WILLIAM HAMMOND HALL: Still the Unsung Father of Golden Gate Park

CHRISTOPHER POLLOCK

Te frst installment of this essay was published in the Winter 2020 issue of Eden and was titled “Sand into Gold.” It discussed the creation of one of America’s best urban parks from sand dunes. Tis second installment is focused on William Hammond Hall (1846-1934), the man who created Golden Gate Park. On April 4, 2020, the City and Above: Drawing of the newly founded town of Stockton on the San Joaquin River in 1849 shortly before Hall’s family moved there. County of ’s Recreation and Park Department launched a Source: Gilbert, Frank T. History of San Joaquin County. Oakland: Thompson and year-long celebration commemorating the sesquicentennial of the city’s West, 1879. premier playground: Golden Gate Park. In this essay, Hall is given the Far left: Portrait of William Hammond Hall that was taken about the time he started work on the Golden Gate Park project. recognition that eluded him for 150 years. Source: Overland Monthly, “Golden Gate Park” Richard Gibson, vol. XXXVII, no. 3, Ask almost any Bay Area resident today about out over decades, hid the contributions of Wil- March 1901, 759. the legacy of William Hammond Hall, and a liam Hammond Hall —the park’s engineer, blank stare may follow. Ask the same person designer, and first superintendent—behind Left: The writer was Alberta Rosa (de Morbio) Pruitt (1901-1979) who was a granddaughter to name the father of San Francisco’s Golden those of other more renowned figures. Hall of Adolph Sutro. Sutro was an inventive Gate Park, and the response might be John served the park in various roles for its first mining engineer, and the 24th Mayor of San McLaren (1846-1943), or maybe Frederick nineteen years. However, there is no public Francisco from 1895-1897. Sadly, we did not Law Olmsted, Sr. (1821-1903) of Olmsted, lawn, glade, dell, valley, road, playground— grow the wiser in the intervening ffty years since Pruitt wrote this note to the Chronicle Vaux and Company, the designer (with Calvert nothing named for Hall anywhere in San newspaper’s editor. Vaux) of New York’s Central Park. Neither of Francisco. Only Golden Gate Park itself stands Source: San Francisco Chronicle, March 27, these is correct: a complicated history, played silently as a memorial to his genius. 1970, 42.

32 Eden: Journal of the Garden & Landscape History Society Fall 2020 • Vol. 23, No. 4 33 Above: Topographical map of Golden William Hammond Hall was born in Hag- and upkeep of other plants in the garden. Gate Park by William Hammond Hall. erstown, Maryland, on February 12, 1846, to His entries also include descriptions of the None of the adjacent streets were built yet, the entire illustration shows what John Buchanan Hall (1820-1906), a successful weather and the height of river water, located was surveyed and was intended to be , and his wife Ann Maria (neè Ham- close to the family residence. This awareness constructed. mond, 1818-1896)1, known as ‘Mollie’. John of details became part of his life-long ethos.6 Source: First Biennial Report of the Hall had been caught up in the Gold Rush hys- Hall’s professional civil engineering career San Francisco Park Commissioners teria of 1848. Traveling by ship around Cape started in 1866 when he apprenticed as a 1870-71. San Francisco: Francis and Valentine, 1872. Horn, he landed in San Francisco in August draftsman and surveyor for the U.S. Army of 1850.2 Along with two partners, Hall Corps of Engineers. He conducted the first established the law firm Huggins, Hall, and survey for a shipping canal to bring deep- Mudd with an office on Montgomery Street. sea vessels into Stockton’s inland port.7 Hall The Great Fire of 1851—which consumed advanced quickly, surveying West Coast land nearly three-quarters of the city—destroyed from San Diego northward to Washington Hall’s office and prized library. Shortly there- state—including around San Francisco Bay— after, Hall became legal advisor to Charles M. for the U.S. Coast Survey. His work with the Weber, the founder of the Central Valley town Corps included learning about the science of of Stockton, which was the gateway to the sand dune reclamation along San Francisco’s southern gold mines. Mollie and their then western coastline. Here, under General Barton 9-year-old son William traveled west to join S. Alexander, he studied an area known as San John in late spring 1853.3 Francisco’s ‘Outside Lands,’ gaining knowl- In Stockton, William (known as ‘Ham’) edge that would serve him well in the future. entered a private academy in 1858, with the Additionally, Hall worked on mining engineer- intention of attending the military academy at ing projects in California and .8 West Point as others in his family had done. The year 1870 was a tremendous cross- However, with the commencement of the Civil roads in Hall’s life: he was 24. That year he War in 1861, his parents revised this plan, and married Emma Kate Fitzhugh in San Francisco. William remained at the Stockton Seminary Over the years, they had three daughters, Anna until 1865.4 Hammond, Margaret Fitzhugh, and Katherine Living in Stockton, young William would Buchanan Hall. That same year, a large urban have learned a crucial lesson about the forces park was about to be built in San Francisco. Once established, the board solicited bids for to continue through the project’s develop- of nature. Stockton was located in the San The city had evolved quickly from a gold rush a topographical survey of the selected tract in ment phases. Having proved himself, Hall was Joaquin River Delta to the west of the great town to a thriving port. The transcontinental the Outside Lands, a tract of mostly sand on appointed park superintendent on August 14, California Sierra drainage basin. The winter of railroad had been completed in 1869, further the west side of the San Francisco Peninsula. 