Naval Station Great Lakes - Building 1

Wood blanks from Naval Station Great Lakes Building 1. All blanks will come with one COA per blank. COAs are 4" x 6" card stock with silver foil embossed COA seal. Blank Tube Size Descriptions: Pen Blanks are 7/8" sq minimum The largest single training facility for the U.S. Navy is a thousand miles from the nearest ocean. Great Lakes Naval Training Station, located in North Chicago, IL, formally opened in 1911 on land donated by the Merchants Club of Chicago. It was a product of the expansive nationalism of the era following the Spanish-American War, as well as aggressive self-promotion by Chicago businessmen and Illinois politicians. Ideally located at the nation's rail hub and near its population center, the camp gained great significance during World War I, but reached its nadir when it was closed to new trainees between 1933 and 1935. Within a month after Pearl Harbor, the navy announced that a $33-million expansion would increase its recruit capacity from 10,000 to 45,000; by