Eight sculptural markers tracing World War II history along the path of the Richmond Bay Trail - once the site of Kaiser shipyards. The project was designed by a collaborative team of design firm Mayer/Reed, visual artists James Harrison and Lewis Watts, writer Chiori Santiago and project manager/historian Donna Graves.

Commissioned by the Richmond Redevelopment Agency for the City of Richmond and the National Park Service, with funding from the California Coastal Conservancy and the Association of Bay Area Governments.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The historical markers are important embellishments to Richmond’s waterfront and a significant component of the new Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park. Punctuating over two miles of spectacular shoreline, they link several of Richmond’s parks and the Rosie the Riveter Memorial, as well as the Ford Assembly Building, future home for the National Park’s Visitors Center.

The markers also enhance the San Francisco Bay Trail by introducing information about the area’s social and natural history in signs that engage visitors through rich content and powerfully developed forms. The markers consist of a graceful 18-foot-high sweep of metal—suggesting the prow of a massive wartime ship—and richly colored graphic panels filled with images of wartime Richmond and the memories of women and men who made the city a critical part of President Roosevelt’s “Arsenal of Democracy.”

A sleepy town of 23,000 at the start of WWII, Richmond’s population mushroomed to over 100,000 in just two years. The Kaiser Shipyards employed over 90,000 people at their peak, and were among the first to recruit women and people of color into their workforce. Men and women from across the country and from diverse backgrounds came to Richmond to find new, better-paying jobs throughout the war.

The markers describe a broad range of home front experiences and the dramatic changes that Richmond experienced during World War II – from the incarceration of Richmond’s Japanese-American community to the city’s lively wartime nightlife, advances in civil rights and other legacies.

Thanks to Ellen Gailing Photography for the Photos!