Documenting Change since 2002

Quonset Point Naval Air Station

also known as Quonset Point Davisville, Camp Endicott, Camp Thomas

A previous naval repair facility employing about 12,000 military personnel eventually turned into an industrial park once the Navy left

Images of this Property

  • A large, more than one hundred and twenty five acre former naval facility on the southern coast of Rhode Island. Since its decommissioning in 1973, the land and a few of the remaining buildings have been put to use as a shipping port and industrial park.
    View from north showing, from left to right, building 64 (power and heating plant), 61 (operations building/control tower), 3,4,5, and 6 (the landplane hangars), and (in right background) 425 (enlisted barracks)
  • View east across 4th Ave. from building 42 showing rail lines and, from left to right, building 16, 484, 483, 374, and 375 in the warehouse complex
  • View south-southeast down Wasp St. from 4th Ave. showing, from left to right, building d-180, 60 (air rework facility), 458, 419, 418, 416, and 19-20
  • General view from the west of Building 406 and, in background, building 2 and 1. (Seaplane hangars 3,2, and 1), built 1939-42
  • General view from the northwest of Building 406 (Seaplane hangar 3), built 1941-42
  • General view from the southeast of Building 406 (Seaplane hangar 3) with one-story addition built 1954
  • Detail, southwest corner of Building 406 (Seaplane hangar 3)
  • Building 4 (landplane hangar). View from west; building 3 (landplane hangar) in right background
  • Building 4 (landplane hangar). View from the southwest: detail of side elevation showing typical curtain wall, window and door treatment; portions of framing and roof monitor visible
  • Building 4 (landplane hangar). General view of interior — view to east
  • Building 7 (administrative building). General view from the southwest showing entrance/main elevation and southwest side. In background on left: a portion of building 41. In background on right: structure 68 (water tower)
  • Building 7 (administration building). General view from east showing south (rear) elevation and east end with stepped entrance canopy (an addition). A portion of building 8 (hospital) visible in the background on right
  • Building 7 (administration building). View from west: detail of main entrance and stair tower
  • Buildings 10 and 850 (gatehouse and gate complex). General view from northwest
  • Buildings 12 (officers’ club). View in the lobby (toward the south)
  • Building 716 and 61 (operations building). View from south showing building 616 (a quonset hut) and, in background, the control tower on building 61
  • Building dt-42. View from the west (airfield in background)

17 images: Press to view larger or scroll sideways to see more. All photos from the Historic American Engineering Record and Historic American Buildings Surveys

About this Property

For more, explore BASE: Advancing a Post-Military Landscape from 2000, by Eric Carlson and Erica Carpenter, with support from the Rhode Island Council of the Humanities (RICH)

#Reason for Redevelopment

As early as the late 1950’s, not even 20 years after the base was constructed, the future of Quonset Point as a naval base was uncertain. After the Korean War ended in 1953, the Navy started to spend less money on the base and allocate fewer resources. In 1958 they announced they would operate Quonset Point on an austerity basis because they were short on funds and did not intend to ask for any additional funds for the station in the immediate future. In a statement that shocked many in Rhode Island, the Navy noted that it was not in a position to speculate on the long-term future of the base.

Despite this uncertainty, the base grew in the 1960s. By the late 60s the Overhaul and Repair Department, now the Naval Aircraft Rework Facility (NARF) was the busiest part of the base. They had eight departments and twenty-eight divisions controlling all air rework operations on such aircraft as the S-3A “Viking” ASW aircraft, the TF-34 engines, General Electric’s T-58 and J-79 jets, plus Curtiss-Wright’s J-65 and Allison’s J-71 jet engines. By 1973 the NARF had become a vast industrial complex of 38 buildings on 62.15 acres, providing 1»105,820 square feet of floor space.

Although the war in Vietnam brought renewed activity to Quonset Point, by about 1970 it was clear to many in the Navy, if not in Rhode Island, that the base’s days were numbered. The end of the war, changes in ASW technology, budgetary considerations, and a new “political/military” strategy all worked together to hasten Quonset Point’s demise. On top of that, the weapon’s system that the base based its repair and maintenance programs upon were being phased out. The Rhode Island Congressional delegation found itself powerless to prevent cutbacks, and Rhode Island’s small size and lack of impact on the national political scene did not help its case.

On Monday, April 16, 1973 the Department of Defense told the members of the Rhode Island delegation that facilities at Newport would be reduced sharply and that Quonset Point would be closed completely. The news was made public a day later. The closing came as a great shock to Quonset Point’s civilian employees. Most of them had felt that the base’s strategic location would save it but the Navy said the The Bay was too shallow for the new larger aircraft carriers. The Navy left the base on June 28, 1974 after an operational career that lasted thirty-two years, eleven months and seven days. 1

Since the closing, the State of Rhode Island pursued developing the base as an industrial park under the control of the Rhode Island Port Authority. Since the 1980s many of the Industrial facilities were used by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics as a fabrication center for Trident submarine hull components. In 2009, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) chose the Port as home to Okeanos Explorer, a one-of-a-kind research vessel devoted entirely to exploring unknown parts of the world’s oceans.

#Current Events

Quonset Point is now best known as the Quonset Business Park run by the Quonset Development Corporation. It is home to almost 200 companies, employing more than 11,000 people across a variety of industries. The Port of Davisville at Quonset is one of the top ten auto importers in North America.

The Rhode Island Air Show is held annually by the Rhode Island National Guard and is perhaps the most well-known event to take place on Quonset Point. The event began in 1991 as a relatively minor aviation exhibition but grew in attendance each year, with the USAF Thunderbirds performing every even year and the USN Blue Angels performing every odd year.2

#History

Our own written history would pale in comparison to these fantastic projects:

HABS/HAER

The HABS/HAER 114 page report written by Charles F. O’Connell, Jr. in 1979, housed at the Library of Congress

BASE: Advancing a Post-Military Landscape

BASE: Advancing a Post-Military Landscape was a 1998–2001 research project undertaken by Erik Carlson and Erica Carpenter with the support of a Humanities Resource Grant from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. ArtInRuins proudly hosts an archive version of their 2000 report. Over 250 images, an extensive history, maps, historic images, and current conditions from 1999-2000 are included. Photo print archives are available on file at the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission.

  1. (All preceding paragraphs) “Quonset Point Naval Station,” Charles F. O’Connell, Historic American Engineering Record, 1978–1979 p. 96 through 103 ↩

  2. Quonset Point on Wikipedia, Events section at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_Point#Events ↩