With the growing need for farm laborers, local business leaders and politicians wanted to provide good housing and health care to attract workers to the area. The Springdale Chamber of Commerce, working with U.S. Representative Clyde T. Ellis, approached the government for help.

In 1941 the U.S. Farm Security Administration agreed to place a migrant labor camp in Springdale. The $80,000, 40-acre camp would provide low-cost housing for the traveling farm workers who picked the crops or worked in the packing sheds and canning plants. The nearest labor camp was in Texas.

The camp was built in the southwest part of town near Caudle and Powell Streets. It had a community building, a medical clinic, a nursery, offices, a home for the camp’s manager, bathroom and laundry buildings, a playground and picnic area, and 200 wood cabins with canvas (later metal) roofs. Each 14-by-14-feet cabin could hold up to five people, for a total of 1,000 migrant workers.

The Farm Workers Shelter opened its doors on April 27, 1942. Organizers predicted that the camp would bring a “better class of labor.” The camp was open from April to November and included an on-site placement office to help workers find jobs.

Cabins could be rented for 10 cents a day or up to $2.50
a week, if the unit had electricity and a small kerosene stove. During the 1943 season 1,302 people (including 328 families) stayed at the camp; the average stay was 44 days.

The government ran the camp until 1948 when it was sold to the City of Springdale. As part of the sale the City agreed to keep the camp open for the next 20 years.

Map adapted from The Springdale News, April 23, 1942

"The purpose of the camp is to build community betterment; to rehabilitate the farm worker; to rebuild worn out bodies in the clinic; to refuel exhausted human machines by better food, housing and clothing; to rebuild confidence with self government and personal dignity; to look to a rejuvenated younger generation through education and training to conserve human ideals.”

A.D. Stewart, regional director
Farm Security Administration
The Springdale News, April 30, 1942

“I remember that the labor camp was always clean and neat and was always kept up and the people were friendly and they went a long way to helping the farmers of the area as they could not have made it without them.”

Jeff Moser, who grew up on a farm in Cave Springs during the 1940s-50s
March 2008

“The place has a fence around it and they turn out the lights at 9 p.m.; this makes me feel like a prisoner.”

17-year-old Texas migrant worker
The Springdale News, 1960s

“About 75 percent of the people in the labor camp are residents of Arkansas. There are no Mexicans or Negroes and these types of workers are not encouraged to come here.”

The Springdale News, 1960s