Point San Quentin

Last updated

Point San Quentin, later known as Potrero Point, was the land projecting into San Francisco Bay that marked the southern extremity of Mission Bay (now filled in), in San Francisco, California. [1]

Contents

San Francisco shoreline in 1853, with Point San Quentin visible in the lower right corner 1853 U.S.C.S. Map of San Francisco, California ^ Vicinity - Geographicus - SanFrancisco3-uscs-1853.jpg
San Francisco shoreline in 1853, with Point San Quentin visible in the lower right corner

History

Originally named by Spanish settlers in the 18th century, it retained the name Point San Quentin on U.S. Coastal survey maps as late as 1869. By 1882, the land projecting from the southern tip of Mission Bay is shown on maps as Potrero Point, and commonly called The Potrero, for the former Rancho Potrero de San Francisco that had included the point within its boundaries.

In the early 1850s the site of the Tubbs and Company ropewalk, in the mid-1860s it became the major shipbuilding site for San Francisco. Subsequently, the shoreline of the point along Mission Bay and San Francisco Bay was filled in. By 1880, Potrero Point had become the San Francisco center for heavy industry companies like the Atlas Iron Works, Bethlehem Shipyard, California Sugar Refinery, Pacific Rolling Mill, and the Union Iron Works. These industries continued there through World War I. [1]

The Dogpatch neighborhood is located on Potrero Point.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Iron Works</span> San Francisco American shipyard company

Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Bruno Mountain</span> Mountain in California, United States

San Bruno Mountain is a fault-block horst in northern San Mateo County, California; its northern slopes rise in San Francisco. It is surrounded by San Francisco Bay and the cities of Brisbane, Colma, Daly City, and South San Francisco, and has played an important role in the history of all these communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mission Bay (San Francisco)</span> Former bay and estuary in California

Mission Bay was a bay and the estuary of Mission Creek, on the west shore of San Francisco Bay, between Steamboat Point and Point San Quentin or Potrero Point. It is now mostly filled in and is the location of the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco.

Potrero Hill is a residential neighborhood in San Francisco, California. A working-class neighborhood until gentrification in the late 1990s, it is now home to mostly upper-income residents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of San Francisco</span> Organization that oversees port facilities in San Francisco, California, United States

The Port of San Francisco is a semi-independent organization that oversees the port facilities at San Francisco, California, United States. It is run by a five-member commission, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Supervisors. The Port is responsible for managing the larger waterfront area that extends from the anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge, along the Marina district, all the way around the north and east shores of the city of San Francisco including Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero, and southward to the city line just beyond Candlestick Point. In 1968, the State of California, via the California State Lands Commission for the State-operated San Francisco Port Authority, transferred its responsibilities for the Harbor of San Francisco waterfront to the City and County of San Francisco / San Francisco Harbor Commission through the Burton Act AB2649. All eligible State port authority employees had the option to become employees of the City and County of San Francisco to maintain consistent operation of the Port of San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dogpatch, San Francisco</span> Neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States

Dogpatch is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, roughly half industrial and half residential. It was initially a working class neighborhood, but has experienced rapid gentrification since the 1990s. It now has similar demographics to its western neighbor Potrero Hill – an upper middle-class working professional neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mission Creek</span> River in California, United States

Mission Creek is a river in San Francisco, California. Once navigable from the Mission Bay inland to the vicinity of Mission Dolores, where several smaller creeks converged to form it, Mission Creek has long since been largely culverted. Its only remaining portion above-ground is the Mission Creek Channel which drains into China Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Vicente Creek (San Mateo County)</span> River

San Vicente Creek is a 3.9-mile-long (6.3 km) coastal stream in northern California which flows entirely within San Mateo County and discharges to the Pacific Ocean. Its waters rise on the west facing slopes of the Montara Mountain, block and its mouth is at the unincorporated community of Moss Beach, within the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. Historically there was a tidal marsh at its mouth, but some of this reach has been degraded by fill, especially in the construction of West Point Drive. This westernmost reach of the creek has been especially ecologically productive, and part of the reason for Fitzgerald Marine Reserve's designation on August 5, 1969, as a state reserve and was named after James V. Fitzgerald.

