On Nov. 5, in Spokane, the Governor’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation unanimously voted to make Naval Air Station-Seattle at Sand Point a state historic district. 

This is the first new historic district in Seattle in 20 years, and the first ever in NE Seattle. There are seven other historic districts in Seattle. In order to achieve this distinction all the buildings listed had to be over 50 years in age and they had to tell a compelling story related to our history. 

This state listing automatically qualifies the district to go to the federal level for listing as a national historic district, a process that is now happening with the listing on the National Register of Historic Places expected later this month.

The Naval Air Station does indeed tell a compelling story. It is the story of early aviation history with which our community is so tied.  Aviation was a young form of transport in the early 1900s. The Wright Brother’s first flight was in 1908. Biplanes were first used in battle in World War I but both the Army and Navy saw their potential, as did some early pilots who barnstormed the country after World War I promoting air flight. In our area, of course, the Boeing Company was beginning to build airplanes. 

The Seattle area had no airport and the need for a place for these new airplanes to land was great. A congressional delegation investigating potential sites in 1919 had to land on the Jefferson Park Municipal Golf Course. There was pressure in congress to find a large piece of property close to shipbuilding in Bremerton and airplane building by Boeing on the Duwammish. Sand Point was the answer.

In 1920 the Navy leased 220 acres from the county for $1 to be used for a naval air station. Both Army and Navy pilots flew from the site and both ROTC cadets at the University of Washington used it. 

Early Boeing airplanes were shipped by crate to Sand Point and assembled and tested.  In 1924 to raise interest in the new form of transport, the round-the-world flight was planned by the army. The flight took off from Naval Air Station Seattle and the pilots returned 175 days later. 

The winged monument at the entrance to the park commemorates this flight. Their trip was followed by people around the world and is considered the second most important event in aviation history after the Wright Brother’s first flight.

Four planes with Army pilots and their mechanics took off and three returned. The Seattle crashed into a mountain in Alaska but the pilot and mechanic walked out safely a week later after burning part of their airplane to keep warm. Remember these planes were wood and fabric, open cockpit planes that could fly 75 miles an hour. 

Extra plane parts including motors were stashed in places around the world and support from governments and other branches of the service were critical for the trip to be a success. The planes flew with pontoons from Seattle to Delhi, India then changed to wheels across Europe. The pilots were greeted by royalty and cheering crowds at their frequent stops. The remaining three planes changed back to pontoons to cross the Atlantic.

The Boston crashed off Nova Scotia and a new plane, the Boston II finished the flight on wheels added to the planes in Boston and all flew home to Seattle to a cheering crowd of almost 50,000 people on September 28, 1924. This was three years before Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic.

Lindbergh, another early aviation pioneer, came to Naval Air Station-Seattle in 1927 to promote airmail service and air travel. He spoke of the time in the future when fifteen people might ride on one airplane. He said we needed more airfields for planes just like we needed more roads for cars. Lindberg was given Seattle’s first tickertape parade downtown and a gold ring.

School children, including my 95 year old neighbor Burr Odell, remember school being let out so they could listen him talk from the back of a touring car in Volunteer Park.  As Burr said, “We had heroes then and he was a hero.”

The Naval Air Station grew rapidly in the 1930s with many of the buildings and the runways built by WPA workers. Almost all of the main buildings and hangers were built before 1941 which was fortunate because that was the beginning of WWII and the height of importance for the base as a center of support and defense for the Pacific Fleet.

Many residents worked or trained at the base that had almost 7,000 military and civilians working or living there at that time. After receiving word of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 the base commander ordered all the windows painted black and only flashlights to be used at night. 

If you go into Building 2 and look up on the south side high windows, you can still see the blackened windows. Boeing tested quick take off and land planes here and became a leading supplier for the military of aircraft carrier planes.

Pilots trained and planes were repaired.  During this time Naval Air Station Seattle was one of only four Naval Air Centers in the nation. Within the Thirteenth Naval District it served in the defense of the Pacific Northwest WWII support and operations front line. 

Being on the list of state and federal historic places as a historic district is a great honor. The base remains remarkably intact and gives a sense of taking a walk through history, past the officers and enlisted housing to the central administration, firehouse, gas station, infirmary, to the hangers and finally the boat dock and float plane hanger and launch sites. 

Naval Air Station-Seattle is important to our neighborhood’s history, Seattle’s history, and the history of Washington State and the United States of America as part of its military and aviation history. The hope is to establish a museum within the historic district. Got a related story to tell? Your stories are welcome. Record or write yours and send to P.O. Box 51223, Seattle WA.

Check out the Web site at http://www.sandptnavsta.org/index.html for additional information.