1917, Water Island was not purchased by the U.S. until June 19, 1944, when it was purchased for $10,000 to protect the submarine base on Saint Thomas during World War II. From 1944 to 1950, the island was under the operation of the Department of Defense. Construction on Fort Segarra commenced in 1944 but the fort was abandoned incomplete in 1948. The United States Army's Chemical Warfare Division used sections of Water Island to test chemical warfare agents, including predecessors of Agent Orange, from 1948 until 1950. It was then turned over to the Department of the Interior and leased out, primarily to residential tenants. Control of Water Island was transferred from the federal government to the territorial government on December 12, 1996, for the sum of $25,000,000 (the same amount the federal government paid for the entire U.S. Virgin Islands in 1917) making Water Island the "Last Virgin". In the late 1990s, the Department of the Interior began transferring Water Island land to the long-time residential leaseholders. In 2005, the U.S. Virgin Islands government announced plans to further develop Water Island, and to increase the amount of residential housing to deal with chronic shortages on Saint Thomas. The Water Island Civic Association (WICA) was formed in the mid-1960s to help improve the quality of life on Water Island. Today, the association has over 100 members and it interacts and cooperates with the U.S. Virgin Islands government to help protect the environment on Water Island. Water Island residents pay to have the beach maintained and provide volunteers for clean-up efforts around the island. Notable features Honeymoon Beach One of the principal attractions of Water Island is Honeymoon Beach, in Druif Bay, on the west end of the island. Initially Honeymoon Beach could hardly be called a beach. It was an area about long strewn with vegetation and rocks and only extended about from the water line. The trees and brush were removed, 200 truck loads of rock and gravel were hauled off, and the beach stone was broken up with a bulldozer. The sand was sifted to remove any remaining debris and a dredge was used to remove the seaweed and to deposit sand on the shore. Rows of palm trees were planted back from the shoreline. This was all accomplished under the direction of Walter Phillips, the Master Leaseholder in the early 1950s. In the 1970s Water Island was