Contact:
Tom Leatherman, Superintendent
510-232-5050 x. 6301
Tom_Leatherman@nps.gov

Grand Opening Celebration Planned for Visitor Education Center at Rosie the
Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park
Newly restored historic building will be open to visitors 7 days/week

(Richmond, CA) – Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, CA, will celebrate the grand opening of a new Visitor Education Center on Saturday, May 26, 2012.

The opening ceremony will highlight the key partnerships that made this grand project possible, through comments by building owner Eddie Orton, NPS Regional Director Christine Lehnertz, Congressman George Miller, County Supervisor John Gioia, and City of Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, among others.

Festivities will kick off at 10:00 am, with a Native American blessing of the site, and the performance of the Star Spangled Banner by a young singer from the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and an official ribbon cutting.

Original “Rosie the Riveters” and other WWII-era home front workers are especially welcome to attend, and will be honored as special guests.

The event will be followed by tours and programs for all ages from approximately 12:30 to 5 PM.  Visitors are also encouraged to attend a 1 PM ribbon cutting for new Bay Trail wayside signs at Historic Shipyard no. 3, walk with a park ranger to Lucretia Edwards Park at 2 PM, or listen to ranger talks and view the park orientation film in the Visitor Center’s theater throughout the afternoon.  Park curators and staff from Cal Berkeley’s Regional Oral History Office will also be on hand to meet candidates for oral histories of the WWII Home Front.
The event will end at 5 PM, and will take place rain or shine, so the public should be advised to dress warmly for this potentially breezy waterfront location.

The new visitor education center is located in the historic “Oil House” at 1414 Harbour Way South, suite 3000, Richmond, CA 94804.  The building’s restoration was made possible by a public/private partnership between the National Park Service, the City of Richmond, and Orton Development Inc.

Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects and Dalzell Corporation were responsible for the actual design and restoration/construction work.  This architectural team has won a number of awards for the restoration of the adjacent Ford Assembly Building complex.

Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park was established in 2000 to preserve and interpret the stories and sites of our nation's home front response to World War II. Park sites are spread throughout Richmond, CA and up until now, the park has had limited visitor services and no visitor center.  The opening of the visitor education center marks the most exciting new chapter in the park since its establishment.

The visitor education center will open to the public in two phases. Starting May 26th, the building will open for visitation seven days a week from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm.  During this time, visitors will see temporary exhibits from around the country that tell the story of the WWII home front effort.  The building’s theater will show films that focus on both the local and national domestic efforts that supported the overseas battlefronts during WWII.  Interactive multimedia exhibits designed by Museum Design Associates will be permanently installed and unveiled in summer 2013.

The new Visitor Education Center for Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park is located immediately to the east of the historic Ford Assembly Building, at the end of  Harbour Way South, along Richmond’s Bay Trail.  Photo: NPS.