Creating Research Questions through Primary Source Documents

How did Iowa impact the United States during World War I?

2018.043.001 This photograph shows a group of soldiers stationed at Camp Dodge near Johnston, Iowa, participating in morning exercise.

2018.043.004 Camp Dodge, Johnston, Iowa.

2018.043.005 Rifle training at Camp Dodge, Johnston, Iowa.

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Camp Dodge was established in 1909 under Major General Grenville M. Dodge from Council Bluffs, Iowa who had served as Iowa's strongest commander during the Civil War. On June 15, 1917, the camp was chosen by the US Army Selection Board as one of 16 regional training camps for the U.S. Army. The camp began to train soldiers from Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. From July to November 1917, 30 barracks (each held 150 men) were constructed including a mess hall, assembly hall, post office, two headquarters buildings, an auditorium, a hospital, three fire station, libraries and eight YWCA halls.

After the United States entered World War I in 1917, Camp Dodge played a significant role in the expansion of the United States military. Between September 5, 1917 and December 15, 1918, 111,462 recruits, including 37,111 Iowans, trained for service at Camp Dodge. The camp contained 1,409 buildings, twenty miles of streets, 8,000 horses and mules, a power plant, a hospital, and a peak garrison of 46,491 soldiers in July 1918. After the war ended, Camp Dodge became a demobilization center, and over 208,000 soldiers were discharged at the camp.

After the war, Camp Dodge only housed Iowa National Guard soldiers. In 1921, the majority of the camp was sold to the Northwest Lumber and Wrecking Company in Minneapolis. The company bought 1,200 buildings for $251,000 and seven miles of the camp was demolished. Since the war, the Camp has served as the Iowa National Guard headquarters and in the 1990s, the addition of the United States Army's National Maintenance Training Center was built to continue the training of state soldiers.

Prior to this lesson, students will have learned about Iowa's involvement in World War I and the role that Camp Dodge played as a training camp for the war. This lesson will fall at the tail end of the unit and will begin a project for students to research and examine a personal question they have about Iowa's involvement in the war. Students will be learning how to ask deeper level thinking questions based on pictures and will use that knowledge to write their own research questions which would be used for a research paper.

• SS-Gov.9-12.27: Unique Iowa Systems

Students will identify the difference between compelling and supporting questions.;Students will write their own compelling and supporting questions on a topic of their choice.