Construction began during the summer of 1917 and eventually encompassed approximately 1,400 buildings on . During World War I, nearly 50,000 recruits trained at the camp, commanded by Major General Leonard Wood. Notable units who received training at Camp Funston include the 89th Division, which was deployed to France in the spring of 1918, the 10th Division and black soldiers assigned to the 92nd Division. In March 1918, some of the first recorded American cases of what came to be the worldwide influenza epidemic, also known as "Spanish Flu", were reported at Camp Funston.