foot dish shaped antenna, Space Sentry")[40]:{{{3}}} on April 1, 1960, for the first photograph[dubious – discuss] from space[17]:{{{3}}} (the "ground terminal [was] at Fort Monmouth"[40] in the "laboratory receiving area").[38]
  • The Army Photo-optics Laboratory opened at Camp Evans in 1963.[when?]
  • Most Deal Test Site "facilities and personnel" moved to Camp Evans due to the Deal site lease terminating on June 30, 1973.[37]

Closure

The 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission at the end of the Cold War designated Camp Evans for closure (e.g., the Army Radiation Dosimetry Laboratory closed in 1999)[43] Evans units moved to Fort Monmouth's "Main Post" (Project 42682),[44] and Camp Evans land transferred to the National Park Service.[citation needed]

A section of the former camp is home to the Brookdale Campus at Wall, a branch of the Brookdale Community College.[45]

A district of Camp Evans was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, and camp areas became part of the Save America's Treasures project[46] (2005 funds were donated to restore the AN/TLM-18.)[41] In 2011, Institute for Exploratory Research began in "the basement at the InfoAge Science Center".

InfoAge

The InfoAge (Information Age Learning Center) was established in some of the historic district buildings (e.g., Bldg 9116 has "Radio Room One).[47] InfoAge is a member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers and part of the NASA Digital Learning Network. Its focus is science and the scientific and military history of Camp Evans. Exhibits and participating organizations include computers, electronic warfare, a Cold War-era fallout shelter, vintage radio, the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame and Museum, and the New Jersey Shipwreck Museum.

External images
image icon Camp map with numbered buildings
image icon "Diana Radar" sign
video icon Diana & AN/TLM-18 antennas (min. 19:30 & 19:50)

References

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  1. ↑ http://www.campevansfacs.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6UEy_5J79M
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://books.google.com/books?id=Iqvss1iSq84C&lpg=PA176&ots=lxhqEKrO7R&dq=%22Signal%20Corps%20Ground%20Service%22%20evans%20-combine&pg=PA24#v=onepage&q=evans&f=false
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Visit
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ NRHP Registration Form, citation 16: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=r8BPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA360&dq=clifden+marconi&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA360,M1
  8. ↑ Bucher - Practical Wireless Telegraphy - 1920 ed
  9. ↑ Guglielmo Marconi
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ http://www.campevans.org/camp-history/the-kings-college The King's College Early History at Camp Evans
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 NRHP Registration Form citation 41
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 http://www.history.army.mil/banner_images/focus/150th_signal_corps/the_test.pdf
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 NRHP Registration Form citation 44: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ http://www.campevans.org/history/radar/wwii-radar-array-scr-270-and-scr-271-cs-2005-12-08
  19. ↑ http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/1/1a/IEEE_New_Jersey_Coast_Section_Centennial_Journal_Part_2.pdf
  20. ↑ NRHP Registration Form citation 45: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/pe-03-1964.html
  22. ↑ NRHP Registration Form citation 51: Zahl, Electronics Away, pp. 46-48.[full citation needed]
  23. ↑ http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/smpr83.html
  24. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=Iqvss1iSq84C&lpg=PA176&ots=lxhqEKrO7R&dq=%22Signal%20Corps%20Ground%20Service%22%20evans%20-combine&pg=PA30#v=onepage&q=evans&f=false
  25. ↑ https://www.google.com/#q=%22camp+evans%22+%22meteorological+branch%22
  26. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=E1gGW_TqLawC&pg=PA160&lpg=PA160&dq=%22signal+corps%22+%22meteorological+branch%22&source=bl&ots=ytEhsj-fO9&sig=9nZC_g_9LmT9ve_UcCjI_1apJX8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=x5hfU8evLsfj2QX1u4CoDw&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22signal%20corps%22%20%22meteorological%20branch%22&f=false
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/mcdonalds-2000.html
  29. ↑ http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php?t=625754
  30. ↑ http://edn.com/electronics-blogs/edn-moments/4404759/Project-Diana-bounces-radio-waves-off-moon--January-10--1946
  31. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=f42fFDCTF0MC&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=%22camp+evans%22+%22scr-271%22&source=bl&ots=mt6as0Lo6y&sig=Cc2BjxZmNIHqw58pfi_x0tC69mo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v5xdU9TxIrXIsATMvoGgCw&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22camp%20evans%22%20%22scr-271%22&f=false
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ http://cecom.army.mil/historian/docdisp.php?fname=diana.html&dirname=Radar%2FDiana%2C+some_courtesyInfoage
  34. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=v5grAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=%22signal+corps%22+%22meteorological+branch%22&source=bl&ots=fR9V0DoQQc&sig=-HzEsyNwiRxWddVbiR1KOqqynY4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=x5hfU8evLsfj2QX1u4CoDw&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22signal%20corps%22%20%22meteorological%20branch%22&f=false
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/b9401.html
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 http://books.google.com/books?id=Iqvss1iSq84C&lpg=PA176&ots=lxhqEKrO7R&dq=%22Signal%20Corps%20Ground%20Service%22%20evans%20-combine&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q=evans&f=false
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 http://www.historicfilms.com/tapes/8019 vintage film at minute 21:40 (film at end includes Eisenhower's voice broadcast from satellite)
  39. ↑ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bt-8SgJTDEMJ:cecom.army.mil/historian/pubupdates/EVANSAREA_032205.doc+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/tiros1-2.html
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 http://www.campevans.org/articles/space-sentry-2005-04-13
  42. ↑ http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/mm-1958-06-19-p1-Space-Sentry-Radar.html
  43. ↑ http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/faq.html
  44. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=Iqvss1iSq84C&lpg=PA176&ots=lxhqEKrO7R&dq=%22Signal%20Corps%20Ground%20Service%22%20evans%20-combine&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q=evans&f=false
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ http://www.infoage.org InfoAge Science/History Learning Center[verification needed]
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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