Four days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the East Side Journal printed a headline, written with both fear and conviction, like no other it had printed before:

• EAST SIDE READY FOR AIR RAIDS

An attack on Hawaii meant that the mainland might soon be next, and a naval shipyard would be a target for enemy bombers. The Kirkland community realized this and prepared for the worst, as evidenced in other headlines in the same 12/11/41 issue:

• 'BLACKOUT' HARD ON POULTRYMEN
• COFFEE FUND ASKED FOR DEFENSE PATROL
• TO INCREASE DRAFT - 26 ALREADY ARE CALLED IN JANUARY
• WOMEN ASKED TO REGISTER

The next few years were to change the face of Kirkland forever.

• 350 MEN HAVE JOINED KIRKLAND DEFENSE COMPANY - 12/18/41
• KIRKLAND TO STAGE 'SCRAPIRON' DRIVE - 1/8/42
• EAST SIDE SENDING MANY BOYS - 1/29/42
• OUR FIRST SEAPLANE TENDER (PHOTO) - 3/12/42
• KIRKLAND GETS GAS MASKS - 6/4/42
• LARGEST LIST OF LOCAL DRAFTEES CALLED - 6/4/42
• TO WIDEN SHIPYARD ROAD - SIDEWALK ALSO BEING CONSTRUCTED - 8/27/42
• YARD NEEDS MORE WOMEN - 3/25/43

One of the more tragic events in East Side history can be seen in the next three headlines:

• SCORES OF EAST SIDE JAPS TO BE MOVED - 3/12/42
• ARMY 'TAKES OVER' IN KIRKLAND THIS WEEK TO EVACUATE LOCAL JAPANESE - 5/14/42
• 443 LOCAL JAPANESE EVACUATED WEDNESDAY - 5/21/42 [note: this number is for the entire area, not just Kirkland]

As the war progressed, the payroll at the Lake Washington Shipyards surged to a peak of about 6000 people. Before the war, Kirkland's entire population was around 2000. In just a short time, the number of people living and working on the East Side had grown by nearly a factor of five:

• HOUSING PROJECT HERE APPROVED IN WASHINGTON - 3/5/42
• 400 NEW HOUSES FOR AREA - 3/19/42
• AUTHORITY PLANS 800 MORE UNITS - 6/4/42
• LOCAL PEOPLE URGED TO RENT ROOMS - 6/11/42
• 1300 WAR HOUSING UNITS FOR KIRKLAND! - 10/22/42
• 1000 PEOPLE NOW LIVING IN HOUSING PROJECT - 1/7/43
• MORE STORES WILL LOCATE IN PROJECT - 4/8/43
• NEARLY 25 NEW SCHOOL TEACHERS HERE THIS FALL; HOUSING IS NEEDED - 7/22/43
• BOARDING HOMES FOR CHILDREN NEEDED NOW - 2/10/44

Work continued apace at the shipyard:

• SEAPLANE TENDER IS LAUNCHED (USS SAN CARLOS) - 12/22/42
• ANOTHER SHIP IS LAUNCHED (PHOTOS OF USS SHELIKOF) - 2/11/43
• LAUNCH ANOTHER SEAPLANE TENDER HERE ON SUNDAY (USS TIMBALIER) - 4/22/43
• NEW TYPE SHIP IS LAUNCHED HERE (TORPEDO-BOAT MOTHER SHIP) - 7/15/43
• BOMBING OF CHINCOTEAGUE (BUILT AT SHIPYARD) - 10/28/43

Some felt that this work wasn't quite enough. In 1943, an open letter to Admiral Fletcher (Head of Navy Shipbuilding) was published in the Journal. Publisher Robert Frank pointed out that over three years only a handful of ships had been built, and a few others repaired. Loafing and wasted effort had also been noticed, and Frank laid the blame squarely on owners and management for a poorly run yard. Negative press about wartime production was practically unheard of in 1934, especially from a smalltown newspaper. Even if the truth hurt, Frank's main concern was seeing that the shipyard would remain viable after the war:

• FORMER REDMOND BOY DESCRIBES SINKING OF LEXINGTON - 6/25/42
• SIXTY-ONE MORE EAST SIDE BOYS IN ARMY, NAVY - 11/5/42
• BETTY NELSON, EAST SIDE'S FIRST WAAC, HOME FOR BRIEF FURLOUGH - 1/14/43
• 54 MORE EAST SIDE BOYS INDUCTED IN ARMY, NAVY - 4/1/43
• THIRTY-TWO EAST SIDE BOYS ARE DRAFTED IN MAY - 6/17/43
• INDUCT 42 MORE FROM EAST SIDE - 11/25/43
• ANOTHER LOCAL BOY MISSING - 6/1/44
• LAKE WASHINGTON SHIPYARDS' SEAPLANE TENDERS DOING BIG JOB - 10/12/44
• BOYS IN SERVICE WANT HOME NEWS; HERE'S EXAMPLE - 11/9/44
• FOUR EAST SIDE BOYS KILLED OR MISSING - 1/25/45
• FOUR MORE KIRKLAND BOYS ARE KILLED - 3/15/45

While the war raged on, there was much to be done in Kirkland besides building ships:

• GAS RATIONING NOW IN EFFECT - 12/3/42
• CANNED GOODS WILL BE RATIONED MARCH 1 - 2/4/43
• SHOE RATIONING WON'T BE HARDSHIP IN CONSENSUS OF OPINION HERE - 2/11/43
• FARM WORKERS MAY BE DEFERRED - 3/11/43
• $3000 IN WAR BONDS SOLD AT HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT ON MONDAY - 4/29/43
• MEMBERS OF CIVIL AIR PATROL CAN MOVE DURING RAIDS - 5/6/43
• SHAW HAS BEST VICTORY GARDEN - 6/24/43
• WARNINGS ISSUED FOR VIOLATIONS OF 'DIMOUT' LAW - 7/15/43
• KIRKLAND BUYS $52,000 IN BOND DRIVE - 9/16/43
• STRICTER GASOLINE RATION CONTROL STARTS JANUARY 1 - 12/9/43
• KIRKLAND NEARS SIXTH WAR LOAN GOAL - 12/14/44

Finally, good news came to Kirkland and the world:

• KIRKLAND PEOPLE CELEBRATE VICTORY - STORES ARE CLOSED FOR 2 DAYS - 8/16/45

But as the war effort wound down so did Kirkland. Most of the thousands who moved here for temporary work would soon move away. Bob Frank's fears of a nonviable shipyard would soon come to fruition. A bridge had finally been built across the lake just before the war, but it was south of Bellevue, miles from here.

For those who left home to fight in the war, they would return to a Kirkland that was much different than the one they had left. It took time to adjust, but most of them would build upon these changes, shaping Kirkland into an archetype of modern suburbia.

Post-War Growth and the Baby Boom

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