1871, at a salary of $250 a month.11 For such 1861-62 saw a series of immensely destructive securing its promise of a bright future. This Based on his prior experience with the site and an enterprising and courageous young man, floods that overflowed the San Joaquin’s banks great San Francisco park would become Hall’s with the support of his ex-boss, the influential this was a major professional coup. and sloughs, providing him an eyewitness greatest task and finest achievement. General Alexander, Hall won the contract on Both Hall and the commissioners met experience of what uncontrolled water can The park’s genesis lay in the new city’s con- August 8, 1870. His proposal, chosen from great opposition from naysayers who derided An editorial satire on the proposed do. Bridges floated away and boats became the cern for breathing space, combined with San those submitted by several bidders, was for the Herculean task of turning San Francisco’s Sharon Memorial Gate, which is 5 pointing out the many indiscretions vehicles of choice in everyday transportation. Francisco’s desire to be the West Coast’s met- $4,860. He completed the basic task in six sand dunes into an English pastoral landscape of William Sharon. With Sharon in the Hall also had a strong affinity with plants. ropolitan star. Earlier efforts to develop such a months. The commissioners intended to stage like that of New York’s Central Park. Among symbolic keystone position, readers One of the few intimate insights into his life park had not been successful.9 In order for the a competition for the next phase, the park’s many criticisms, one public comment com- of the day could probably identify comes from a journal Hall kept for less than City to initiate the building of its much-desired design.10 However, Hall foresaw this hurdle pared the site to “The Sahara, that is to be all the 20 individuals that were two months in early 1865. About to turn 20, open-space, Governor Henry H. Haight shown and what they represented in and created, at his own expense, a preliminary by some magical process not yet explained Sharon’s tumultuous life. 12 he often mentioned working in the family appointed a locally-based three-person Board park plan. The commissioners were impressed transformed into a park…”. Some of these Source: The Wasp, vol. XVI, no. 496, garden, noting roses, a pear tree, and the care of Park Commissioners on April 19, 1870. enough with what Hall presented to hire him critics had their own agendas, wanting to line January 30, 1886, 8.

34 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Fall 2020 • Vol. 23, No. 4 35 posts to support and keep it from blowing away.”18 It took vision to see beyond the popu- lar thoughts of the untrained mind. Hall and the park commissioners bucked the tide of popular thinking with tenacity and a scientific approach. Hall wisely grasped the global picture of what was at stake. In 1873, he made a profound statement for the time that easily resonates today. Hall was discussing the park in relation to the much larger picture of land reclamation across the continents. In his broad-ranging essay he wrote:

Vast areas of the earth’s surface have been stripped of the natural forest clothing through the medium of the axe and fire-brand in the hands of man, who, thus removing a most potent ele- ment in the problems of evaporation and precipitation, has caused great irregularity in the rain-fall in these districts, resulting in alternate drought and flood, and the formation of arid deserts or denuded wastes of primi- expressing his admiration of the famous American landscape designer Andrew Jackson tive rock.19 landscape architect’s work and asking for his Downing (1815-1852) as well as Olmsted, and advice. This began a mentoring correspon- the European landscape garden designers Sir He was setting the stage for his work and dence that would last for decades. Hall started Humphrey Repton and John Loudon. Indeed, informing the reader that he left no stone out his work with a project that flew in the Hall was an apt pupil of the many landscape unturned to make sure this effort was a suc- face of Olmsted’s pragmatic advice against a architectural considerations in great detail, cess in every aspect. green park sited in the middle of arid sands. from both cultural and technical standpoints. In its essence, Hall’s proposed plan for But the city was investing in the future and In his efforts to stabilize the dunes, Hall Golden Gate Park was ultimately carried out. Hall was convinced that he could meet the carried out (and recorded for posterity) For the most part, the park was built as a city’s expectations. experiments held within the park between pastoral landscape, just as the city wanted, Through intensive study, Hall learned December 1872 and the following January. despite its inappropriateness to the site’s cli- about the basic components involved in Afforestation, the development of sand into mate, hydrology, native vegetation, and soils. Above: Hand colored presentation their own pockets by having the park located creating the proposed park. He wrote in the a growing medium for plants, shrubs, and The roads and paths meandering amongst drawing by William Hammond Hall from elsewhere on the peninsula. Fortunately, the July 1888 showing the Sharon Building First Biennial Report of 1870-1871: “there is an trees, sounds like alchemy. In fact, the known the rolling natural and designed landscape and the landscape layout for the Quarters commission prevailed. abundance of water to be had throughout the scientific phased approach of plant succes- reproduced the desired pastoral feeling. Hall for Children. The circular element remains With no formal training or background, eastern portion of the Reservation, at a depth sion (described in the first of these two Eden imbued the site with the same romantic as the carousel location to this day. Hall had to focus on the problem with a dedi- of twenty-five to thirty-five feet below the articles) was used to convert the sand dunes Nineteenth-century landscape ethos that it Source: San Francisco Recreation and cation that few can appreciate. Otherwise, he 20 Park Department. surface of the ground in the valleys. Under into an arable landscape. The first sequence evokes today. would have failed in his first large commission the clay formation, at the western end of the included two members of the deep-rooted Hall worked on another major project, Left: The Norman Medal, bestowed upon and been ridiculed for the rest of his career. Avenue, it is even nearer the surface.”13 Early native lupine family, Lupinus arboreus and while also serving as Golden Gate Park’s Hall in 1895 by the American Society of Seeing beyond the sand—touted as a waste- on, he recommended that an on-site nursery Lupinus albifrons, that were mixed with faster- superintendent, designing what has become Civil Engineers. land at the time, Hall understood the various be established to provide plantings for the growing common barley, which shielded the an important layer of the University of Califor- Source: https://www.icollector. elements involved (such as the site’s geogra- com/1872-Norman-Medal-Julian-AM- park. It was carried out