The Devens Range Complex operates on property in Lancaster, south of Route 2, for live-fire training with small arms, machine guns, grenades, and rockets.

Some was fine farmland along the Nashua River and other was "sprout" land where trees had been cut leaving stumps.

The Fort's siting was due primarily to its location at a major hub of the rail network in New England.

[citation needed] Put on inactive status, it served next as a summer training camp for National Guardsmen, Reservists and ROTC cadets.

[citation needed] In 1920, following years of debate regarding preparedness for another global war, passage of the National Defense Act established an important role for the citizen army.

In 1927, appropriations were made for permanent construction of buildings, but the stock market crash nearly called a halt.

Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, of Lowell, recognized the economic significance of Camp Devens to this largely agricultural community.

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.

Fort Devens hosted the Army Security Agency Training Center & School (ASATC&S) from April 1951 to 1996.

The Army Security Agency Training Center & School (ASATC&S) was established at Devens in April 1951.

Other subordinate Readiness Groups were located at Secena Army Depot and Fort Hamilton in NYC.

The bulk of the land was purchased by MassDevelopment for $17 million with the aim of turning Devens into a residential and business community.

The base still remained an active training site for Reserve and National Guard Forces as well as regional law enforcement agencies.

at this location: On December 21, 1989, Fort Devens was listed as superfund because historic underground storage tanks/fuel depots had contaminated soils with heavy metals and petroleum products.

[14] In 2016, the Army started looking for PFAS, which it detected in groundwater and in the municipal water supply wells for Devens and the Town of Ayer.

They also discussed progress of the pump and treat system to get dissolved arsenic and iron at the 84-acre Shepley's Hill landfill site out of the groundwater remediation.

[16] The legend that Lieutenant Drane mysteriously disappeared after the duel and his remains were later discovered in a walled off part of Fort Independence is not true.

Lieutenant Edward John Kent Johnson of the Confederate States Navy died as a prisoner of war at Fort Warren in 1863.

Based on a true story, it tells of two Black WACs at the fort during World War II who went on strike after facing prejudicial treatment, and were subsequently court-martialed.