The United States Army established Camp Murphy, a top-secret radar training school, in the area that is now the park, in 1942. The camp included over 1,000 buildings, and housed more than 6,000 officers and soldiers. The camp stopped being used in 1944, after only two years. Most of the camp buildings were torn down, but some of the building foundations remain. The property was given to the State of Florida in 1947, and opened as a state park in 1950.