US Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay – Samoa CA

City:
Samoa, CA

Site Type:
Military and Public Safety, Military Bases, Maritime: Harbors, Ports & Lighthouses

New Deal Agencies:
Navy and Coast Guard, Federal & Military Operations, Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Started:
1936

Completed:
1937

Designers:
Civil Engineer's Office, U.S. Coast Guard

Contractor:
Fred J. Maurer and Sons

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Marked:
Unknown

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The US Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay at the end of the Samoa Peninsula across from Eureka, Calif0rnia was built in 1936-37 as a federal military project, with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and its relief workforce. (HABS, p. 17)

The structure replaced a considerably smaller station built in 1878, known as the Humboldt Bay Life-Saving Station. This was part of a nationwide effort to upgrade Coast Guard facilities during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt (as ardent sailor and Undersecretary of the Navy in the early 1920s). (The Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service had been merged to become US Coast Guard in 1915). 

The style of the 3-story building is Colonial Revival, sometimes known as “Roosevelt Revival” because so many new Coast Guard stations were constructed during the New Deal era.  The HABS report calls it, “the finest example in the United States of a station from this period. The quality of the station’s architectural detailing (door, window, porch moldings, decorative ironwork, porch brackets, etc.) is especially fine and the building exterior retains a high level of historic integrity.”  (HABS, p. 2)

The station is still in service, doing boat rescues in the treacherous waters off the northern coast of California. (Air rescues are done from the McKinleyville-Eureka airport at the north end of Humboldt Bay. The interior was remodeled in 1977, but the structure is otherwise unchanged. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. 

The facility is not open to the public.

Source notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Bay_Life-Saving_Station

"U.S. Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay and Marine Station," Historical American Building Survey, HABS-CA 2810, 2009.  https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca3600/ca3645/data/ca3645data.pdf

Ralph Shanks and Wick York. The U.S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard. San Anselmo CA: Costano Books. 1996.

https://www.pacificarea.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/District-11/Units/STA_HUMBOLDTBAY/

Site originally submitted by Don Barrett on January 27, 2023.
Additional contributions by Richard Walker.

Location Info


200 New Navy Base Rd
Samoa, CA 95564
Humboldt County

Coordinates: 40.76989, -124.22188

Site Details

Federal CostTotal Cost
$78,000 $78,000

Contribute to this Site

We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal site.

Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

Your email address will not be published, shared, or sold.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contribute to this Site

We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal project site.

Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

Your email address will not be published, shared, or sold.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.