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Area description and history
Some
of the area now occupied by Loma
Portal was originally known as Dutch
Flats. The area is strongly tied
to the history of the MCRD (Marine
Corp Recruit Depot).
In
1916, the initial steps were taken
to cause a Marine Expeditionary
Base to rise from the tidelands
of San Diego Bay. By 1974, the former
"Dutch Flats" had disappeared
and in its place sat a major military
base, an aircraft plant, and a large
municipal international airport.
In
1920 the Marine Corps Recruit Depot
opened. At the time the entire City
of San Diego population was only
74,361 and the Naval Training Center
on Point Loma was commissioned,
manned by just 10 officers. One
year earlier, in 1919, the US Pacific
Fleet made its home station in San
Diego. The bay front property required
for the marine base in the "Dutch
Flats" tideland consisted of
about 230 acres of reasonably dry
land and an additional 500 acres
which had to be dredged and filled.The
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers assumed
the job of the reclamation project.
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Emergency expansion of base facilities
began in September 1939, the month
in which World War II broke out
in Europe. As a result of expansion
brought about by World War II, the
conduct of recruit training in San
Diego became of paramount importance.
Throughout the war years, the principal
activity of the base, recruit training
overshadowed all other functions.
After
each war, the level of personnel
strengths was always reduced. The
aftermath of the Korean War proved
to be the same as that of other
wars and after 1953, troop strength
decreased. In 1966, when the buildup
for the Vietnam War rose to its
highest point, recruit strengths
overflowed the existing billeting
spaces available.
Urban
development on all sides, but specifically
through the expansion of Lindbergh
Field, the San Diego International
Airport had caused the major portion
of the size reduction. The
Spanish colonial style so popular
in early 20th-century San Diego
has come to define this region,
and the boot camp core buildings
are protected by the National Historic
Preservation Act.
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