The Hebron CCC and POW Camps

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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was authorized by Congress in 1933 to provide employment and vocational training to young men during the Great Depression. The CCC worked on forestry and soil conservation projects across the nation. Company 752 of the CCC occupied a camp at this site from October 2, 1934, through August 15, 1941. Up to 200 men were housed in the compound, known as Camp Thayer. The camp motto was "We lead, others follow." Men from Camp Thayer were sent to the Republican Valley after the 1935 flood to perform emergency work.

During World War II, six of the nine barracks at the former CCC camp were used as a side camp to house as many as 120 German prisoners of war from the overcrowded POW camp at Concordia, Kansas. The first prisoners arrived in early December 1943. The POWs performed farm work arranged by the Thayer County Non-Stock Cooperative Labor Association, replacing local men who had entered military service. The Hebron POW camp closed on November 15, 1945. The site of the camps is now the city's Riverside Park.