Mr. Billy Hammonds joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in April, 1940 after quitting school at age 15 because he needed to earn money, which was common for many boys in that day. Mr. Hammonds shared his memories of the camp and camp life with us, and the following article was written from Mr. Hammonds' recollections of the camp, with facts from historic news articles added to provide clarity in certain areas.
Mr. Hammonds said that even though the CCC's minimum enrollment age was 17 and he was too young to join, Mrs. Jessie Johnson, who was the CCC enrollment officer, went to his home and secured his parent's written permission for him to join. He said that she was a fine lady, and appreciates her help to this day.
Mt. Pleasant's CCC camp was located one mile north of town on the Old Paris Road on land leased from George Lilienstern, across from the standpipe. When the camp was built, there was very little around it. After years of City growth, the old camp site is now well inside the city limits on North Edwards Avenue near Houston Street. The standpipe, which was the City's first water tower, sat between the present Edwards Avenue water tower and the Senior Citizens' Center, neither of which existed during the CCC's time.
Mr. Hammonds said that the camp office was due west across the Old Paris Road from the standpipe. When he lived there in 1940-41, the camp consisted of an officers quarters building, a school, a recreation hall, a mess hall and kitchen. Six shower stalls, a laundry, and the latrine were located across the west camp road, and which is present-day Houston Street. He said that the camp had its own power plant located between the mess hall and the road, near the coal pile.
Mr. Hammonds said the boys slept in seven barracks buildings that were aligned with the west camp road. The barracks sat off the ground on piers made of pieces of creosote telephone poles cut to length, and he said Barracks #1 was higher off the ground than the others. He said each barracks was roughly 90' long and 40' wide and contained 79 beds -- 75 for enrollees and 4 for their leaders.
Mr. Hammonds said some of Barracks #7's foundation piers, floor joists, and part of the floor burned one night when the coal pile was set on fire. The boys living in Barracks #7 had to move into other barracks while theirs was repaired, which created extremely tight living conditions for a while.
He said that the "hospital" mentioned in period news articles was actually a very small clinic or first aid station located in a portable building near the flag pole. He said they once had to move the building, and a group of boys just picked up the entire building, furnishings and all, and carried it to the new location. He said the clinic only contained a couple of chairs and one examination table.
Mr. Hammonds said that new enrollees were given a physical examination upon entering the camp. Then they were each issued a blanket, 2 sheets, and a second-hand government military trunk to hold their personal possessions. If the enrollee was to be assigned to the Mt. Pleasant camp, they were assigned a barracks at that time. However, many enrollees were only processed into the CCC here and were transferred elsewhere across the United States, depending on where their help was needed. If the enrollee was destined for another camp, they slept on cots in the recreation hall until time for them to depart.
He said the mess hall contained kitchen facilities and seated around 400 people in folding steel chairs. Officers ate in a separate part of the mess hall that could be closed off from the rest of the hall for privacy. Full-time cooks prepared the meals, which may have been nutritional but weren't very tasty. They boys ate foods like oatmeal for breakfast, while officers were fed specially prepared meals like ham or bacon and eggs and other breakfast foods.
Mr. Hammonds said the camp had twelve 1-1/2 ton trucks to transport crews to the fields. The truck beds had frames that allowed them to be covered with canvas in the winter. Although farmers had to purchase all materials used on their farm and make arrangements to have it delivered to the work site, the camp had a two ton truck it occasionally used to haul sod if the farmer they were working for didn't have a way to transport the sod where it was needed. The camp also had its own wrecker. The two ranking officers were provided with late model Ford automobiles.
Racial segregation was common in the South during the 1930s, and as a matter of general policy, the CCC strictly adhered to segregation to prevent upsetting the town folk. As military enlistment for World War II increased, it became harder and harder for the CCC to find enough white boys to fill the camps. CCC officers met with the Mt. Pleasant City Council to ask their permission to convert the Mt. Pleasant camp from a white camp to an Afro-American camp, which the Council and local residents were very agreeable to.
Mr. Hammonds stayed in the Mt. Pleasant camp until Afro-Americans were moved to the camp, and was then transferred to the Kaufman, Texas camp. According to historical news articles, the change from whites to Afro-Americans in the Mt. Pleasant camp occurred in latter October to early November, 1941.