Point Isabel is a promontory on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in the Richmond Annex neighborhood of Richmond, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arroyo de en Medio</span>

Arroyo de en Medio is a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) coastal stream in western San Mateo County, California. Arroyo de en Medio rises on the western slopes of Montara Mountain and discharges to the Pacific Ocean at Half Moon Bay at the location of the unincorporated community of Miramar at Miramar Beach. The watershed of Arroyo de en Medio consists of relatively permeable sandy soils capable of significant recharge to its aquifers, which supply considerable potable water to the local area. Arroyo is Spanish for creek; de en Medio means literally "of in between" but a closer more functional translation may be in the middle.

Denniston Creek is a 4.4-mile-long (7.1 km) coastal stream in western San Mateo County, California. Denniston Creek rises on the western slopes of Montara Mountain and discharges to the Pacific Ocean at Pillar Point Harbor somewhat north of El Granada Beach. The watershed of Denniston Creek is made up of relatively permeable sandy soils capable of significant recharge to its aquifers, which supply a moderate amount of potable water to the local area.

San Bruno Creek is an intermittent stream that rises on the eastern slopes of the Northern Santa Cruz Mountains in San Mateo County, California, USA. The headwaters descend a relatively steep canyon east of Skyline Boulevard in a tortuous course. Comparison of topographic maps from 1896 and 1939 illustrates the extreme modification in the lower reaches due to urban development from the rapidly expanding population. The San Bruno Creek watershed was originally settled by a tribe of the Ohlone, and later this locale was part of the Spanish missions' landholdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pier 70, San Francisco</span> Pier in southeast San Francisco, California

Pier 70 in San Francisco, California, is a historic pier in San Francisco's Potrero Point neighborhood, home to the Union Iron Works and later to Bethlehem Shipbuilding. It was one of the largest industrial sites in San Francisco during the two World Wars. Today, it is regarded as the best-preserved 19th century industrial complex west of the Mississippi.

Rancho Rincón de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo was a 4,446-acre (17.99 km2) Mexican land grant, largely within present day southeastern San Francisco, California, and extending to San Mateo County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gunder North</span>

John Gunder North was a Norwegian born ship builder in San Francisco. During his career, he built 273 hulls of all kinds with 53 bay and river steamers, including the famed paddle steamers Chrysopolis, Yosemite and Capital.

Rancho Potrero de San Francisco or Rancho Potrero Nuevo was approximately 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) Mexican land grant in the present day Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yerba Buena Cove</span>

Yerba Buena Cove was a cove on San Francisco Bay where the Mexican pueblo of Yerba Buena was located. It lay between Clarks Point to the north and Rincon Point to the south. The beach of the cove was set back as far as what is now Montgomery Street between Clay and Washington Streets.

Steamboat Point a headland marking the northeastern limit of Mission Bay, on San Francisco Bay. It was named for the shipyards that built and repaired steamboats there during the 1850s to the mid 1860s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potrero Point</span> District in southeast San Francisco, California

Potrero Point is an area in San Francisco, California, east of San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood. Potrero Point was an early San Francisco industrial area. The Point started as small natural land feature that extends into Mission Bay of San Francisco Bay. The Point was enlarged by blasted and cuts on the nearby cliffs. The cut material was removed and used to fill two square miles into the San Francisco bay, making hundreds of acres of flat land. The first factories opened at Potrero Point in the 1860s. Early factories were powder magazine plant, the Pacific Rolling Mill Company and small shipyards. The large Union Iron Works and its shipyards were built at the site, stated in 1849 by Peter Donahue. To power the factories and neighborhood coal and gas-powered electricity works were built, later the site became Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E).

References

37°45′35.34″N122°23′0.87″W / 37.7598167°N 122.3835750°W / 37.7598167; -122.3835750