Naval Station Great Lakes, located near North Chicago in Lake County, was commissioned in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt and dedicated in 1911 by President William Howard Taft. The original base was composed of 39 buildings and was designed by Jarvis Hunt, an Illinois architect. World War I would see a dramatic increase in the size of the base, with nearly 800 buildings on site at the end of the war.

Throughout World War II, more than one million sailors trained at Great Lakes. During this time, the base played an integral part in the government’s efforts to racially integrate military forces. In 1942, Great Lakes was selected to begin training African-American sailors. While originally these classes were segregated, separate classes were dismantled a few years later and all training courses were integrated.

Today, an average of 40,000 recruits pass through the Recruit Training Command annually.

Learn more:
Read more about the Golden Thirteen, a group of thirteen men who became the first African-American servicemen to complete officer training for the Navy
Read more about the history of Naval Station Great Lakes