initially near where developing and slower growing, but longer- nia, Berkeley’s campus plan. Olmsted himself 9-PR60-Uncertifed-Gold_i6557068, phy, geology, hydrology, and vegetation)—and McLaren Lodge stands today. lasting, lupine.16 Serendipity played a part in had developed an earlier plan for what was accessed February 15, 2020. the dynamics amongst them—in a way that With three years of the park’s construc- the experiment: while Hall was surveying the then called the College of California in 1864- was not generally recognized at the time. tion behind him, Hall submitted a report titled Outside Lands’ dunes on horseback with col- 65. However, Olmsted’s personal involvement Opposite left: Portrait of landscape Having done work around the perimeter of “Influence of Parks and Pleasure-Grounds” leagues, some horse feed spilled onto the sand. with the campus was limited. Moving forward, architect Frederick Law Olmsted. the San Francisco Peninsula, Hall had gained Source: The World’s Work, vol. VI, that was originally published in the Report of Upon finding sprouted seedlings soon after, he the nascent university’s Board of Regents New York: Doubleday, Page a technical understanding of water resources the Park Commissioners 1872-73 and simul- determined that barley would be an answer to chose to hire Hall, who prepared a plan and and Co., 1903, 3938. and the roles played by fog and wind. Addi- taneously published in the highly respected the problem of arresting the sands.17 a report, published in 1874. Hall’s plan for tionally, he recognized how the sand acted as Overland Monthly magazine.14 In it he laid out As the project advanced, many support- the campus, including the botanical garden Opposite right: Portrait of Superintendent insulation against evaporation. John McLaren his systematic views on the social value of ers were on board with the development of and what would become the Campanile Way, Source: author’s collection. But a knowledge of the site did not lead parks writing that “primarily, they are intended the park. However, there were detractors, too. continued to inform development for the next immediately to a viable park design. For to provide the best practicable means for One wrote, “Of all the elephants the city of 25 years.21 As of the early 1900s, however, this, Hall went to the experts. He sought out healthful recreation for people of all classes, San Francisco ever owned, they now have the with the university growing at a rapid pace and read many books on park design. With and the influence which they thus exert upon heaviest in the shape of “Golden Gate Park.” and the emergence of the Beaux-Arts era, John the park project underway, Hall wrote his society can scarcely be overestimated.”15 In A dreary waste of shifting sandhills, where a Galen Howard’s axial campus planning and first letter to Olmsted, on August 22, 1871, this, he was influenced by the writings of blade of grass cannot be raised without four neoclassical style buildings shifted the focus

36 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Fall 2020 • Vol. 23, No. 4 37 Above: Looking south over the away from Hall’s predominantly picturesque submitted a statement with the counter-accu- was $6,000 per year.26 In 1884, he was all-new park commission board was installed life. The magazine’s article was written by its Conservatory of Flowers in 1891. This landscape design approach. Nevertheless, sation that “I have been brought up before a accepted as a member of the American Soci- in 1886, which included Hall’s well-respected very political editor Frank M. Pixley, who was shows some the many elements of 27 Hall’s intended design of the well- inherited from Hall’s era, the picturesque Committee, which had been stuffed in secret ety of Civil Engineers, and he continued to and politically connected relative Maj. Richard appointed by the governor as a member of the developed eastern end of the park. Strawberry Creek areas remained along with investigation with the tales of the sore-headed serve as State Engineer until the office was P. Hammond as its president. It’s probably no park commission, which in turn appointed Included is the Garfeld Monument many mature trees. The 2004 Landscape Heri- scoundrels.”23 Although none of the charges abolished by the state legislature in 1889. accident that Hall regained an official park title him its president.30 with foral plaques set into the lawn, tage Plan produced by Vonn Marie May and stuck, an insulted Hall resigned on April 30, At the forefront of water use in arid Cali- when the new governor, George Stoneman, Hall had other ideas about how the funds on the left, and in the distance are the white travertine Francis Scott Key Noel Vernon states, “as of the 1930s, no other 1876, in disgust when his salary was cut in fornia, Hall produced a wide-ranging body appointed him consulting engineer to Golden should be used and submitted a report to Monument with the Sharon Building campus in the appears to have half; he was not alone, as the entire park board of work that included fundamental recom- Gate Park that same year. the Park Commissioners detailing his rea- directly behind that behind that. achieved UC Berkeley’s combination of beaux- resigned as well. The last straw was when the mendations. During that time, he was the One of Hall’s important influences was sons why the funds should be used for the Out of view and to the right is the arts neoclassical architecture set primarily park’s budget was severely diminished: the first to propose an integrated flood control to provide a shining public legacy for the direct benefit of children.31 His report swayed Bandshell and Deer Park. All this is 22 set among a variety of plantings that within a picturesque landscape.” state legislature abolished the sale of park system using a combination of levees, weirs, park. Robber baron William Sharon died in the powerful trustees of the estate to build was sand just 20 years earlier. The next phase of Hall’s life would garner bonds and based the park’s income on local and bypass channels in the Sacramento River 1885 and left a bequest of $50,000 to the another kind of memorial—the Sharon Source: Western Neighborhood unwanted publicity, which slowed the prog- property taxes.24 Sullivan was one behind the Valley. Additionally, he recommended navi- park with no specific direction as to its use.28 Quarters for Children, one of the earliest Project: wnp37.00388, photographer: ress of both Golden Gate Park and Hall’s retaliatory scheme, and work on the park