Unfortunately this maker has been badly vandalized. Missing portions are represented by ...
Imagine how the Glen Canyon Park used to be part of the open ... hills far south of San Francisco... how you might feel if you came across this 70 acre... foot deep canyon for the first time ...tected ... the winds down small rive... provide sweet water... lush vegetation and wildlife .... local Ohlone people were drawn to Islais Creek and used Glen Canyon for shelter and hunting.
1690s - 1840s
Remote Grassland
During the Mexican colonization and governance of California (1697-1848), Glen Canyon was part of a large estate called Rancho San Miguel and cattle grazing was prevalent.
Smugglers and cattle rustlers (thieves) hid in rock outcrops the canyon's Caves during the Gold Rush, With the invention of the automobile still may years away. It took 3 hours to hike here from downtown.
Dynamite
Explosive Past
Through local connections, Alfred Nobel (Nobel Prize) leased land from L.L. Robinson in what was still known as Rancho San Miguel. The Giant Powder Company was incorporated as the first commercial manufacturer of dynamite in the United States, personally licensed by Nobel. In eighteen months, the whole facility would
blow up in one big fireball. This site has been designated as California Historical Landmark No. 1002.
1880s-1920s
A Growing City
The dreamy canyon changed its face when real estate agent A.S. Baldwin tried to attract ... some buyers with ab amusement park soon after he acquired it in the late ... acquired a zoo, bowling alley, air balloon ... performers, and a tight rope walk across the Canyon.
Glen Canyon ... then became an infamous picnic area for corporate and private parties that got .... with "boisterous" drinking. In 1922 the San Francisco Recreation and Parks ... acquired the property as a playground to protect the area.
1930s-1950s
Infrastructure
In 1935 O'Shaughnessy Boulevard was was ... over the Canyon's steep western slopes, connecting Glen Park to the western parts of the city but cutting off the watershed from Mount Davidson and reducing the small Islais River to a trickling creek.
In 1937 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which helped build bridges, streets and parks all over the country with government funding, built the Recreation center that we still enjoy today. In the mid-1940s the Silver Tree Day Camp was established ... by 1960 the Silver Tree ... had ....camp.
1950s-1960s
Conservation
In the 1950s and 1960s there were several attempts by developers and engineers to build a highway through Glen Canyon including ... through ... connect ... of the ... These various ... were met by community ... the 1960s, ... activists — ...eraldine ... Nordstrom rallied Glen Park residents to oppose a four-lane freeway expressway that was planned through the Canyon.
They formed ... Save the ... Committee devoted ...ting the park ...rations, and organ... Glen Park School protest the freeway plan. Approximately 400 people attended. In 1967 after several years of disputes and protests, the City finally conceded, and the "high capacity roadway" was abandoned.
The neighborhood mom activist were dismissively dubbed "The Gum Tree Girls" by a pro-freeway city engineer. One of the main trails in the Canyon is name the Gum Tree Girls in recognition of these three women who effectively fought to maintain the integrity and beauty of this amazing urban oasis and as a testament to grassroots activism.
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