Hunters Point was named after the Hunters family: three brothers who built homes and operated a dairy farm on the land in the 1850s. Because it is a tiny peninsula, it is the most isolated neighborhood in the City. In 1867 the first permanent dry dock on the Pacific Coast was built there. By 1870 the area was established as a commercial shipyard. There were seafood packing plants, additional dry docks and a 465 foot wharf. The original dry docks were 1000 feet long and built on solid rock, making them the largest dry docks in the world. The land was purchased in 1890 by Union Iron Works, later becoming the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company for Bethlehem Steel.  This privately owned shipyard was so well-renowned that President Theadore Roosevelt had his Great White Fleet make a stop to be serviced there during its world tour. Mind you, the City was still reeling from 1906 Earthquake and Fires^[1], and Roosevelt’s nod to San Francisco brought a much needed lift to public morale. The Great White Fleet was a group of US Navy battleships meant to make friendly contact with other countries around the world while displaying America’s naval power.  

In 1940, in preparation for potential involvement in World War II, the United States Navy purchased Hunters Point from Bethlehem Steel. The Navy built the largest dry dock on the West Coast and renamed the site the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor^[2] a year later, the shipyard was fully activated, and people began migrating to the City as 8,500 civilian jobs became available. My great-grandmother’s sister, Margaret, got a job as an administrative secretary. 

In 1945 the Navy established the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory at Hunters Point: the largest facility for applied nuclear research in the country at that time. Many of the components used in the atomic bomb were developed and produced at this site.

After the war the San Francisco Navy Shipyard was used to decontaminate the ships used in Operation Crossroads (a series of nuclear weapons tests conducted at Bikini Atoll). In 1947 a gantry crane that can still be seen today was installed. With a 450 ton capacity, it was meant to quickly remove and replace battleship turrets. 

In 1964 the naval shipyards at Hunters Point and Mare Island Naval were combined under a single operational command, but a decade later, shipping repair operations at both facilities were terminated. The shipyard was deactivated and renamed Hunters Point Shipyard in 1976. A private ship repair contractor leased the yard and sublet one of the site’s empty buildings to Jacques Terzian, an artist who fabricated found-object-based furniture. He in turn began subletting space to other artists. In 1982 these artists formed the Hunters Point Shipyard Artists (HPSA)^[3] and was publicly recognized as an artist community. 

In 1986 the Navy transferred title of the land to the Treasure Island Naval Station and a year later the Navy considered reopening the shipyard to house the battleship Missouri. Mayor Dianne Feinstein^[4] signed an agreement with the Navy agreeing that the City would incur the site’s maintenance and administrative costs, but newly elected Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi introduced legislation that set aside 50% of the land to civilian tenants^[5]. In the end, the Navy cancelled their plans and the artists were allowed to stay. Today, there are 300 visual artists, musicians and writers living at Hunters Point.  

In 1989 Hunters Point Navy Shipyard was put on the Superfund Sites List, a list of government sites in the United States requiring cleanup of hazardous materials. As land gets cleaned up, parcels have been sold for development. But this process has not been without controversy. Tetra Tech, the company contracted to handle cleanup and testing, has been accused by regulators, activists and cleanup workers of falsifying radiation test results and firing employees who tried to correct erroneous testing procedures. In 2016 the EPA halted any additional sales of property pending an investigation. A study published in 2020 concluded that the testing methods were adequate, and development of the site is about to resume, with plans to build 9,000 new housing units along with commercial and public spaces.

^[1] 1906 Earthquake and Fires: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=2849

^[2] World War II: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4222

^[3] Visit them at www.shipyardartists.com

^[4] Dianne Feinstein: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4348

^[5] For more about this amazing artists community, I recommend Beth Shannon’s documentary Making a Point.