gational improvements for river commerce, In the spirit of the times, the Sharon Estate U.S. playgrounds for public use. Although Isaiah West Taber. career. Hall became a victim of political slowed to a minimum. compiled research on the devastating envi- trustees initially chose to build a memorial to construction had already begun on the Opposite: The Sharon Building and revenge by former blacksmith-turned-State ronmental impacts (that concept did not yet Sharon that could not be missed as it would much-ballyhooed archway entrance, the its adjacent Children’s Quarters were Assemblyman D.C. Sullivan. The backstory Post-Golden Gate Park have a place in the thinking of the day) of be located right at the main entrance to the estate trustees agreed to scuttle it.32 The play- an outcome of Hall’s suggestion of was that Hall withheld payment after Sul- hydraulic mining. This practice devastated park, at Stanyan Street and Main Drive (now ground as a place for child development was how to spend the robber baron’s ill- (first time) gotten gains on something usefull to livan padded his bill for a commission as a the gold field’s topography and had down- JFK Drive). Designed by architect John Gash, a new social idea. This was another example the community, rather than edifying blacksmith to the park. Later, when in the Following his departure from Golden Gate stream effects even as far away as the entrance it was to be a massive white marble gateway, of Hall studying and implementing cultural Sharon. position of state power, Sullivan retaliated Park, Hall and his expertise were in demand. to San Francisco Bay. Hall was instrumental with overall dimensions of 190 feet wide trends that were coming to the public eye. Source: Twentieth-Eighth Annual by accusing Hall of wrongdoing and had him From 1876 to 1878, Hall served as chief engi- in laying the foundation for arid California’s and 60 feet high.29 Tongues wagged about The Sharon Quarters playground opened on Report of the Board of Park Commissioners of San Francisco investigated on several charges. This included neer for several major irrigation projects in future, which depended on water; without it, the memorial. An 1886 issue of the politi- December 22, 1888, along with a companion for the year ending June 30, 1899. the cutting of nurse trees, those excess trees the state, including the West Side Irrigation the state would founder. cally influential weekly satire magazine, The building, and the playground continues to San Francisco: Brunt Press: 1899. that were planted to help a new forest grow, Commission, at that time one of the larg- Never giving up on Golden Gate Park, Hall Wasp, lampooned the gate’s notion by printing provide family activities today as the Koret Photograph: Britton & Rey. and then be cut by design. But somehow a est single irrigation studies in California. continued to consult on its behalf pro bono. a scathing two-page color illustration labeled Children’s Quarter. special committee from Sacramento—a com- Hall may have found some solace in 1878, During Hall’s official absence, three superin- “A Proposed Sharon Gate for the Park” that Thinking about the future of Golden mittee that Sullivan chaired—turned this into given the previous turn of events, when he tendents came and went without being able showed twenty prominent personalities, an Gate Park, Hall used his time to search for a fracas about stealing wood. In 1876, early was appointed the first State Engineer of to provide any real contribution due to the allegory recounting Sharon’s many peccadil- and find just the right person to carry on as in the investigation, Hall (who felt hounded) California by Governor Irwin.25 His salary poorly-funded park coffers. Years later, an loes that took place during his tumultuous superintendent. He recommended, and the

38 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Fall 2020 • Vol. 23, No. 4 39 Park Commission hired landscape gardener John McLaren, whose resumé included work on San Francisco Peninsula estates. As assis- tant superintendent, McLaren was initially assigned the job of landscaping the Sharon Children’s Quarters, designed by Hall. With some time under his belt, McLaren was des- ignated park superintendent in 1889. Thus Hall’s official work with the park was com- pleted. He went into private practice in 1890 as a civil engineer. Post-Golden Gate Park (again) Hall had taken on another crucial commission in 1887: he was hired by speculators to create a plan for the city of Redondo Beach near , which was initially intended by its backers to be just a “watering-place and seaside residence town.”33 But Hall suggested a broader scope to look beyond the client’s intentions and investigate the site’s possibilities as a stop for large ocean going vessels. Hall conducted soundings offshore and the data revealed a deep canyon leading to Redondo’s develop- ment as a potential port; it turned out that the town was advantageously located for deep-sea commerce, allowing for passenger ships and freighters to dock at the shoreline. Redondo Beach flourished as a recreation playground from the 1890s through the 1920s, an outcome well beyond the investor’s original intentions. Family connections can sometimes be advantageous or sometimes not. Hall had an advantage in the form of family connections that certainly helped his career. His lawyer father was well connected in the civic and political arenas, but it was his mother’s side of the family that had clout. His illustrious cousins were the well-known mining engineer John Hays Hammond (1855-1936) known for his work in South Africa with Cecil Rhodes, and West Point graduate Major Richard Pin- dell Hammond Jr. (1859-1900), brother to the former, who was Surveyor-General of Cali- fornia and then to the U.S. as well as being Hall’s site plan of the Redondo Beach development centered on its President of the Park Commission from 1887 deepwater pier located adjacent to to 1890. An unfortunate situation came about the tourist focal point of the Hotel however, in 1893, when an uproar occurred Water Resources and exhaustively detailed and voluminous reports, The award continues to be bestowed today by Redondo, access which is unusual involving his brother-in-law, William M. with maps, provided the authorities with a the nationally recognized organization. for any coastal resort. Another focal Development point is the centrally located and Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh was Surveyor for the City wide range of data useful to the interpreta- Another