Images of America

by Dean Mcleod
2007, Arca­dia Pub­lish­ing
ISBN-10: 0738555517
ISBN-13: 978–0738555515
128 pages

Book Descrip­tion
Port Chicago was an all-American town and naval facil­ity. Forged at the begin­ning of the 20th cen­tury on Suisun Bay in Con­tra Costa County, the navy town met its end dur­ing the Viet­nam War, when it was sac­ri­ficed to pre­serve national secu­rity. Port Chicago was a place where no one locked their doors. It was a place of fam­ily, edu­ca­tion, and religion—and of parades and patri­o­tism. When the town was built, nearly every­one who lived there was from some­where else. But between 1908 and 1968, the res­i­dents cre­ated a close-knit com­mu­nity, which, despite the dis­so­lu­tion of the town through eminent-domain pro­ceed­ings, still sur­vives today. Start­ing with the port’s early days, con­tin­u­ing through the dis­as­trous and mys­te­ri­ous explo­sion and sub­se­quent mutinies in 1944, and end­ing with rumors of nuclear weapons and the con­tro­ver­sial 1960s, this book traces the sin­gu­lar jour­ney of a port town through the best and worst times of the 20th century.

About the Author
Author Dean L. McLeod pre­vi­ously authored Arcadia’s Images of Amer­ica: Bay Point. He has stud­ied the land and peo­ple around Port Chicago for more than 15 years, and presents here a vol­ume of vin­tage pho­tog­ra­phy col­lected from the National Archives, the U.S. Navy, and numer­ous local collections.

THIS BOOK IS IN PRINT. Avail­able com­mer­cially. Learn more about Dean Mcleod.