Alaska Cruise-SanFransisco, day 11a

BARRACKS/APARTMENTS
n 1905, the Army used inmate labour to add three concrete. stories on top of the original dock level brick barracks built. in the 1860s. The finished structure, known as Building 64, served as quarters for soldiers assigned to prison guard duty. In preparation for civilian inmates, the Bureau of Prisons remodeled the barracks building into apartments for correctional officers and their families. The apartment house included a small market and a tiny post office. During the federal penitentiary era, this end of the island was fenced off for the security of the families.

THE DOCK
The oriinal dock was completed in 1854 and has be largely
modified and enlarged several times since then. The large four-story building immediately behind the dock was once a military barracks Its ground floor was built between 1865 and
1867. Designed to house soldiers and cannon to defend the dock, its 10 foot thick brick walls made it virtually bomb-proof. Along today's dock, a row of brick gun casemates can still be seen. The restored guard tower is a remnant of the federal penitentiary era. During those years, six towers around Alcatraz were manned by armed guards, whose clear view made escape by prisoners extremely difficult

GUARDHOUSE & SALLYPORT COMPLEX
Built in 1857, the guard house is the oldest building on the island. The first line of defense against enemy landing parties, it could only be entered by crossing a drawbridge over a 15-foot deep dry moat. Two gun ports for 24-pound howitzers flanked the entrance, and firing positions for riflemen capped the roof. Alcatraz's defenses were never tested in battle. Instead, the Guardhouse's basèment served as a prison for troublesome Army soldiers..
Later uses included a military prison, library, theater, and schoolhouse.

MILITARY SCHOOLHOUSE
The small buildings on top hull of the Guardhouse and Sallyport
was built by the Army in 1917. Designed in the Mission Revival style, the schoolhouse originally held a shoe repair shop and hat factory. Later, it served as a classroom where Army prisoners received grade school education. In 1934, after the military left and federal prison employees arrived the building was remodeled into housing for bachelor guards.

POST EXCHANGE & OFFICERS' CLUB
The Alcatraz Post Exchange (PX), or "Soldiers Clubhouse," built in 1910, was the local general store, a place for soldiers and their families to buy food and personal goods. When Alcatraz became a federal prison in 1934, the PX was converted into a recreation hall and correctional officers club, complete with a dance floor, movie theater, gymnasium, two-lane bowling alley, and soda fountain. The building was one of several destroyed by, fire in June 1970.

INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS
Work was a privilege on Alcatraz, and most inmates labored five days a week at menial jobs such as making military uniforms and refinishing furniture. Convicts worked in two large factory buildings separated from the rest of the island by double fences topped with barbed wire.
The three-story building at the tip of the island was called Model Shop because it was designed to serve as a "model" of rehabilitation for prisoners. Built by the Army in 1922, it contained carpentry, plumbing, and blacksmith shops. The long two-story building, known as New Industries, was constructed by the Bureau of Prisons in 1940 and served as a laundry, dry cleaning plant, and tailor shops.

MAIN PRISON BUILDING
In 1907, the War Department drew up plans for a new prison building that could house up to 600 Army prisoners. When finished in 1912, the cellhouse was reportedly the largest steel reinforced concrete building in the world. Unskilled Army inmates largely provided the labor. When Alcatraz was chosen as a federal maximum-security penitentiary in 1934, the aging cellouse was renovated by the Bureau of Prisons. Tool-proof bars replaced the flat, mild steel cell fronts of the military prison, and gun galleries were built at either end of the cell room. Also, the number of cells was reduced from 600 to 336.

WARDEN'S HOUSE AND LIGHTHOUSE
The wardens house commanded the summit of the island. An impressive Mission Revival-style home. It had sexenteen large rooms with sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco. Built in 1921, it was originally the residence of the military prison commandant. After the island became a federal penitentiary in 1934, it became home to Alcatraz's four wardens.
The lighthouse was originaily built in 1854 to guide gold rush shipping into San Francisco Bay. The present concrete tower was erected in 1909. Lighthouse keepers and their families once lived in homes at the towers base.

STAFF HOUSING AREA
Most of the penitentiary staff, along with their wives and children, lived on Alcatraz. Living quarters included, aging army barracks overlooking the dock small cottages and modern apartment houses buit in 1940. With spectacular views of the in Golden Gate Bridge.
At the very tip of the island was a
cuplex occupied by two of the most
Important people on the island, the associate warden and the captain of the correctional staff. During the 1959s, an average of 76 families. lived on the island at any one time Dozens of children grew up on Alcatraz, and were ferried each day to schools in Sam Francisco. Wives and off duty guards took the shuttle to the city for shopping trips and social events.Read more