Climatic Research Laboratory

The Climatic Research Laboratory (CRL) was a U.S. Army military clothing and equipment test site formerly located at Lawrence, Massachusetts from 1943 to 1954.

The lab tested textile and insulating materials and was capable of simulating climatic conditions throughout the world (e.g., desert, rain forest, tundra, mountain). A "Jungle Room" was maintained for thermal physiological testing on human volunteers. Field trials were conducted by the lab at sites such as the Dolly Copp Test Site at the foot of Mount Washington, New Hampshire.

The CRL was relocated to Natick, Massachusetts in 1954 under the new name of the Environmental Protection Research Division (EPRD) of the U.S. Army’s Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command. The EPRD in turn was merged with elements of the Armored Medical Research Laboratory (AMRL) (originally at Fort Knox, Kentucky) in 1961 to constitute what is now the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) at Natick.