In 1939-1940, twenty cast stone sculptures and a magnificent work of Gladding McBean terra cotta conveyed the theme of “Pacific Unity” on Treasure Island. The Golden Gate International Exposition, “A Pageant of the Pacific”, celebrated a future in which peoples around the Pacific Basin would live in peace.  Of course, that didn’t happen and the island became Naval Station Treasure Island to support America’s war in the Pacific.

Where are the sculptures now? For most of the past four decades, they have been in storage in old buildings on the island, an unseen vestige of the fair’s vision.

In the late 1980s, the US Navy and the Treasure Island Museum undertook a preservation program, raised money to have six sculptures repaired, and developed plans for a permanent sculpture garden. Sadly, the Navy abandoned that plan and shortly thereafter came the announcement that the base would be closing, eventually to become property of the City of San Francisco. Four decades later, the sculptures are still there, with no future plan in place. It is up to the island’s owners—a joint venture between the City of San Francisco and a development company—to decide what to do about the sculptures. 

All of these pieces are awaiting a mysterious, unknown future. There is no guarantee of their survival, but there is hope. The legacy of these works of art reflects the origins of the world's fair and Treasure Island itself.