Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond and Sunset districts on the West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the largest urban park in the city, containing , and the third-most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 24 million visitors annually. Part of the natural area is old-growth forest and recognized by the Old-Growth Forest Network.
The creation of a large park in San Francisco was first proposed in the 1860s. In 1865, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted proposed a park designed with species native to San Francisco. That plan was rejected in favor of a Central Park-style park designed by engineer William Hammond Hall. The park was built atop shore and sand dunes in an unincorporated area known as the Outside Lands. Construction centered on planting trees and non-native grasses to stabilize the dunes that covered three-quarters of the park. The park opened in 1870.
Main attractions include cultural institutions such as the de Young Museum, California Academy of Sciences, and the Japanese Tea Garden; attractions such as the Conservatory of Flowers, the San Francisco Botanical Garden, the Beach Chalet, the Golden Gate Park windmills, and the National AIDS Memorial Grove. Recreational activities include bicycling, pedal boating, and concerts and events such as Outside Lands music festival and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Golden Gate Park is accessible by car and by public transportation.
Golden Gate Park earned the designation of National Historic Landmark and of California Historic Resource in 2004. The park is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the park's development. Golden Gate Park is over three miles () long east to west, and about half a mile () north to south..
History Development
In the 1860s, San Franciscans felt the need for a spacious public park similar to Central Park, which was then taking shape in New York City. Golden Gate Park was carved out of unpromising sand and shore dunes that were known as the Outside Lands, in an unincorporated area west of San Francisco's then-current borders. In 1865, Frederick Law Olmsted proposed a plan for a park using native species suited for San Francisco's dry climate. The proposal was rejected in favor of a Central Park-style park needing extensive irrigation.
Conceived ostensibly for recreation, the underlying purpose of the park was housing development and the westward expansion of the city. Field engineer William Hammond Hall prepared a survey and topographic map of the park site in 1870 and became its commissioner in 1871. He was later named California's first state engineer and developed an integrated flood control system for the Sacramento Valley. The park drew its name from the nearby Golden Gate Strait.
The plan and planting were developed by Hall and his assistant, John McLaren, who had apprenticed in Scotland, home of many of the 19th-century's best professional gardeners. John McLaren, when asked by the Park Commission if he could make Golden Gate Park "one of the beauty spots of the world," replied saying, "With your aid gentleman, and God be willing, that I shall do." He also promised that he'd "go out into the country and walk along a stream until he found a farm, and that he'd come back to the garden and recreate what nature had done."
The initial plan called for grade separations of transverse roadways through the park, as Frederick Law Olmsted had provided for Central Park, but budget constraints and the positioning of the Arboretum and the Concourse ended the plan. In 1876, the plan was almost replaced by one for a racetrack, favored by "the Big Four" millionaires: Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Collis P. Huntington, and Charles Crocker. Stanford, who was president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, was also one of the owners of the Ocean Railroad Company, which ran from Haight Street across the park to its south border, then out to the beach and north to a point near Cliff House.John L. Levinsohn, "Frank Morrison Pixley of The Argonaut," The Book club of San Francisco, 1989.
Gus Mooney claimed land adjacent to the park on Ocean Beach. Many of Mooney's friends also staked claims and built shanties on the beach to sell refreshments to the patrons of the park. Hall resigned, and the remaining park commissioners followed. In 1882 Governor George C. Perkins appointed Frank M. Pixley, founder and editor of The Argonaut, to the board of commissioners of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Pixley was adamant that the Mooney's shanties be eliminated, and he found support with the San Francisco Police for park security. Pixley favored Stanford's company by granting a fifty-year lease on the route that closed the park on three sides to competition. By 1886, the original plan was back on track, when streetcars delivered over 47,000 people to Golden Gate Park on one weekend afternoon, out of a population of 250,000 in the city.
The first stage of the park's development centered on planting trees in order to stabilize the dunes that covered three-quarters of the park's area. In order to transform the sand dunes into parkland, John McLaren grew bent grass seeds obtained from France for two years. Once the seeds were grown, he planted them over the sand to hold the ground together. After this success, McLaren introduced new species of plants to the land, and added over 700 new types of trees to California within the span of one year.
By 1875, about 60,000 trees, mostly Eucalyptus globulus, Monterey pine, and Monterey cypress, had been planted. By 1879, that figure more than doubled to 155,000 trees over . Within his lifetime, McLaren is credited to have planted over two million trees within northern California as a whole. Another accomplishment of John McLaren is his creation of an open walking space along the Pacific shoreline on the western boundary of the park. Despite obstacles such as heavy tides and winds that carried sand inland towards the park, McLaren was able to build an esplanade by stacking thousands of tree boughs over the course of 20 years.
