US Navy Recruit Training Command - Keel Yearbook (Great Lakes, IL)

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CAPTAIN K. L. NUTTING, USN Commanding Officer Recruii Training Command COMMANDER J. D. CROWLEY, USN Executive OFFicer Recruit Training Command

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CAPTAIN F. J. GRANDFIELD, USN Assistant Commander Naval Training Center Ms A fw rt HG V CAPTAIN J. S. KEATING, USN Commander Naval Training Center 9 ' 4 -. - W W ., 3 T

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1 -.at -. 4 WMV entrance to the United States Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, lllinois. HIS 'I'Hi-2 N.-xv.-xL'1'R.x1x1xo C1-:NTL-zu, Great liakes, Illinois, had its start in 1004 when a board ap- pointed by President Theodore Roosevelt selected two adjoin- ing farms North of Lake Blufl. Illinois. as a site for a naval training station. The Merchants' Club ol' Chi- cago purchased the larms and presented them as a gilt to the government lrom the people ol' Chicago. Six years ol' construction liollowed. nt one time recruit companies held mock rifle battles on TUHY and on Ju y . . , tie Station was commissioned. Four months later it was dedicated by President lVil- liam Howard 'l'a1't. ,-Xt that time it covered 172 acres and had a capacity ol' 1,500 men. 'l'he Station's size remained constant until the be- ffinninv' ol' the Iirst XVor1d 1Var, when a wartime ex- D O Jansion Jrogram took ilace. liv ifXrmistice Da '. 1018. 1 o , the Station had expanded to 1,200 acres and had 45.000 men undergoing training. .-X quarter ol a mil- lion men were trained at Great Lakes during 1Vorld Wlar I. During the period between wars the Stations activity Ross Field. was greatly decreased. lt was complete- ly closed down as a training activity from June 30, 10321, to July 20. 1035. XVhen President Roosevelt. proclaimed a national emergency on September 0, 1030, the total population at Great Lakes was less than l,000. July 26. 1040, marked the beginning ol' a construction program which was to become the most extensive in Station history. Great liakesi capacity was in- creased to 1,400 by the day Japan struck at Pearl Harbor. 1Vith fXmerica's entry into 1Vorld 1Var ll, a tremendous increase in con- struction was authorized. More than 10.000 civilians were employed in the program, expanding the Station's capac- ity to 82.000 men by September. 1042. In this expansion the Stations area was increased by more than a thousand acres.