Historical Marker

Camp Roswell


From 1942 to 1946 a U.S. Army camp for German prisoners of war operated near Orchard Park. Camp Roswell was one of two base camps in New Mexico, with a peak population of 4,767 POWs. These men were frequently employed on farms and community projects to help alleviate labor shortages caused by World War II.

In 1945, the world's first atomic bomb was tested at the Trinity Site in New Mexico. The test was part of the Manhattan Project, a secret government program to develop nuclear weapons during World War II.
New Mexico random facts