Knox, Fort

views updated May 21 2018

KNOX, FORT

KNOX, FORT. In 1918 an army camp named Camp Knox, for General Henry T. Knox, was established in Kentucky, thirty-one miles southwest of Louisville. Made permanent in 1932 as Fort Knox, the post became the main repository of U.S. gold in 1937. More than 140 million ounces of gold, worth billions of dollars, are kept in the U.S. Bullion Depository, a two-story granite, steel, and concrete vault managed by the Treasury Department. The 109,000-acre army installation at Fort Knox also includes an artillery training school, the Godman Army Air Field, and the Patton Museum.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Truscott, Lucian K., Jr. The Twilight of the U. S. Cavalry: Life in the Old Army, 1917–1942. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989.

Andrew C.Rieser

See alsoArmy, United States ; Currency and Coinage ; Fortifications ; Mint, Federal ; Treasury, Department of the .

Fort Knox

views updated May 17 2018

Fort Knox a US military reservation in Kentucky, famous as the site of the depository (built in 1936) which holds the bulk of the nation's gold bullion in its vaults.

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