In 1935, the state Department of Public Welfare established Camp Brock on the campus of West Virginia State College at Institute. Camp Brock was part of a system of camps intended to rescue children of families affected most severely by the Great Depression. The camps were segregated by race. Named for George D. Brock, a professor at the college who pioneered in health education for African-Americans, Camp Brock's purpose was to feed and strengthen more than 400 children from Black families hardest hit by the Great Depression. The department proposed to build a permanent camp for African-American children in Fayette County similar to Camp Fairchance for White children. In 1937, the legislature approved a permanent facility, later named Camp Washington-Carver, but it was to be a 4-H camp, rather than a child welfare camp, and it was to be administered by West Virginia State College.