Rhode Island’s past could fill pages and pages of history books. So it comes as no surprise that our former World War II POW camp, Fort Kearny, tends to stay under the radar. And while its physical location no longer exists, the fort remains an essential part of our history. Did you know Fort Kearny once housed German prisoners?

Fort Kearny was located in the town of Narragansett in Washington County.
Wikipedia
The fort was named for Major General Philip Kearny, who was killed in the American Civil War.
Fort Kearny was built under the Endicott Program in 1904 as part of the Coast Defenses of Narragansett Bay.
Fort Wiki
The fort was most active from 1908 - 1945.

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The fort was most active during World War II, when it was used as a prisoner-of-war camp for German soldiers.
Fort Wiki
The property was the headquarters of a program to re-educate the German prisoners with democratic values. This was one of several camps that were used in attempts to reeducate German prisoners away from their recent Nazi-dominated pasts and to prepare them for rebuilding a new and what was hoped for democratic society from what was left of war-torn Germany.
These days, the location serves as the Narragansett Bay Campus of the University of Rhode Island.
Narragansett, Rhode Island / Google
It hasn't been used as a military fort in decades, although its history is preserved around the campus.
Rhode Island is a small state with a big history, although this moment in time is often overlooked.
Dan DeLuca / Google
Rhode Island played a seemingly small role in World War II, but clearly, we were not unaffected by it.

Did you know that the Narragansett Bay Campus of the University of Rhode Island was once used for these purposes? Our state is definitely full of mystery.

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Narragansett, RI, USA