Fort Devens Fort Devens is a reservist United States military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley , in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U . S . state of Massachusetts . It was named after jurist and Civil War general Charles Devens . The nearby Devens Reserve Forces Training Area is located in Lancaster . Although closed in 1996 , the fort was reopened the next day as the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area . In 2007 , the area was renamed Devens , Massachusetts . The fort has a population of 306 enlisted personnel , 2 , 151 reservists , 348 civilians , and 1 , 399 family members . It also maintains 25 ranges , 21 training areas , and 15 maneuver areas on nearly of land . Furthermore , it is also home to the United States Army Base Camp Systems Integration Laboratory as well as the United States Army System Integration Laboratory . Part of the former area of the military base is now home to Federal Medical Center , Devens , a federal prison for male inmates requiring specialized or long - term medical or mental health care . History . Early history . The area known as Devens today was originally called Camp Devens , established on September 5 , 1917 as a temporary cantonment for training soldiers during World War I . It was a reception center for war selectees and became a demobilization center after the war . Two divisions ( the 76th and the 12th ) were activated and trained at Devens during the war . Robert Goddard briefly used the post for his rocket operations in 1929 . The camp became a permanent installation in 1931 and was named Fort Devens the following year . A few years later , Fort Devens Army Airfield was established . In 1940 , at the onset of World War II , Fort Devens was designated a reception center for all men in New England who would serve one year as draftees . A massive $ 25 million building project was begun , including more than 1200 wooden buildings and an airfield . The 1st , 32nd , and 45th Divisions trained at Devens during the war . Devens also housed a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian prisoners from 1944 to 1946 . It was designated as early as 1942 for detaining " enemy aliens " of Italian , German and Japanese birth . It was the home of the 10th Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) , less 1st Battalion ( based in Germany ) , from 1968 until the Group ' s move to Fort Carson , Colorado in 1995 . Closure . The U . S . Army post which resided at Fort Devens was officially closed in 1996 after 79 years of service . The process for land distribution for all parcels on the former Fort Devens allowed the Federal Bureau of Prisons , Shriver Job Corps , Massachusetts National Guard , Massachusetts Veterans and MassDevelopment to acquire the land . The bulk of the land was purchased by MassDevelopment for $ 17 million . MassDevelopment is a quasi - public finance and development authority that has been given the task of turning Devens into a residential and business community . Since the closing of the military base , many of the existing buildings have been renovated or reconstructed ; housing developments now exist , along with a growing business park , a new hotel , restaurants , several public and private schools , a disc golf course , and a golf course . Veterans of the Army Security Agency have also expressed interest in building a museum there as Fort Devens was their principal training facility for nearly twenty - five years . Today . Although no longer an active Army military installation , Devens is now an Army Reserve installation under the command of the United States Army Reserve Command ( USARC ) , with a significant Marine Corps Reserve presence . In 2007 the headquarters of the 94th Regional Readiness Command , which was responsible for the command and control of Army Reserve units throughout New England , as well as providing Army Reserve support for Federal Emergency Management Agency operations in the New England region , was disbanded under the consolidation of forces and buildings within the area became under the control of the 99th Regional Support Command , which is located at Fort Dix , New Jersey , and whose Commanding General serves as the Senior Commander for Ft . Devens . The units with the original 94th Regional Readiness Command were realigned with similar commands along the East Coast . The base stills remained an active training site for Reserve and National Guard Forces as well as regional law enforcement agencies . The Army announced in 2008 that it would build a new training center in the area . This was dedicated in 2011 as the Connolly Armed Forces Reserve Center . The three buildings total 280 , 000 square feet and are on 57 acres . It also supports 650 Army Reserve and Army National Guard Soldiers and Marines and includes space to store nearly 800 military vehicles . The total cost was $ 100 million . In January 2011 a group of Devens residents filed a citizens ' petition for Devens to become a legally incorporated town . Efforts to make Devens the state ' s 352nd town failed on the local level in 2006 , and these residents say a legislative solution could be their final option . Units . The following military units are based at this location :