2017 Village of Glenview Comprehensive Plan glenview_comp_plan_2017_03_29_sm | Page 11

Glenview Naval Air Station (GNAS)
Naval Reserve Aviation Base Chicago was renamed
to Glenview Naval Air Station in 1943 and grew
to include 300 officers, 1,000 cadets, and 3,500
enlisted men.
During this time, the Navy initiated a Carrier
Qualification Training Program for advanced pilots.
To help with the training, two converted lake
steamers were modified to resemble the deck of an
aircraft carrier in order to allow cadets to practice
carrier landings on Lake Michigan. By the end of
World War II, 9,000 primary aviation cadets had
been trained along with 15,000 carrier pilots. Some
of the notable men who served or later trained at
GNAS included 19-year-old George Herbert Walker
Bush, Gerald Ford, and Neil Armstrong who was
a reservist at the base prior to his entry into the
space program. (Source: Dawson, Beverly, Images
of America: Glenview Naval Air Station). In 1971,
Naval Air Station Glenview was annexed into the
corporate limits of the Village of Glenview.
In 1993, the Department
of Defense announced the
closure of the 1,121-acre GNAS
and designated the Village
of Glenview as the Local
Redevelopment Authority. In
anticipation of the possible
base closure, the Village Board
adopted a Comprehensive Plan in 1990 which
included a conceptual development scenario for
GNAS that served as the basis for initial discussions
regarding its redevelopment. This preparation
created an opportunity for the Village of Glenview
to petition the Federal Government for an
economic development conveyance of the land.
Unlike instances of other base closures around the
country, a development selection process was not
completed by the Federal government. Instead,
the Village was able to submit a proposal that
proved that the vision created in the conceptual
developments would have significant impact on
economic development and quality of life in the
surrounding area.
All flight operations ceased on March 1, 1995 and
GNAS was officially closed on September 30, 1995.
The Glenview Naval Air Station Redevelopment
Project Master Plan and Design Guidelines were
adopted as an update to the 1990 Comprehensive
Master Plan in 1998. The redevelopment of GNAS
(known as “The Glen” today) added approximately
2,200 residential units, 5,000 new residents, 120
new businesses, and 5,000 employees. Over 400
acres of open space are located within The Glen,
including 220 acres of golf courses, a 140-acre
park with a community and senior center and
Lake Glenview, and a 32-acre prairie with the LEED
Platinum Tyner Interpretive Center.
A t its peak , GNAS was the largest such unit operated by the N avy , spanning 1,200 acres and
turning out 1,000 cadets every three months . T here were nearly 3,500 enlisted men at the base .
P hoto C ourtesy G lenview H angar O ne F oundation : thehangarone . org
Village of Glenview • Comprehensive Plan • 2017
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