MORE Woodward's Gardens
...opened a hotel downtown on Sacramento Street, the What Cheer House, that became very popular. Sailors in particular enjoyed staying there and liked Woodward so much that they brought him gifts from around the world that began his life-long love of collecting.
His next venture was the purchase of a large piece of property, about 6 acres, stretching from Mission street to Valencia street, 13th to 15th streets where he built the family home and added his collection of plants, animals and art. Locals who visited the property were intrigued and wanted to spend time there so they urged him to open it to the public. Before doing so he went on extensive buying trips to Europe and came back with thousands of dollars worth of more artwork and animal, geological, and plant specimens to develop the location into a more interesting public attraction.
Woodward then moved his family off the property, and officially opened up his San Francisco “Woodward’s Gardens” to the public. The property was two large city blocks in size and included a tunnel under 14th Street, allowing people to walk from one block to the other without having to cross an outside street. Admission was 25 cents for adults and 10-cents for children.
Attractions included the largest and most comprehensive zoo on the West Coast with ostriches, flamingos, monkeys, wolves, bears, lions, camels, kangaroos, alligators, an aviary and seal pits where people could participate in the daily feedings. The gardens also housed four museums and an art gallery as well as extensive geological samples and insect displays, as well as a roller skating rink, “merry-go-round” boats on the lake, and a concert pavilion. One of the more spectacular attractions at the gardens was the aquarium. Opened in 1873, it was one of the first aquariums in the world, and was the first ever in America’s West. The building was 110’ long and 40’ wide, and housed 16 tanks.
Eventually Woodward’s Gardens popularity began to fade. RB Woodward passed away in 1879, and his heirs did not try to keep things up to the standards of the garden’s founder. In the 1880’s, Golden Gate Park (San Francisco’s newest public park) started pulling even more visitors away. During the mid-80’s, attendance waned and there were increasing complaints from neighbors about the garden’s “odors and horrible noises.” In 1891 Woodward’s Gardens was closed down forever. In 1893, there was an auction to sell off much of the remaining items from the buildings. Most items went to Adolph Sutro who purchased several thousand dollar’s worth of “stuffed beasts and birds, relics of the past, curios, bric-a-brac, etc.” He also picked up all of the benches, the pipe organ, and several statues – and brought it all over to his new Sutro Baths, where they were on display for many more years.
The Woodward family then split up the land into 39 parcels and auctioned it all off. Woodward’s Gardens was no more. Or was it? We still have a street named after it off 14th near Mission and Woodward’s Garden restaurant is located at Mission and 13th street. And some nights we have been told that people still hear the roar of the lions in that part of the North Mission.
Information on Woodward’s Garden was taken from http://www.sanfranciscomemories.com/woodwardsgardens/images.html and from Professor Max Kirkeberg of San Francisco State University during the 16th St. Neighborhood Association’s annual October History Walk of the North Mission.
His next venture was the purchase of a large piece of property, about 6 acres, stretching from Mission street to Valencia street, 13th to 15th streets where he built the family home and added his collection of plants, animals and art. Locals who visited the property were intrigued and wanted to spend time there so they urged him to open it to the public. Before doing so he went on extensive buying trips to Europe and came back with thousands of dollars worth of more artwork and animal, geological, and plant specimens to develop the location into a more interesting public attraction.
Woodward then moved his family off the property, and officially opened up his San Francisco “Woodward’s Gardens” to the public. The property was two large city blocks in size and included a tunnel under 14th Street, allowing people to walk from one block to the other without having to cross an outside street. Admission was 25 cents for adults and 10-cents for children.
Attractions included the largest and most comprehensive zoo on the West Coast with ostriches, flamingos, monkeys, wolves, bears, lions, camels, kangaroos, alligators, an aviary and seal pits where people could participate in the daily feedings. The gardens also housed four museums and an art gallery as well as extensive geological samples and insect displays, as well as a roller skating rink, “merry-go-round” boats on the lake, and a concert pavilion. One of the more spectacular attractions at the gardens was the aquarium. Opened in 1873, it was one of the first aquariums in the world, and was the first ever in America’s West. The building was 110’ long and 40’ wide, and housed 16 tanks.
Eventually Woodward’s Gardens popularity began to fade. RB Woodward passed away in 1879, and his heirs did not try to keep things up to the standards of the garden’s founder. In the 1880’s, Golden Gate Park (San Francisco’s newest public park) started pulling even more visitors away. During the mid-80’s, attendance waned and there were increasing complaints from neighbors about the garden’s “odors and horrible noises.” In 1891 Woodward’s Gardens was closed down forever. In 1893, there was an auction to sell off much of the remaining items from the buildings. Most items went to Adolph Sutro who purchased several thousand dollar’s worth of “stuffed beasts and birds, relics of the past, curios, bric-a-brac, etc.” He also picked up all of the benches, the pipe organ, and several statues – and brought it all over to his new Sutro Baths, where they were on display for many more years.
The Woodward family then split up the land into 39 parcels and auctioned it all off. Woodward’s Gardens was no more. Or was it? We still have a street named after it off 14th near Mission and Woodward’s Garden restaurant is located at Mission and 13th street. And some nights we have been told that people still hear the roar of the lions in that part of the North Mission.
Information on Woodward’s Garden was taken from http://www.sanfranciscomemories.com/woodwardsgardens/images.html and from Professor Max Kirkeberg of San Francisco State University during the 16th St. Neighborhood Association’s annual October History Walk of the North Mission.
posted by NorthMissionSFHistory at 6:45 PM
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