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The ground breaking ceremony for the Sand Point Naval Air Station took place in June of 1920, but it wasn't until the late 1920s and early 1930s that the Naval Air Station became anything even resembling a working base. Although planes did fly to and from the Naval Air Station, it was somewhat less than a fully functional airport. There was only one 500 foot turf landing strip, the naval commander worked out of a farm house and cadets were billeted in the chicken house.

In October 1926, the Carkeek family sold the original Carkeek Park (later a second park was named Carkeek Park) to King County, which in turn deeded the entire peninsula to the U.S. Navy for developing a Naval Air Station (approximately 411 acres). After that, construction sped up on the Naval Air Station. The Navy trucked in loads of fill and used the Works Project Administration (WPA) to fill in Mud Lake, the nearby marsh and Pontiac Bay. This newly flattened land was then turned into buildings, hangars and landing strips.

Sand Point Naval Air Station reached its peak population during World War II with over 7,000 military and civilian personnel. During this time, numerous new buildings and landing strips were built and the Naval Air Station expanded to its peak of 537.5 Magnusongiven to Seattle for use as a park. On May 29, 1979 it was renamed the Warren G. Magnuson Park.