Port Chicago was a town on the southern banks of Suisun Bay, in Contra Costa County, California. It was located east-northeast of Martinez, at an elevation of 13 feet (4 m). It is best known as the site of a devastating explosion at its Naval Munitions Depot during World War II. In 1960, it had a population of 1,746 residents.

History

The historical extent of Port Chicago lies between the Los Medanos Grant on the east, Monte del Diablo (Pacheco) Grant on the south and west, and Suisun Bay to the north. In a historical review of Contra Costa County published in 1882, the area was described as Township Number Three, lying along the Suisun Bay coast, east of Martinez ("Township One") and west of Pittsburg ("Township Four"), which also included the nascent villages Concord and Pacheco. The site was granted originally by President Ulysses Grant to H. H. Smith and Mr. Clark; Smith sold his homestead rights to Daniel Cunningham and Clark sold to A. H. Neeley, a friend of Cunningham's. To support the war effort, a shipyard was established at Bay Point by the Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company; the workers were housed in nearby Clyde, a new town built for them.

In 1968, all property was acquired and the buildings subsequently were demolished by the federal government to form a safety zone around the adjacent Concord Naval Weapons Station loading docks.

The Port Chicago Highway, a route from the city of Concord through the site of the former town, still exists in Contra Costa County. The portion that passed through the Concord Naval Weapons Station was blocked during the 1990s as a safety and security measure. Today, Port Chicago Highway is interrupted just past the town of Clyde and continues on the other side of the U.S. Army's Military Ocean Terminal, Concord (formerly the Tidal Area of the Concord Naval Weapons Station) in the unincorporated community of Bay Point.

According to biographers Mack McCormick and Alan Greenberg, bluesman Robert Johnson had a cousin in Port Chicago, and his "Sweet Home Chicago" may be a reference to that.

References

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