In 1942 the Department of the Army acquired 442 acres from the County of Humboldt and then transferred the parcel to the Department of the Navy in 1944. The Navy acquired an additional 223 acres in late 1944, and the entire 665-acre site became a Naval Auxiliary Air Station (J09CA0799).

In 1950 the Air Station was donated to the Humboldt County Department of Aviation (1950) which improved the facility. It has become the Arcata/Eureka Airport, the major airport in Humboldt County.