Treasure Island

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Treasure Island is manmade, built on the shoals of neighboring Yerba Buena island. A Works Progress Administration project of the 1930s, it was built to be the first airport for San Francisco, after its use as a site for the city's third World's Fair. Built of mud dredged from the Bay and dragged down from the Sacramento Delta, it was romantically named for the gold its soil might contain. With the involvement of America in the Second World War, it proved an excellent location for the movement of people and machines headed for the Pacific Theater. Aviation changed dramatically during the War, with overland flight gaining the technological edge over water crossing planes like the Clippers. In 1941, the U.S. Navy acquired use of Treasure Island, upon America's entry into World War II. The Navy acquired title in 1946, trading the city for land in South San Francisco, which is now San Francisco International Airport. In October 1997 after 56 years, the Navy departed from Treasure Island.

The Treasure Island Museum occupies an Art Deco structure erected in 1938 as both the administrative center for the Golden Gate International Exposition and the future terminal for the then planned San Francisco International Airport. The Treasure Island Museum is truly unique, bringing together the history of:

• The United States Navy, Marines and Coast Guard in the Pacific
• The 1939-40 World's Fair
• Yerba Buena and Treasure Islands
• The Trans-Pacific Pan American China Clippers
• The Bay and Golden Gate Bridges