POW German Camp in Streator?

[dlynn]

Can anyone give me some information. I was told that here in Streator we had a POW Camp for Germans. They worked at the Canning factory on South Vermillion Street. Where were they housed, or how long were they here? And does anyone have photo's?

[dlynn]

I just learned that in the summer of 1945 a group was brought to Streator from a POW camp in Fulton County, to work at a canning factory in Streator. The POW's were kept at a camp in South Streator, near the area where the Vactor Manufacturing Plant now stands.
I haven't found any photos of the Streator Camp and don't know what canning factory they worked at.

[usm686]

My parents, who graduated from Streator Twp High School in 1945 and 1946, told me stories about the German POWs being held in an enclosure along the south side of Livingston Rd. They said the townspeople would take Sunday drives to look at the Germans, who in turn stood at the barbed wire fences and stared back at everyone driving by in their automobiles. My parents related that the Germans were not in Streator for very long, and that they worked in various farm fields. This is consistent with other research I have down on POWs, i.e. that they were dispersed in temporary camps, often doing seasaonal work in farm fields. The Streator POW camp, therefore, would most likely have been of short duration and not constructed of substantial structures. Regards, JA Brown (USM686)