 Stitched aerial photos of the southern part of Mare Island | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Northern California |
| Coordinates | 38°05′43″N122°16′41″W / 38.095254°N 122.278004°W /38.095254; -122.278004 |
| Adjacent to | San Francisco Bay |
| Administration | |
| State |  California |
| County | Solano |
| City | Vallejo |
Mare Island (Spanish:Isla de la Yegua) is apeninsula in the United States in the city ofVallejo, California, about 23 miles (37 km) northeast ofSan Francisco. TheNapa River forms its eastern side as it enters theCarquinez Strait juncture with the east side ofSan Pablo Bay. Mare Island is apeninsula, as no full body of water separates this or several other named "islands" from the mainland. Instead, a series of smallsloughs cause seasonal water-flows among the so-called islands. Mare Island is the largest of these at about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) long and a mile wide.
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In 1775, Spanish explorer Perez Ayala was the first European to land on what would become Mare Island – he named itIsla de la Plana. This area was part ofRancho Suscol, deeded to GeneralMariano Guadalupe Vallejo in 1844. It became a waypoint for early settlers. In 1835, whilst traversing theCarquinez Strait, a crude ferry transporting men and livestock capsized in a squall. Among the livestock feared lost in the wreckage was the prized whitemare of GeneralMariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the Mexican Commandante for Northern California. Several days later, General Vallejo's mare was found on the island, having swum ashore. Grateful for the fortunate turn of events, he renamed the island toIsla de la Yegua, Spanish for Mare Island, in her honor. It is shown, labeled "Mare Island", on an 1850 survey map of theSan Francisco Bay area made byCadwalader Ringgold[1] and an 1854 map of the area byHenry Lange.[2] In 1892, development of the Mare Island Golf Club began, making it the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi.
On November 6, 1850, two months after California was admitted to statehood,President Fillmore reserved Mare Island for government use.
On January 15, 1852, Secretary of the NavyWilliam Alexander Graham ordered a Naval Commission to select a site for a Naval Yard on the Pacific Coast.Commodore D. Sloat along withCommodore C. Ringgold,Simon F. Blunt and William P.S. Sanger (former overseer of construction ofDrydock Number One, Norfolk Naval Shipyard) were appointed to the commission. On July 13, 1852, Sloat recommended the island[3] across the Napa River from the settlement of Vallejo, as it was "free from ocean gales and from floods and freshets." The Navy Department acted favorably on Commodore Sloat's recommendations and Mare Island was purchased for use as a naval shipyard in July 1853 at a cost of $83,410. On September 16, 1854, Mare Island became the first permanent U.S. naval installation on thewest coast, with CommodoreDavid Farragut, as Mare Island's first commander.
For over a century, Mare Island hosted the Navy'sMare Island Naval Shipyard. The growing size and number of the country's naval fleet was making older facilities obsolete and led to increased building and refitting of shipyards nationally. In 1872, the U.S. Public Works Department commenced construction of a 508-foot (155 m)drydock on the island, setting it on a foundation of cut granite blocks. The work was completed in 1891. A second drydock was begun in 1899, a concrete structure 740 feet (230 m) long set on wooden piles; it was completed in 1910. By 1941 a third drydock had been completed and drydock number four was under construction. The ammunition depot and submarine repair base were modern, fireproof buildings. A million dollar, three-way vehicle causeway to Vallejo replaced aferry service.[4]
DuringWorld War I, a rapid expansion of the Mare Island shipbuilding facilities created a housing shortage for wartime production workers. In response, theUnited States Housing Corporation planned and built a new residential community adjacent to the shipyard, with over 400 houses and community-serving structures.
BeforeWorld War II, Mare Island had been in a continual state of up-building. By 1941, new projects included improvements to the central power plant, a new pattern storage building, a large foundry, machine shop, magazine building, paint shop, new administration building, and a huge storehouse. The yard was expected to be able to repair and paint six to eight large naval vessels at a time. Several finger piers had recently[when?] been built, as well as a new shipbuilding wharf, adding one 500-foot (150 m) and a 750-foot (230 m) berth. It employed 5593 workers at the beginning of 1939, and rapidly increased to 18,500 by May 1941, with a monthly payroll of $3.5 million. In 1941, the drafting department had expanded to three buildings accommodating over 400 naval architects, engineers and draftsmen. The hospital had 584 beds.[5] During World War II, the shipyard employed up to 50,000 workers.[6]
In 1969, the Navy transferred its (Vietnam War)Brown Water Navy Riverine Training Forces fromCoronado, California, to Mare Island.Swift Boats (Patrol Craft Fast-PCF), and PBRs (Patrol Boat, River) conducted boat operations throughout the currently namedNapa-Sonoma Marshes State Wildlife Area, on the north and west portions of Mare Island. Mare Island Naval Base was deactivated during the 1995 cycle of US base closures, but the U.S. Navy Reserves still have access to the water portions of the State Wildlife Area for anyriverine warfare training being conducted from their new base inSacramento, California.
