Site of Camp Hulen

Palacios had 2,281 residents in 1940 when thousands of soldiers arrived, and the town had nowhere to put them. Housing, sanitation and vice problems led the Army to declare a five-county sanitary zone, and rain earned the camp the names Lake Hulen and Swamp Hulen. A prisoner of war camp for about 250 Germans ran from November 1943 until September 1945. Afterward some 2,400 prefabricated buildings sold from about $25 each, and camp chapels went to Danevang and Blessing.

What the plaque says

Site of Camp Hulen Camp Palacios was established on this site in 1925 as the summer training camp for the 36th Infantry of the Texas National Guard. Located on the Turtle and Tres Palacios Bays, the land was donated by Palacios area citizens. Over 6,000 guardsmen arrived in July of 1926 for the first training session. Renamed for Major John A. Hulen (1871-1957) in 1930, the new camp supported the largest concentration of troops for field training in the United States military. In 1940 the War Department leased Camp Hulen; first to undergo anti-aircraft training were National Guard units from several states. By 1941 the city of Palacios suffered a housing shortage that was alleviated by government housing near Camp Hulen. After extensive development the camp had facilities for 12,000 military personnel. Basic training continued until early 1944 when U.S. soldiers were removed. German prisoners of war, guarded by a small contingent of U.S. personnel, were housed here from 1943 to 1945. In 1946, the War Department returned Camp Hulen to the National Guard, for whom it had become too small, buildings were slowly dismantled and sold. In 1965 the property was sold jointly to a group of Palacios citizens and a development company. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Indianola — 20 mi
  The site of Texas's second port, where Morgan's steamships, Army freight and the first refrigerated beef passed until the hurricanes of 1875 and 1886, now mostly under Matagorda Bay.
• Half Moon Reef Lighthouse and Linnville — 23 mi
  The last screw-pile lighthouse of the Texas coast, brought ashore at Port Lavaca, a town founded by refugees from Linnville, the port Buffalo Hump's Comanches burned in August 1840.

More markers nearby

• General John Augustus Hulen — steps away
• Palacios Cemetery — 1.1 mi
• Palacios Pavilions — 1.7 mi
• First Presbyterian Church of Palacios — 1.8 mi