of Hall’s more important consulta- symbolic Lamp of Learning shape and County of San Francisco. The Sewer Com- Today, Hall’s more substantial impact on Cali- tion of the state’s water resources, combined tions was for the 51-mile-long Panama Canal, that is formed by the street layout mission was proposed to be abolished, and fornia’s residents lies in his later work with with solutions to problems that affected all the an essential maritime conduit across the Isth- and next to the lamp’s base is the it was opined in the San Francisco Chronicle water resources within the state and abroad. public’s welfare. mus of Panama for trade started by France in Chautauqua assembly area. The Chautauqua movement, an adult that the action would ultimately further Hall’s His influential work laid the foundation for Hall’s achievements in California’s water 1881, which fell through due to many techni- 34 education advancement included finances due to his assumed influence. Hall today’s water systems in California. The guide system’s development were recognized in cal problems with the massive undertaking in some moral and spiritual guidance had to distance himself from the matter by to Hall’s professional papers in the California 1895 when he was awarded the prestigious difficult conditions. The U.S. took it over in and continued until the 1920s. making a public statement that he had no State Archives asserts that “Hall’s examina- Norman Medal by the American Society of 1904, and in 1905 Hall was drafted to exam- Southern California cadastral and 35 tract maps collection, Courtesy impact on the decision. In the end, Hall was tions still serve as the most extensive study of Civil Engineers. The medal, instituted in 1872, ine the situation and present a critical report Library Special Collections, Charles absolved, but once an accusation is publicly California’s water systems to date, the scale of identified a singular paper that contributed to about engineering problems and potential E. Young Research Library, UCLA. stated, it’s hard to get it back in the box. which, is likely never to be matched.”36 Hall’s practical or research aspects of engineering. solutions.37 The upshot of the study was that

40 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Fall 2020 • Vol. 23, No. 4 41 U.S. Senator George C. Perkins advocated the tribute to an early source of Hall’s education After the initial publicity, a three-paragraph the benefit of others.”53 This obscure writing More Opinions and lock system, which was constructed, instead in landscape design. Hall’s youngest daughter editorial appeared in the Chronicle. Its opening was left to languish until a 1970 San Fran- of a sea-level canal. Katharine wrote in 1957 that the manuscript stated: “Nearly forty years ago a strip of sand cisco Examiner article finally started to pierce Accolades Although he sometimes was wronged probably should not be published because by dunes in the then outskirts of San Francisco McLaren’s long tenure as its creator.54 Its pro- Natural resources historian Donald Pisani unfairly, Hall was far from perfect. At one the time he finally got around to finishing it was turned over to John McLaren, a gardener vocative title “William Hammond Hall: The wrote of Hall in his 1984 book that his was point, due to his knowledge of the natural “he was an old man, not in good health, and dottle [sic] enough to think it would make Real Father of GG Park?” finally put forth “A career filled with promise (that) foundered resources available versus those required in weighed down with care and sorrow. Thus, he a park. Out of this waste, McLaren created to the general public that there should be a in the 1880s and after, both because Hall was the future, he was thought to have person- was not able to finish his manuscript exactly Golden Gate Park, now by common consent review of the unsung hero’s influence upon ahead of his time and because of flaws in his ally acquired part of a watershed area of the as would have been done under different the finest public park in North America.”49 In the park. It was Golden Gate Park’s Centennial character.”60 California State Librarian and his- Tuolumne River known as Cherry and Eleanor circumstances.”44 She went on to say that an immediate reaction, Hall penned a scathing year. But McLaren was still on people’s minds. torian Kevin Starr reflected in 1990 that Hall Creeks. This was a valuable component in what ”the whole value of the narrative would, one two page “open letter” response that same day This was only amplified by a four-page flyer was “a complex man…neither a pure public would eventually become part of the Hetch believes, or fears, become greatly lessioned by enumerating seven items and preceding issued by the Centennial Celebration com- servant nor a pure entrepreneur, William Hetchy water supply serving San Francisco.38 [sic] or obliterated.”45 each item with an underlined “it is not so.”50 mittee that included a photo of McLaren on Hammond Hall nevertheless achieved the first Hall presciently foresaw that water would con- As Hall penned his manuscript for The It is known that copies were sent to important the front, and no mention anywhere of Hall. consistent act of foundational thinking regard- trol the state’s development. For decades it Romance of a Woodland Park, he was keenly civic leaders, including City Engineer Michael In 1978 there was an attempt to boost ing the future California might have through was believed that Hall was singularly behind aware that time and his profession had put O’Shaughnessy. Beyond any jealousy, Hall Hall’s presence by a new organization: the Wil- water. In this act of water prophecy, Hall this purchase and that he made a considerable him aside. One page sums up his thoughts. pointed out that McLaren, to begin with, was liam Hammond Hall Society. It was, by 1981, made an enduring contribution.”61 Historical six-figure profit from it. However, in 1999, “Hence, except where expressly written to the not present for the beginning of the park; he cited as a group of 300 consisting of horticul- geographer and author Gray Brechin summed author Gray Brechin revealed a new look at the contrary, the planning and improvement of did not arrive at the park until 17 years after turalists, gardeners, botanists, and others who up Hall in 1999 by saying that “his long and situation and concluded another scenario—no Golden Gate Park as told of in this volume the reclamation work was started. were interested in the city’s greenery and open eventful career