About Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Named after the famed explorer Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Fort Lewis began when Pierce County citizens purchased and donated 70,000 acres of land for military use. The only requirement was that the land be used as a permanent Army post. In 1917, initial construction began under the command of Major David L. Stone, and the camp was ready for occupancy in 90 days. Some 60,000 men moved into the camp to train for World War I. Once the war was over, the camp was passed from Pierce County’s control to the federal government. Permanent brick barracks were built in 1926, and by 1927, the government had transformed Fort Lewis into a permanent post.

With the start of World War II, nearly 26,000 officers and men were in service at Fort Lewis and McChord Field, and the Fort was accepting Army draftees. The post was operating for several hours on a wartime basis prior to the Pearl Harbor attacks of Dec. 7, 1941. A prisoner of war camp was established at Fort Lewis in 1943 and continued for three more years.

In 1944, Fort Lewis became an Army Service Forces training center for medics and engineers across the nation. Once the war ended, Fort Lewis became a training ground for inductees who were being sent overseas.

By 1950, Canadian troops arrived at Fort Lewis to train for duty in Korea and are believed to be the largest armed group from a foreign nation ever to stage on a U.S. operated facility.

By 1966, once soldiers deployed to Vietnam, Fort Lewis returned to a personnel training and transfer station, and I Corps was activated here in 1981.