Camp Funston

Soldiers ill with Spanish influenza at a hospital ward at Camp Funston, Kansas, when the epidemic began in 1918.

Camp Funston was a U.S. Army training camp during World War I located on Fort Riley, southwest of Manhattan, Kansas. American soldiers were there in France in the spring of 1918. Camp Funston was the largest of the 16 camps. The camp was to help soldiers for the military. The money the camp got was $10 million. The camp was 1,092 by 150 feet (333 by 46 m). There was space for the commander (officer) to rest. The ground was divided into 4 blocks each by 243 by 150 feet (74 by 46 m). The camp could fit 2,000 people in it. There were 3 theaters, a large pool, a barbershop, restaurants, clothing stores, and an arcade (a place with lots of stores on one side). The west division of the camp was where the troops stayed from Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado.

One of the people in charge of the camp was Leonard Wood. He trained all of the troops. Each of the malls, stores, and restaurants paid money back to the camp to help the camp have money.

In March 1918, a sickness called the Spanish flu went to just about everyone in the camp.