- City:
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Site Type:
- Military and Public Safety, Education and Health, Museums, Armories
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1940
- Completed:
- 1942
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum was constructed as a Naval Reserve Armory by the Works Project Administration (WPA) in 1940-42.
In 1939, the City of Santa Barbara deeded the land to the Navy, because city leaders thought that a Naval Reserve Armory would be beneficial to the city. The Armory was almost complete when WW II broke out and construction was stopped. The building was boarded up. Then, in 1942, the City of Santa Barbara leased part of the harbor to the Navy for a wharf and the following year Naval Reservists were ordered to finish the building, which was designated a Small Craft Training Center. Later, it become the Naval Reserve Center.
Finally, in 1994, the Navy sold the Reserve Center back to the in which the city, which converted it to the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
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Maggie Munro
Shaina
Elizabeth Hall
You may want to review the attribution requirements on the website from which you obtained this information. I immediately recognized the text…
Hi Maggie, it looks like we retrieved this info from Wikipedia, but if you know the original source, please let us know, so we can attribute it accordingly!
I’ve wondered where you went. Betty Mathews (now Elizabeth Hall)