The ruins of old Fort Ripley's powder house can still be seen within the confines of the Camp, located seven miles north of the cantonment area on East Boundary Road. The Fort was built in 1848 to protect the Winnebago Indians and separate the feuding bands of Sioux and Chippewa. As frontier expansion pushed westward, the Fort was closed in 1877. Originally named Fort Gaines, it was later named Fort Ripley in honor of the War of 1812 hero, Brigadier General Eleazar P. Ripley.

Camp Ripley was opened to Minnesota Guard units on June 14, 1931. The State Legislature appropriated funds for construction because the Guard outgrew its 200-acre site at Camp Lakeview, located on Lake Pepin. The original Ripley site was 2,000 acres in size. Over the years, it grew and became a mobilization station for troops during World War II and the Korean Conflict. The Camp reached its current 52,831 acre size in the early 1960's. Today, more than 560,000 total training mandays are performed at "Ripley" each year, preserving its reputation as one of the finest U. S. military training sites.