History of Camp Ripley
The site for Camp Ripley was first approved following World War I in 1929. The State of Minnesota purchased 12,000 acres (49 km2) of land to be used for military training. The site was officially named Camp Ripley in December 1930. It was named after Fort Ripley, a frontier fort that had been closed by the Federal Government in 1877. The remains of Fort Ripley are contained within the camp's property boundaries. The first soldiers that came to train at Camp Ripley stayed in tents, thus, training was only possible in the summer months. The government started to see that it wasn't beneficial to use tents all the time while training, so they built buildings. There are now many historic buildings at Camp Ripley. An example is Valhalla, the governors lodge. President Harry S. Truman stayed there twice and so did Senator Eugene McCarthy. When the lodge isn't being used by the governor it is used for other VIP guests.
In 1951, the MN legislature approved the purchasing of more land by Camp Ripley. After the purchase they then had 45,000 acres (180 km2) of land. Camp Ripley slowly bought more land and now has 53,000 acres (210 km2).
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