A tour along Jackson and Antietam roads
With a guardhouse and ornate brick columns, Verbeck Gate, located at the intersection of Jackson Road and West Main Street served as the fort’s main entrance. A plaque mounted on a rock behind the guardhouse cites an earlier military presence here: Major Simon Willard, a founder of Concord, Lancaster, and Groton built his mansion on this spot in 1656. The building also served as barracks for “Willard’s Dragoons,” British soldiers assigned to defend the 40-homestead Nashoba Colony. This was the first organized military force west of Boston. The mansion and colony lasted 20 years before being destroyed by Indians during King Philip’s War.
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The old Red Cross Building is the oldest standing wooden structure left on the former Army base. It is slated to become the Fort Devens Museum.
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| The Sweetheart Memorial. |
The Red Cross Field Office, at the corner of Barnum and Jackson roads, was built in 1941 and was used continuously by the Red Cross until the fort’s closing in 1996. It’s now the oldest remaining wood structure on Devens. One wing held administrative offices, and the other served as an apartment for the station manager, who ran the operation. Hundreds of volunteers crowded the wide-open central room to roll bandages, sew hospital gowns, and perform other activities for the post hospital. The building is being renovated as the future site of the Devens Historical Museum.
The Sweetheart Memorial, on Jackson Road between Buena Vista and Antietam streets, was built in 1918, and originally had a reflecting pool and fountain in front. According to legend, wives, mothers, and sweethearts of the men serving at Camp Devens brought stones from their hometowns for use on this structure.
The building now serving as the Native American Cultural Center, at 12 Antietam Street, once served as the camp stable for the post, which had mounted cavalry until 1942. This long, low, brick building with arched windows was built in 1932. It had a hayloft and could hold 40 horses.
Johnny Herbert, a lifetime Shirley resident and World War II veteran said that, in his youth, he frequently saw cavalry pass through downtown Shirley.
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| A water pump stands next to the former horse stable which housed up to 40 horses during the days of Camp Devens. |
“There would be hundreds of horses, either heading toward or coming from Devens. Most carried uniformed soldiers, but others formed teams pulling wagons, cannons, and caissons,” he said. “It would take a full half hour for the whole unit to pass by.”
The old post hospital, at 4 Antietam Street, was built in 1932 and used as a hospital until 1941. It was replaced by Lowell General Hospital’s 55 buildings when World War II started and converted to an administrative annex.
Armen and Martha Demerjian bought the building in 2001 for their business, Eglomise Designs, and found some interesting features.
“I was concerned about the structural integrity of the building and asked if it was sound,” Martha said. “They told me it was built to take a direct hit.”
The new owners also found hundreds of maps of Germany, and a floor-to-ceiling map of Korea.
Armen thought it was ironic that they moved into a building which relied heavily on communications but went without telephone service for three months. He said, “The place had 260 telephone lines running to it, but we could only use cell phones.”
They also found two jail cells in the basement and a shooting range in the attic, but were more surprised by the people, some in uniform, who would walk in and start looking around.
“We have people coming in on a weekly basis,” Martha said. “They served in this building and want to look around. It’s nostalgic for them to come back and see the place.”