Hamilton, California

What would eventually become Hamilton Air Force Base has its origins in the late 1920s, when the airfield was first established. It was first unofficially named; the Marin County Air Field, Marin Airfield, Marin Meadows Air Field, and the Army Air Base at Marin Meadows. It was officially termed from 1929 until 1932 the "Air Corps Station, San Rafael." With formal development beginning, it was named Hamilton Field on July 12, 1932.
Construction of the airfield began about July 1, 1932, with the airfield being originally designed to accommodate four bomb squadrons and their personnel. Captain Don L. Hutchins, later Colonel Don L. Hutchins in WWII, of the Army Air Corps reported on duty as the first commanding officer of the new field on June 25, 1933, and Captain John M. Davies' 70th Service Squadron arrived that December as the first squadron assigned to the base.
The Hamilton Field Station Complement replaced the 70th Service Squadron on March 1, 1935. The original construction program was completed on May 12, 1935, at which time the field was ceremonially handed over to Brigadier General Henry 'Hap' Arnold, commanding the 1st Wing, by Governor Frank Merriam of California.
The U.S. Weather Bureau had an official cooperative weather station on the base from 1934 to 1964.
The active Air Force ceased its activities on the base after October 1, 1973, when the 452d was relieved of host base responsibility, with most of the flight line facilities being transferred to the U.S. Army. The National Strike Force's Pacific Strike Team of the U.S. Coast Guard took up residence in two of the historic hangars. The housing was transferred to the U.S. Navy and a 411-acre parcel of the base was transferred to the General Services Administration (GSA) for public sale.
The 452d TAW operated at a low level of activity until January 11, 1976, when an agreement was finally reached to close Hamilton as part of the post-Vietnam War drawdown of the military. The base was placed in a caretaker status on that date pending final disposition. A controversy then developed over future civilian use between those supporting its adaptation into a major civilian airport, those bitterly opposed to its continued use as an airfield at all, and those holding varying intermediate degrees of opinion.
From 1980 to 1983, Hamilton AFB was home to the Refugee Transit Center, an operation of the International Organization for Migration for the processing of refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Afghanistan. Three former Air Force barracks were used as temporary housing, in addition to three other smaller buildings for administration. As many as 180,000 refugees were given overnight rest at Hamilton before moving on to other parts of the country.[citation needed]
The GSA public sale occurred in 1985, and finally, in December 1988, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission recommended closure of the last 700 acres (2.8 km2) of government land at what was then called Hamilton Army Airfield. In 1995, the acreage held by the Army was transferred to the New Hamilton Partnership and public/private redevelopment of the former air base commenced; the name was soon changed back to its original "Hamilton Field." As a consequence of BRAC 1993's closure decisions regarding all of the U.S. Navy's San Francisco area bases (NAS Alameda, NAS Moffett Field, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, NAVSTA Treasure Island), the Navy vacated its Hamilton housing in 1996.