On the morning of December 7, 1941, only 6,814 sailors were in training at Great Lakes. Two hours after the attack began, Captain Spaulding, the Public Works Officer, authorized a large construction program. Thirteen prime contractors, twenty-seven architectural firms, and over 13,000 workers labored around the clock to house and train the rapidly growing population in training, which reached 100,156 by March 1944. More than 1,000 buildings were constructed, and the land area expanded from 685 to 1440 acres. In 1946, four months after the war’s end, only 10,000 recruits remained. The Bureau of Naval Personnel announced plans to discontinue recruit training at Great Lakes, but strong protests from the Midwest eventually led to cancellation of the plan.
