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Operated by the Southern Signal Corps School and sited on 11,200 acres, Camp Murphy served as the Army’s top-secret radar training facility. Named for Col. William Herbert Murphy, an U.S. Army pioneer in electronic equipment, the camp operated from April 1942 until November 1944 to provide research and development resources to the military. As many as 1,000 buildings were constructed for use by a complement of 854 officers and 5,000 men stationed here during this thirty-one month period. Pilots from NAAS Witham at Stuart flew training missions over Camp Murphy to provide “targets” to the students learning to use the radar equipment.
Acquired by the State of Florida when abandoned by the military, Camp Murphy became Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Two WWII era buildings remain in use by the Park Service.
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