was simultaneously aided less embarrassing for Hall, however. Brechin was accomplished before Mr. McLaren’s advent The next year a similar incident happened space.55 The society seems to have faded away by family connections and handicapped by writes that Hall, who was used to serving as a upon the work.” The next paragraph states: after Hall read the 1924 edition of McLaren’s not long after its incorporation. outspokenness and an irascible temperament go-between for magnates and their dynasties, “This plain statement of the main facts of only book, first published in 1908, titled “Gar- At about the same time, news columnist unable to suffer fools.”62 had been employed as a front to acquire the Golden Gate Park’s planning and control of dening in California: Landscape and Flower.” Jack Rosenbaum stated his case for Hall’s rec- Indeed, the tide has turned for Hall. desirable property—but that he did not profit construction is here written because very much McLaren included a chapter about the process ognition in a 1979 article titled “The Forgotten Pioneers of American Landscape Design directly from it.39 According to Brechin, “in gross error as to them has found its way into of sand reclamation in Golden Gate Park. It Man.56 This was closely followed by a publica- (2000)—the first book in a three-volume 1910, [Hall] demanded and received a secret print.”46 He goes on to say: “… about a year never mentions who started the project. The tion having the most significant impact about biographical encyclopedia celebrating the ten thousand dollar settlement from PG&E after I took up the work as consulting engineer reader would probably infer incorrectly that Hall: activist Raymond Clary did his best to foremost men and women who shaped Amer- in exchange for his silence.”40 It may be no (1887), on my initiative and recommendation, McLaren had done this, and Hall wanted the inform the public in his two-volume park his- ica’s iconic landscapes—included an entry on coincidence that, after living in a rented house the Commission employed Mr. John McLaren, story set straight. Hall sent a two-page, single- tory, the first detailed history written about the Hall by David Streatfield, in which the author at 324 Haight Street since at least 1895, he had a landscape gardener, as superintendent. This spaced letter to McLaren. One of the closing park. The first volume, published in 1980, laid lauds Hall’s accomplishments and compares a new residence built in 1912 at 3855 Jackson was in the seventeenth year of Golden Gate paragraphs said: “John McLaren, if you were out Hall’s extensive involvement in the park. him to Olmsted, Sr.63 A 2014 article in the Street in the desirable Presidio Heights Dis- Park development, and near the end of the in your right mind when you wrote and pub- This was combined with Clary’s constant bad- Scientific American said: “Writing in 1890, trict. It featured air conditioning, an intercom, twelfth year of my planning or supervision of lished the above paragraphs quoted from your gering of the press and authorities to recognize William Hammond Hall—the first State Engi- and an earthquake shelter as part of its ameni- it.”47 The overall tone, which is very formal, is book, you must have known that you were the historical significance of Golden Gate Park neer of California and an early commenter ties: all way ahead of their time.41 He would bitter in places. In this proposed book, Hall LYING in a way which might well work grave and its original creator. on Western water policy—lamented the lack live there with his family the rest of his life. clearly is trying to undo what he believes to be injury to the record of those who had been Hall’s lack of recognition and appreciation of knowledge, organization and capital being an injustice to himself and his legacy. Park Commissioners long before your time, was further held up to the light when publicity invested to capture and best use the waters Hall as an Author At age 80, in 1926, Hall let loose upon and in a way such as might be used as a basis came in the form of a mock trial. On January of California.”64 Biographer Justin Martin others about the issue of anyone remember- for building up a specially credible, but false, 7, 1981, a Court of Historical Review was con- devoted a paragraph to the issue of Hall in Although not working for the park com- ing his time in Golden Gate Park. By then, record for yourself as Park Superintendent.”51 vened by San Francisco Superior Court Judge his 2011 biography Genius of Place: The Life mission, Hall’s interest in Golden Gate Park McLaren had been in service for 37 years as It is unknown what McLaren’s reaction was. Harry Low. “The mock court, an extra-judicial of Frederick Law Olmsted. In it he said “people continued. In 1911 one serious proposi- superintendent. Ten years earlier, McLaren, Hall died at age 88 on October 16, 1934, undertaking metes out historical justice and often mistakenly credit Golden Gate Park to tion was to locate part of the massive 1915 then 70 years old, had received special dis- in San Francisco; his wife had died less than gives people at City Hall something to do Olmsted and Vaux. The design is all Hall’s. It’s Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in pensation to remain on staff, even though he a year before. The Chronicle carried a simple during the odd lunch hour.”57 This session more accurate to view Olmsted as a kind of Golden Gate Park. Hall responded to the fair had reached retirement age. Over the years, announcement of his death; it did not include was put on the docket to look at the reputation mentor, offering encouragement, suggesting commission’s executive committee with a many accolades had come McLaren’s way— any information beyond listing the members of Hall who was forced to resign as superinten- pertinent books, steering talented employees 15-page booklet, printed at his own expense, including subtle, but lasting comments about of his family.52 There were few follow-up men- dent of Golden Gate Park for spurious reasons. Hall’s way. Olmsted is the man behind the man which discussed points why this was not a his parentage of the park. In 1926 an edito- tions about his legacy in any print sources for With testimony from various “witnesses,” the who created Golden Gate Park.”65 42 sound idea. Ultimately the fair was held on rial appeared in the Chronicle titled “You Owe many decades to come. court deemed the resignation to be politically Hall’s persistence in drilling into the facts a single site in what today is