TheUSS Guitarro, aSturgeon-class submarine, SSN-665, was constructed at Mare Island between December 9, 1964, and July 27, 1968. On May 15, 1969, while still under construction and tied to the pier, the Guitarro was flooded and sank when construction crews mismanaged testing procedures. It took three days to raise her and many months to salvage her.
During the latter years of Mare Island's military use,U.S. Marines were trained for Security Management and Security Force Operations, including F.A.S.T. (Fleet Anti-Terrorism Team), Security Guards, and Security Force Reaction Forces. In the 1970s, Navy technical training schools included those for Data Systems Technicians (DSs), Firecontrol Technicians (FTs), Communications Technicians (CTs), and nuclear power ratings of many types.
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In 1993 Congress approved the findings of theBase Realignment and Closure report, leading to the closure of Mare Island Naval Shipyard.[7] The shipyard had long been the economic engine of the city of Vallejo, employing 10,000 workers after reductions in 1988. When Congress ordered the base closure, the shipyard employed 5,800 workers.[citation needed]
The vision of rebuilding Mare Island as a vital place where people lived and worked was a key goal in the base conversion planning process undertaken by thecity of Vallejo in the early 1990s. After the base was recommended for closure in 1993, the City undertook an extensive community-based reuse planning process, which resulted in a Final Reuse Plan that was approved by the Vallejo City Council in 1994. The Final Reuse Plan laid out the general vision for the Island's redevelopment. The Reuse Plan was the basis for the Mare Island Specific Plan, which was approved in 1999 and amended in 2005 and 2007. The Mare Island Specific Plan designated land uses and established development standards for identified reuse areas and provided an implementation program to guide all subsequent planning activities.[8]
Preservation of many of Mare Island's 661 structures and other cultural resources was an additional factor in the planning process. As the oldest shipyard and naval facility on the West Coast, the shipyard earned aNational Historic Landmark designation by the federal government in 1975. In 1979 California listed the entire naval base as aState Historical Landmark. In 1999 the city of Vallejo added Mare Island to theNational Register of Historic Districts with 42 individual city landmarks.
Finally, as with any restoration of an industrial,brownfield landscape, both city and government agencies required environmental reviews, toxic substance removal, andsoil remediation.
In 1998, Vallejo contracted withLennar Mare Island LLC (LMI) to develop 650 acres (263 ha) of the eastern portion of Mare Island into a multi-use community. LMI contracted the Sausalito-based SWA Group to provide a Master Development Plan for Vallejo, additional historical research and landscape architectural services.
The Specific Plan included a variety of land uses, including a university district, an industrial zone, historic core, and residential neighborhoods. In addition, 78% of the island was set aside for wildlife habitat and wetlands, parkland and open space, and dredge ponds.[9] In 2007, LMI finished construction on the residential neighborhoods. Farragut Village, with 277 homes, was the first completed neighborhood. Additional neighborhoods include Coral Sea and Kirkland Isle II. Mare Island's Specific Plan calls for a total of 1,400 homes and condos, plus 7,000,000 square feet (650,000 m2) of commercial, retail, entertainment, and industrial space.[10]
Mare Island's residents petitioned LMI and the City of Vallejo to eliminate the dredge ponds, whose role had been to collect silt, drainage, and storm water from the Napa River and the Bay, and instead restore that acreage to wetlands. The city and the developer agreed, and in January 2006, the land use plan was amended to add the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve. An advisory board was appointed by the city to restore the 215-acre (0.87 km2) site into publicly accessible parkland.[11]
In 2009,Alstom moved its train maintenance facility from Oakland to Mare Island.[12] In 2024, Alstom announced plans to close the facility in early 2025 and lay off 27 workers.[13]
Mare Island is accessed byState Route 37 on its north side, as well as byInterstate 80 via the Wichels Causeway[16] (popularly the Mare Island Causeway) and Tennessee Street. The causeway also hasrails embedded in the roadway to allow access for trains. TheSan Francisco Bay Ferry provides year-round weekday and weekend service, and service on select holidays, between Mare Island,Vallejo, and theSan Francisco Ferry Building orPier 41 terminals.
Mare Island is the location ofTouro University California, the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Office,[17] and the administrative offices of the Vallejo City Unified School District.[18]
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to theKöppen Climate Classification system, Mare Island has awarm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.[19]
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