PORT HUENEME : Exhibit Traces Growth From Lone Wharf to Major Harbor

Over the past 54 years, the Port of Hueneme has gone from welcoming ships with small loads of lumber and kelp to those hauling multimillion-dollar volumes of fresh fruit and automobiles.

It’s been a gradual progression, one that is detailed in a permanent collection that will go on display at the Ventura County Maritime Museum, beginning with a special preview Thursday night.

Titled “Ventura County’s Gateway to World Trade,” the display includes photographs, ship models, maps, a video, old news clippings, some maritime collectibles and plenty of historical text.

“It is moving ahead like a freight train,” said exhibit curator Dick Cunningham of the port, which now generates about $4 million annually. “It’s becoming a very viable Pacific Rim destination.”

Cunningham’s exhibit begins with a 1769 replica of a Chumash map of the Port Hueneme area, when Port Hueneme was called Point Conversion, and makes reference to the wharf that existed from 1897 until 1939.

But it wasn’t until 1938 that the port itself began to take shape. A news article on display dated May 5, 1938, discusses the passage of a $1.75-million bond issue that led to the dredging of the port. The port opened in 1940 and shortly thereafter, Cunningham pointed out, it played a major role in World War II.

“More freight to the South Pacific came through here than anywhere else on the West Coast,” he said. The exhibit also details the port’s role in the Korean War, when 75% of the U.S. military supplies that were shipped by sea passed through.

Exhibit photos and drawings highlight businesses important to the port, including the Stockholm-based Wallenius shipping line, which accounts for about one-fourth of the port’s income.

The display also has a section on the Marine Spill Response Center stationed at the port and an architectural rendering of a planned refrigerated-storage facility.

The museum is located at 2731 S. Victoria Ave. It is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children ages 5-12.