In our travels, we stumbled across an article from the San Francisco Chronicle documenting the construction of Golden Gate Park.
The piece ran October 30, 1892 (after the reclamation and the layout of the conservatory, before the botanical garden). It chronicles the purchase of the land and reclamation strategies: the park was covered first with a european beach grass that multiplied sixtyfold every couple of weeks, according to the article. This fastened the sand dunes (yes, for the unfamiliar: sand dunes) and made the first sweep over the 1040 acres to make it more plantable--the second pass was with lupine and small scrub, and the third, final pass was with soil and loam, which could then be planted with lawns and flowers.
Most of the article is dedicated to the economics of Golden Gate Park, which in themselves are fascinating: 1040 acres, 0 native trees, $2.6 million ticket price, less than $190,000 a year in maintenance, construction and labor in 1891.
The park also had at this point, in addition to the conservatory and the beach chalet (1891) and the buffalo paddock, a deer glen and a songbird aviary.
And yes, in case you were wondering, it was called the Panhandle even in 1892.
The piece ran October 30, 1892 (after the reclamation and the layout of the conservatory, before the botanical garden). It chronicles the purchase of the land and reclamation strategies: the park was covered first with a european beach grass that multiplied sixtyfold every couple of weeks, according to the article. This fastened the sand dunes (yes, for the unfamiliar: sand dunes) and made the first sweep over the 1040 acres to make it more plantable--the second pass was with lupine and small scrub, and the third, final pass was with soil and loam, which could then be planted with lawns and flowers.
