Land for the United States Naval Training Station was donated in 1905 by the Commercial Club of Chicago during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, with Paul Morton as Secretary of the Navy, F. A. Delano as president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and Graeme Stewart as a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago. The station was dedicated in 1911 during the presidency of William H. Taft, with George Von L. Meyer as Secretary of the Navy, George C. Perkins as chairman of the Senate Naval Committee, George E. Foss as chairman of the House Naval Committee, Albert Ross as Rear Admiral, U.S.N., commandant, George A. McKay and Clinton D. Thurber as Civil Engineers, U.S.N., and Jarvis Hunt as architect.