How the hut came to be

Abstract

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, despite the isolationist sentiment within the population at large, began to prepare the United States for war. Congress authorized an increase in naval appropriation in anticipation, and the Naval Board, in response, recommended the development of twenty-five additional air bases, both in the U.S. and overseas. Included in that list was the shore-based aviation facility at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. The Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks began construction on the facility on July 16, 1940. The contract for this work, NOy-4175, was awarded to two organizations-the George A. Fuller and Company and the Merritt-Chapman and Scott Corporation. 1 © 2005 Princeton Architectural Press.