San Francisco’s Far More Than This Bit to John McLaren.” motivated.58 and providing smart and viable solutions, Marina District. The title referred to a salt-water artificial lake Father of In 1989 another article in the Chronicle’s even today, keeps on giving to California. In 1913 the San Francisco Call published intended to be built in McLaren’s honor where This World magazine section touted the same His ground-breaking work in flood preven- an article about Hall, which stated that he was Golden Gate Park’s soccer fields exist today. Golden Gate Park? 1970 headline “The Real Father of GGP” but tion was remembered in 2017 when a draft of about to publish “a volume of vast interest.” As part of the fund raising campaign there The first recorded mention of the idea that Hall there was one major difference in punctua- the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan was Its content was to be a history of the early was a large public event held at the Tanforan was the “father” of the park was in a handwrit- tion this time: here was no question mark at drafted, which was the culmination of over 43 days of Golden Gate Park’s development. Race Track in San Bruno where popular child ten manuscript by Hall’s daughter Katherine the end. It was making an explicit statement, two decades of flood management reform. However, the manuscript titled “The Romance movie star Jackie Coogan was also present; he Buchanan Hall in 1957. In it, she, as any duti- rather than asking.59 Since 2009, the William It stated that “Sacramento and other Central of a Woodland Park” never saw the ink of a was in the area filming the silent MGM movie ful daughter might, waxed eloquent about her Hammond Hall Award is given to worthy Valley communities were and are at greater printing press, and its typed pages reside “Johnny Get Your Hair Cut” at Tanforan.48 father’s accomplishments. She says that “he Recreation and Park gardeners or horticulture risk of catastrophic flooding than New Orleans in U.C. Berkeley’s Bancroft Library’s archive (Soon after the lake idea was abandoned, and strove unendingly to lead an honorable life professionals in an annual ceremony. This is (referring to Hurricane Katrina in 1997).”66 with Hall’s personal papers. Hall dedicated the Outer Mission District park was named for and that his work should be done efficiently. co-sponsored by the Laborer’s International In summary, Hall rightly deserves to be his book to Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., a McLaren instead.) Not only for his own benefit but above all for Union of North America Local 261. remembered for his astounding achievement

42 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Fall 2020 • Vol. 23, No. 4 43 Endnotes

1 Press Reference Library, Notables of 15 Ibid, 63. 38 San Francisco Examiner, April 1, 1970, the Southwest. (Southwest Edition) Los 32. Angeles: Los Angeles Examiner, 1912, 16 Second Biennial Report of the San Fran- 121. cisco Park Commissioners 1872-73. San 39 Brechin, Gray. Imperial San Francisco: Francisco: B.F. Sterett, 1874, 30. Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. Berkeley: Uni- 2 An Illustrated History of San Joaquin versity of California Press, 1999, 269. County, California. Chicago: Lewis Pub- 17 Clary, Raymond H. The Making of lishing Co., 1890, 43. Williams, Thomas Golden Gate Park: The Early Years: 1865- 40 Ibid, 269. 1906. San Francisco: Don’s Call It Frisco John Chew. A History of Washington 41 San Francisco Assessor-Recorder, County, Maryland. Hagerstown, Md.: J.M. Press, 1984, (second edition) 14. (This originally came from Hall’s manuscript property information file for 3855 Jack- Runk and L.R. Titsworth, 1906, (v. 1) son Street; block 990, lot 23. 283. “Story of a City Park,” 1919, 10.) 18 Sonoma Democrat (Santa Rosa, Ca.) 42 San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 1911, 3 They were not traveling alone as rela- 2. tive Maj. Richard P. Hammond was also January 25, 1873, 1. (This is often mis- listed as being on the ship as a fellow pas- quoted with additional words added to 43 San Francisco Call, February 23, senger. (Daily Panama Star, May 1, 1853). enhance the effect; this is the original 1913, 69. Hammond, an established resident as the text.) Collector of the Port of San Francisco, 44 Hall, Katherine Buchanan. (note- 19 Second Biennial Report of the San Fran- book) April 14, 1957, 30. also laid out Stockton, which became cisco Park Commissioners, 1872-73. San the county seat. Williams, Thomas John Francisco: B.F. Sterett, 1874, 62. 45 Ibid, 31. Chew. (A History of Washington County, Maryland. Hagerstown, Md.: J.M. Runk 20 “Sand into Gold”, in the Winter 2020 46 Hall The Romance of a Woodland Park. and L.R. Titsworth, 1906, (v. 1) 283.) issue of Eden, discusses Hall’s work in Unpublished manuscript, no date, 117. further detail. 4 Press Reference Library, Notables of 47 Ibid, 116. the Southwest. (Southwest Edition) Los 21 The University in the 1870s. Chapters in Angeles: Los Angeles Examiner, 1912, the history of the University of California ; 48 San Francisco Chronicle, September 121. no. 6. Berkeley, Calif.: Center for Studies in 19, 1926, 59. Higher Education and Institute of Govern- 49 San Francisco Chronicle, September 5 Bonta, Robert E. “The Great Flood of mental Studies, University of California, 15, 1926, 24. 1861-62” San Joaquin Historian, January Berkeley, 1996. [Watson, Kent E. William 1973. Hammond Hall and the Original Campus 50 William Hammond Hall to Herbert Plan, 5.] Fleishhacker, cc: Alice Eastwood. (letter) 6 Hall, William Hammond. (journal) September 15, 1926. January 1, 1865, 1. 22 Landscape Heritage Plan, University 51 William Hammond Hall to John 7 Inventory to the William Hammond of California, Berkeley. “Section 2: His- Hall Papers, 1878-1907, Califor- torical Significance” by Vonn Marie May McLaren, (letter) April 26, 1927, 2. nia State Archives. Website: https:// and Noel Dorsey Vernon. Berkeley, CA; University of California, Berkeley, Capital 52 San Francisco Chronicle, October 17, oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ 1934, 15. kt009nc88k/?query=%22the%20 Projects, Je. 2004 (13). 53 Hall, Katherine Buchanan. (note- romance%20of%20a%20woodland%20 23 San Francisco Chronicle, January 21, park%22, accessed December 14, 2019. 1876, 4. book) April 14, 1957, 6. 54 April 1, 1970, 8 “Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 24 San Francisco Chronicle, May 14, San Francisco Examiner, Cal. July 4, 1888” Twelve-page pro- 1876, 1. 