Local Planner Treasure Island
Treasure Island, a man-made, 400-acre island between the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, was originally intended as the location for an airport for Pan American Airways flying boats known as China Clippers. It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1936-37 using fill and mud from the San Francisco Bay. The island’s first iteration, however, was as the host site for the Golden Gate International Exposition, a celebration in honor of the opening of the two bridges held from 1939-40.
With the onset of World War II, the airport was never built, and the US Navy turned the island into a military base which closed in 1993. The island still features three buildings from exposition.
One of the buildings, the Streamline Moderne Administration Building or Building One, has served as a home to many organizations and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today Building One is home to the Treasure Island Museum, which shares the island’s history as the site of a world’s fair, a historic aviation site, and a hub for American military activity in the Pacific.
While COVID-19 protocols affect accessibility of the museum and Building One, you can still explore the museum’s online exhibitions, wayside exhibits, the Pacific Unity Sculptures and more.
