After affluence, destruction and rebirth, 60 years of federal control nears end

WATER ISLAND - In 1944, the U.S. government purchased Water Island with the intention of erecting a military fort to help defend its naval base, Roosevelt Roads, in Puerto Rico.

Ever since, the federal government has held onto large swaths of land even though it has had no use for the island since abandoning it as a chemical weapons testing site in 1952.

On Thursday, the U.S. Interior Department announced it is ready to hand over the last 200 acres it owns on the 500-acre island, bringing 60 years of federal control to a near close.

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