Fort Dix

Fort Dix is a United States Army installation located in parts of New Hanover Township, Pemberton Township, and Springfield Township, in Burlington County, New Jersey. It is also a census-designated place, and as of the United States 2000 Census, the installation population was 7,464.

History

Fort Dix is named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Construction began in June 1917. Camp Dix, as it was known at the time, was a training and staging ground for units during World War I. The camp became a demobilization center after the war. Between the World Wars, Camp Dix was a reception, training and discharge center for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Camp Dix became Fort Dix on March 8, 1939, and the installation became a permanent Army post. During and after World War II the fort served the same purpose as in the first World War. It served as a training and staging ground during the war and a demobilization center after the war.

On July 15, 1947, Fort Dix became a Basic Training Center and the home of the 9th Infantry Division. In 1954, the 9th moved out and the 69th Infantry Division made the fort home until it was deactivated on March 16, 1956. During the Vietnam War rapid expansion took place. A mock Vietnam village was constructed and soldiers received Vietnam-specific training before being deployed. Since Vietnam, Fort Dix has sent soldiers to Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Fort Dix was an early casualty of the first Base Realignment and Closure process in the early 1990s, losing the basic-training mission that had introduced generations of soldiers to military life since 1917. But Fort Dix advocates attracted Army Reserve interest in keeping the 31,000-acre post as a training reservation. With the reserves, and millions for improvements, Fort Dix actually has grown again to employ 3,000. As many as 15,000 troops train there on weekends, and the post has been a major mobilization point for reserve and National Guard troops since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

Fort Dix has completed its realignment from an individual training center to a FORSCOM Power Projection Platform for the Northeastern United States under the command and control of the United States Army Reserve Command. Primary missions include being a center of excellence for training, mobilizing and deploying Army Reserve and National Guard units, providing regional base operations support to on-post and off-post active and reserve component units of all services, and providing a high-quality community environment, including 848 housing units, for service members and their families. Fort Dix supported more than 1.1 million mandays of training in 1998. A daily average of more than 13,500 persons live or work within the garrison and its tenant organizations. Fort Dix sub-installations include the Charles E. Kelly Support Facility in Oakdale, Pennsylvania and the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area in Ayer, Massachusetts.

In 2005, the United States Department of Defense announced that Fort Dix would be affected by a Base Realignment and Closure. It will be merged with two neighboring military bases, McGuire Air Force Base and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, establishing Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. This will be the first base of its kind in the United States.

Fort Dix is also home to Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution, the largest single federal prison in America. It is a low security installation for male inmates located within the military installation. As of April 5, 2006, it houses 4,226 inmates, and a minimum security satellite camp houses an additional 426 male prisoners.

Geography

Fort Dix is located at 40°0′46″N, 74°37′30″W (40.012869, -74.625104)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 29.3 km² (11.3 mi²). 29.1 km² (11.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.53%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 7,464 people, 843 households, and 714 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 256.4/km² (663.9/mi²). There were 1,106 housing units at an average density of 38.0/km² (98.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 58.37% White, 35.64% African American, 0.44% Native American, 1.27% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 2.47% from other races, and 1.69% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.79% of the population.

There were 843 households out of which 63.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.2% were married couples living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.3% were non-families. 14.7% of all households were made up of individuals and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 3.39.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 13.6% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 62.1% from 25 to 44, 15.1% from 45 to 64, and 1.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 491.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 734.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $41,397, and the median income for a family was $41,705. Males had a median income of $31,657 versus $22,024 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $10,543. About 2.5% of families and 3.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.2% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

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