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The U.S. Navy’s 1942 seizure — some at the time called it theft — of Treasure Island was very well publicized. Less well known was the Navy’s seizure of an entire Hunters Point neighborhood. The neighborhood, in the area of Innes Ave. and Coleman St. lies entirely within the former Hunters Point Naval Reservation.

100 Hunters Point Families Out

Immediate expansion of shipyard facilities at Hunters Point on land soon to be acquired by the Navy will force at least 100 civilian families to move, it was revealed by 12th Naval District headquarters today.

The Navy announcement set no deadline for removal, but police, who were asked to serve notice on residents, told them to be prepared to move on 48-hour notice. Indications were, however, that the Navy would not require the removal for at least two weeks.

It was not revealed what machinery the Navy had set up to pay property owners or to provide them with new living quarters. All Hunters Point residents are citizens, aliens having been removed several weeks ago.

“We sincerely regret these families must move, but military necessity must come before other considerations,” declared Rear Adm. John Wills Greenslade.

The district is defined as the area from the water to Coleman-st and from Fairfax-av to Oakdale-av. It will be a military zone, banned to the public. The 86 homes and 23 business houses in the area have a total value of more than $250,000.

Another announcement, meanwhile, revealed that the old Alameda yard of the Bethlehem Steel Co. would be reconditioned as soon as the Maritime Commission signs a contract under consideration in Washington.

Idle, except for minor repair work, since World War I, the plant is capable of producing ships of more than 20,000 tons each, Olaf Laurgaard, Maritime Commission resident engineer in Alameda, said.


The San Francisco News
March 10, 1942

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