When he refused to retire at the customary age of 60 the San Francisco city government was bombarded with letters: when he reached 70, a charter amendment was passed to exempt him from forced retirement. On his 92nd birthday, two thousand San Franciscans attended a testimonial dinner that honored him as San Francisco's number one citizen. He lived in McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park until he died in 1943, aged 96. McLaren Avenue, in Sea Cliff, near Lincoln Park is named after him.
In 1903, a pair of Dutch-style windmills were built at the extreme western end of the park. These pumped water throughout the park. The north windmill was restored to its original appearance in 1981 and is adjacent to Queen Wilhelmina tulip garden, a gift of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. These are planted with tulip bulbs for winter display and other flowers in appropriate seasons. The Murphy Windmill in the southwest corner of the park was restored in September 2011.
1906 earthquake relief
After the great earthquake of San Francisco in 1906, Golden Gate Park became a site of refuge for many who found themselves without shelter. The undeveloped Outside Lands became a prime location to house these masses of people, and "earthquake shacks" popped up all throughout the area. Of the 26 official homeless encampments in the Golden Gate Park region, 21 were under the control of the United States Army.
The United States Army housed 20,000 people in military style encampments, and 16,000 of the 20,000 refugees were living at the Presidio. Within the Presidio were four major encampments including a camp exclusively for Chinese immigrants. Despite being simple lodgings, the army organized 3,000 tents into a geometric grid complete with streets and addresses. "The Army constructed a virtual town with large residential barracks [with temporary] tented housing, latrines and bathhouses, laundries, and other services."
Not only was the standard of military organization high, but the social organization was also at an acceptable standard despite the aftermath of the earthquake and fires. Reports indicate that small communities formed within the tent neighborhoods. The children of the refugees established play areas, and the adults congregated in the mess halls to socialize.
In June 1906, the Presidio tent camps were shut down. To replace these tents the city of San Francisco built more permanent living quarters. As mentioned earlier these earthquake shacks were built to house those still homeless after the earthquake and subsequent fires. Army Union carpenters built the shacks, and residents paid off the cost of construction at a rate of two dollars a month for twenty-five months.
Early 20th century
During the Great Depression, the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department ran out of public funds. Thus, the duties of the department were transferred to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a government program designed to provide employment and community improvements during the economic woes of the 1930s. Within the park, the WPA was responsible for the creation of several features, including the Arboretum, the archery field, and the model yacht club. The WPA reconstructed 13 miles of roads throughout the park and built the San Francisco Police Department's horse stables.
Another WPA contribution, Anglers Lodge and the adjoining fly casting pools, is still in use today. It is home to the Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club, formerly known as the San Francisco Fly Casting Club. The horseshoe pits were also created by WPA employees. The pits also came with two sculptures, one of a gentleman tossing a horse shoe and one of a white horse (which has since crumbled), both created by artist Jesse S. "Vet" Anderson."Playing Horse Shoes in Golden Gate Park." Golden Gate Park, April 19, 2016, goldengatepark.com/horseshoe-pits.html.
Most of the water used for landscape watering and for various water features is now provided by groundwater from the city's Westside Basin Aquifer. In the 1950s, the use of this effluent during cold weather caused some consternation, with the introduction of artificial detergents but before the advent of modern biodegradable products. These "hard" detergents would cause long-lasting billowing piles of foam to form on the creeks connecting the artificial lakes and could even be blown onto the roads, forming a traffic hazard.
Summer of Love
Golden Gate Park is recognized as the birthplace of the Summer of Love. On January 14, 1967, the Human Be-In was held in the Polo Fields. Organized by artist Michael Bowen, the event was attended by almost 30,000 people. Famous artists including the poets Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg were in attendance, as calls for alternative lifestyles and expanded consciousness reflected the countercultural attitudes of the period. At the event, psychologist Timothy Leary coined the phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."
Several months later, Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" became an anthem for the Summer of Love. The eastern end of the Park was the epicenter of the Summer of Love, with an estimated 100,000 youth visiting the Haight-Ashbury district, where they embraced communal living and counter-establishment values. Hippie Hill was a central meeting place, and renowned artists like Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and George Harrison performed free concerts there during the Summer of Love.
Recent history