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Camp Thomas A. Scott, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was a Railway Operating Battalion training center for the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1942 to 1944 and a prisoner of war camp during World War II. It was named for Thomas A. Scott, who served as the fourth president of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1874-1880 and organized the first military railroad service during the Civil War.

Construction
The Pennsylvania Railroad had been a major presence in Fort Wayne since the mid-nineteenth century. The Pennsylvania Railroad shops in Fort Wayne were referred to as the "Altoona of the West." With the start of World War II, the United States Army chose Fort Wayne to be a training location for Railway Operating Battalions, or ROBs. Seven ROBs were trained at Camp Scott between 1942 and 1944.

Prisoner of War Camp
By the summer of 1942, the numbers of Axis prisoners of war being held in Europe and in England were straining wartime resources. The United States finally agreed to begin bringing prisoners of war into the country. Prisoners were initially sent to major camps, such as Camp Perry in Ohio and Camp Atterbury in Indiana. As the major camps became overcrowded, prisoners were funneled out to smaller branch camps. Once the last ROB deployed from Camp Scott in mid-1944, work began to convert the camp to accommodate war prisoners. Construction involved surrounding the frame and tar paper barracks with barbed wire fencing and guard towers. Prisoners arrived in late October/early November 1944. Most were veterans of the Afrika Korps who had surrendered or been captured in the waning days of the North Africa Campaign.

As provided in the Geneva Conventions, prisoners of war were allowed to work in the communities as long as the work was unrelated to the war effort. This was a boon to communities in the United States suffering from a shortage of male workers. Prisoners from Camp Scott worked for businesses such as Allied Mills, Allied Seed, Troy Laundry, and Scott Bowling Alley, and picked potatoes and celery on local farms.

In the short period Camp Scott housed prisoners of war, there was little trouble. On November 26, 1944, Gefreiter Andreas Kellner, age 24, committed suicide by hanging in an empty hut at Camp Scott.

Post-War Housing
Information about post-war housing

Demolition and Repurposing
Information about demolition and conversion to wetlands