Camp Parks

Camp Parks (1942-Active) - A World War II Navy Seabee Camp established in 1942 near Dublin, Alameda County, California. Leased in 1946 to the County of Alameda for the Santa Rita Jail complex. Became Parks Air Force Base between 1951 and 1959. In 1980 the Army designated the facility Parks Reserve Forces Training Area. Originally named Camp Parks after Rear Admiral Charles W. Parks.

Camp Parks

Established on 26 Nov 1942 and commissioned as the Seabee Construction Battalion Replacement Depot, Camp Parks. The camp functioned as rehab and restaging area for Seabees in the Pacific Theater of Operations. East of the Seabee base Camp Shoemaker housed a Naval Hospital and Naval Training and Personnel Distribution Center the area was known as Fleet City. The facilities closed in 1946 at the end of the war.

Parks Air Force Base

In 1951 the U.S. Air Force took possession and established Parks Air Force Base as a basic training center. The Air Force completely rebuilt the base. The first airmen arrived in the Summer of 1951, and basic training began in March 1952. Parks Air Force Base was one of the few air force bases without an active runway. Parks AFB closed on 1 Jan 1957.

The post was transferred to the U.S. Army in 1951 and from 1959 to 1973 it was operated by the U.S. Sixth Army at the Presidio of San Francisco.

Current Status

Now Parks Reserve Forces Training Area.

Loading map...

Location: Dublin, Alameda County, California.
Lat: 37.711° Long: -121.894° Elevation: 358' Bing, Google, OldMapsOnline, USGS, OHM

Loading map...

See Also:

Sources:

Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 82.
USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2512402

Links: