Hunters Point
-the past-

by Kimberly Aktas

      Hunters Point, since people became aware of it in 1869, has continuously gone through a cycle of change. The first permanent dry dock every built on the Pacific Coast was in Hunters Point in 1869, which the Bethlehem Steel Company commissioned. Many were overly excited with high expectations of the newly built dry dock, thinking prosperity and industrial growth would help strengthen the community of Hunters Point. Yet, today Hunters Point is anything but a prosperous area along the bay.
      The dry dock temporarily brought business to Hunters Point. Along with ships, Hunters Point also attracted fisherman. The coast was lined with shrimpers and salmon packers. It was known that Hunters Point had rich farmland and cultivated produce for much of the bay area. Slowly things began to change. Because the area became very popular, very quickly, the shoreline was over-fished. Therefore, the fisherman moved down shore abandoning fishing boats, leaving Hunters Point a derelict along the bay shoreline.


      Then in 1939 the US Navy purchased Hunters Point for $3,993,572, so that it could turn Hunters Point into the US naval shipyard. The area consists of 936 acres, with 493 of those acres being dry land. Yet, in 1942 when the plans for building the shipyard were really put in motion the families living in Hunters Point paid the price. The creation of the shipyard forced more than 100 families out of their homes. The navy had given the families only 2 weeks to abandon their homes and seek new living arrangements outside the area. The area was to become a military zone therefore civilians were not allowed inside the area.

      In 1945 the area was designated as a U. S. Naval shipyard. The shipyard procured logistic support and maintenance to naval ships. During this time there was a huge ship building boom because of WWII. When Hunters Point changed from a commercial shipyard along the shore to a naval shipyard the dynamic of the surrounding area changed as well. The shipbuilding boom brought many laborers to the area. The US Naval shipyard employed thousands of people in the area, mostly African Americans. Most of the people migrated up to Hunters Point from the south seeking good wages. The number of people working at the ship yard was extensive so, in 1944 a federal housing project was launched that housed 25,000 workers. The buildings were built with the understanding that they would be temporary. They are still there today. Forty-five percent of the people who lived in the federal housing were African American.
      Then in 1946 the shipyard was used by naval scientists with the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, to conduct research on radioactive materials. The radioactive materials the scientists conducted research on were from South Pacific ships that were used for nuclear bomb testing. This change from a naval base to a Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory displaced many African Americans who had been working at the base. Most of the African Americans lost their well-paying jobs and had to find lower-paying menial labor jobs. The employment rate at the shipyard dropped dramatically from nearly 25,000 employees during the war to 7,000 employees after the war.
      In 1955, Civic leaders visit Hunters Point to check out what the possibilities are of expanding and developing the area. Assemblyman Thomas A. Maloney, President Thomas J. Mellon, and John J. Gould of the Chamber of Commerce; Public Works Director Sherman B. Duckel and E. Elmore Hutchinson, visualize an industrial development for Hunters Point but say that the area will not yield any sort of â?oePipe Dream.â?? In 1976 the Navy discontinued use of the shipyard and leased out the property to other businesses. Most of the property was leased to Triple A Machine shop. This company leased out some of the property to civilians, small business owners, and artisans. In 1986 the Navy investigated the site for contamination leading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to place Hunters Point as a National Priority. The site was so full of contamination that it was listed as a Super Fund site. The work that was done directly after WWII in Hunters Point dramatically affected the immediate area and its surroundings. It took the Navy forty-years to claim any responsibility for their actions.
      The Navy dumped all sorts of hazardous chemicals into the ground. They dumped asbestos, poisonous polychlorinated biphenyls (which was a chemical used as an insulator for transformers before its production was terminated in 1977 because causing severe organ damage), toxic lead, toxic carbon, and the illegal dumping of petroleum and paint wastes.