32. gram for dedication of Francis Scott Key 55 San Francisco Chronicle, June 27, Monument, July 4, 1888. No publisher 25 “Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 1981, 34. indicated. Cal. July 4, 1988” Twelve-page dedication program of Francis Scott Key Monument, 56 The S.F. Progress, March 2, 1979, 13. 9 Olmsted, Vaux, and Co. had submitted July 4, 1988. (No publisher or page a “Preliminary Report in Regard to a Plan numbers) 57 San Francisco Chronicle, April 17, of Public Pleasure Grounds for the City of 1980, 5. San Francisco” dated March 31, 1866. The 26 Tinkham, George H. History of San proposal called for a series of connected Joaquin County, California. Los Angeles: 58 San Francisco Recreation and Park spaces with a variety of uses. None of these Historic Record Company, 1923, 331. Commission, meeting minutes, January included the site that became Golden Gate 8, 1981, 2. Above: The foral plaque in front 27 American Society of Civil Engineers, in developing the framework of Golden Gate version of his book, first published in 2001, Park. The plan was not implemented due 59 San Francisco Chronicle, August 27, of the Conservatory of Flowers primarily to issues with lack of enabling Constitution and List of Members. New Park and the water infrastructure of Califor- San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park: A Thousand York: House of the Society, 1895, 53. 1989, 233. celebrates Golden Gate Park’s legislation and funding as well as a local 150th anniversary in 2020. Photo nia that we all benefit from today. This is the and Seventeen Acres of Stories. The publication preference for the lush green landscapes 28 San Francisco Evening Bulletin, 60 Pisani, Donald J. From the Family of parks such as Central Park. The Report November 16, 1885, 2. Farm to Agribusiness: The Irrigation Cru- by the author. time for a lasting and permanent tribute to by Norfolk Press is a hybrid of a history and is included in full (along with text, notes sade in California and the West, 1850–1931. a public servant who contributed so much tour guide of the park’s many features. This and citations from related correspon- 29 San Francisco Chronicle, January 26, Berkeley: 1984: University of California dence) in The Papers of Frederick Law 1886, 5. Press, 187. of himself. This is not to ignore McLaren’s, was preceded by another book, Reel San Fran- Olmsted,Volume V: The California Frontier, 1863-1865, ed. by Victoria Post Ranney, 30 The Wasp, January 30, 1886, 3. 61 Starr, Kevin. Material Dreams: South- let alone Olmsted’s influence, but to bring cisco Stories: An Annotated Filmography of the New Gerard J. Rauluk and Carolyn F. Hoffman. 31 San Francisco Call, November 16, ern California Through the 1920s. Hall into the rightly deserved spotlight, just Bay Area, published in 2013, which is about Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Univer- 1886, 7. York: Oxford University Press, 1990, 13. sity Press, 1990 (517-546). 62 Brechin, Gray. in time for the sesquicentennial of the mas- some 650 movies filmed in the Bay Area since 32 Hall. The Romance of a Woodland Park. Imperial San Francisco: 10 San Francisco Municipal Reports for the Unpublished manuscript, no date, 283. Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. Berkeley: Uni- terwork he created from the sands of the the beginning of talkies. Fiscal Year -1870-71, ending June 30, 1871. versity of California Press, 1999, 82. Outside Lands: San Francisco’s crown jewel, San Francisco: Cosmopolitan Printing 33 Letter from Charles Silent, President Chris started his career as a designer spe- of Redondo Beach Company to Eugene 63 Pioneers of American Landscape Design. our Golden Gate Park. Company (Board of Supervisors), 396. Charles Birnbaum and Robin Karson, Eds. cializing in interior architecture. With this Germain, January 9, 1887. [Natural New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000, 159-162. 11 First Biennial Report of the San Fran- Advantages of Redondo Beach for the Accom- experience, he changed gears to focus on cisco Park Commissioners 1870-71. San modation of Deep-Sea Commerce. San 64 Gleick, Peter H. The Past and Future Biography for historic preservation, specializing in historic Francisco: Francis and Valentine, 1872, Francisco: H.S. Crocker, 1888. Reports of California’s Water: Aqueducts, dams and 7. by Mendell and Hall.] irrigation projects all made rapid develop- research. A native of Connecticut, Chris has ment possible in the arid West. July 14, Christopher Pollock 12 Daily Morning Chronicle, January 31, 34 San Francisco Chronicle, February 2, resided in San Francisco since 1979. 1869, 2. 2014. Scientific American website: https:// 1893, 12. www.scientificamerican.com/article/the- 13 First Biennial Report of the San Fran- 35 San Francisco Chronicle, February 5, past-and-future-of-california-s-water/, In 2016 Chris was tapped by the San Fran- cisco Park Commissioners 1870-71. San 1893, 17. accessed December 6, 2019. NOTE Francisco: Francis and Valentine, 1872, cisco Recreation and Park Department to be 22. 36 Guide to the William Hammond 65 Martin, Justin. Genius of Place: The Hall Papers, 1878-1907, California Life of Frederick Law Olmsted. Cambridge, their first Historian-in-Residence for all of the 14 Second Biennial Report of the San State Archives. Website: www.oac.cdlib. MA: Da Capo Press, 2011, 308. city’s parks. With this, Chris brings a layer of The author would like to acknowledge the Francisco Park Commissioners 1872-73. org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf4q2nb00m/, Appendix C: Report of the Engineer accessed November 27, 2019. 66 American Rivers website: https:// history to the department. His initial project generous support by Terrence Young of Cal Upon the Plan for the Golden Gate Park. www.americanrivers.org/2017/01/cali- fornia-flooding-controlled-beneficial/, Poly Pomona, who authored Building San Fran- San Francisco: B.F. Sterett, 1874, 61. 37 A Study of Panama Canal Plans and was to research and record the history of the (This was adapted for reprint in Overland Arguments, addressed to the Hon. George C. accessed November 23, 2019. department’s some 230 holdings. cisco’s Parks 1850-1930 in 2004. Terry’s review Monthly, v. 11, n. 6, December 1873, Perkins. William Hammond Hall, 1905. (no publisher indicated) With the 150th anniversary of Golden and thoughtful suggestions on this essay 527. Gate Park in 2020, he will launch the latest helped to flesh out William Hammond Hall.

44 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Fall 2020 • Vol. 23, No. 4 45