A WWII internment camp once held thousands in Crystal City

The Department of Justice opened the Crystal City internment camp in 1942, taking over a former farmworker camp. It was designed to hold families together, so children and spouses were interned alongside men. The population peaked at 3,326 people in May 1945. Internees came from the U.S., Latin America, Hawaii, and elsewhere.

The camp closed in early 1948. The buildings were later converted to low-rent housing, and the schools became part of Crystal City ISD. Today only a few concrete foundations and the camp's swimming pool remain. A Texas Historical Marker was placed on the site in 2006, and an interpretive trail was established in 2011 through a project with the Texas Historical Commission.