The Marina:
Ties to the Past
As many of you already, know the Marina District of San Francisco
wasn't always as it appears today. One hundred years ago, the area was a lagoon
and marshland with the shoreline much closer to the hills. In 1906,
after the terrible earthquake, the Marina made the perfect spot to place
tons of rubble from the devastated city. In 1915, the Marina was filled
again. This time to create a large flat area for the Panama-Pacific
International Exhibition.
What many of you may not realize is that the breakwater that protects
the marina and the wave organ at its end were created, in part, from
rubble created when some of San Francisco's oldest cemeteries were moved
to Colma. As early as 1880, cries to remove the cemeteries were echoing
from some public groups. By 1900, many of the city's cemeteries were full
and in 1902, San Francisco passed an ordinance prohibiting most burials.
In the following years the cemeteries became the havens for vandals and
criminals. Citizen groups, land developers, and lawmakers renewed their
efforts to remove the cemeteries. In 1921, the fist Morris Act was passed
by the California State Legislature enabling local governments to remove
"nuisance" cemeteries for the public good. Seizing upon this,
plans to remove the last cemeteries began in 1923.
But what to do with the remains and monuments? The remains were
carefully disinterred and moved to Colma cemeteries. For many years
during WWII they were stored in large mausoleums awaiting reburial.
However, following the war, the cost of reburial had risen so high as to
make it unfeasible, so thousands were buried in mass tombs. The tombstones
and mausoleums left behind were removed to
make way for homes and businesses. The stone from these monuments were then cut up and dumped into the bay to create the
breakwater for the boat marina you see
today.
So take a walk down to the end of the marina breakwater and see what
vestiges of San Francisco's past you can find. If you sit quietly on the
steps of the wave organ you just may hear the voices of California's
early pioneers.
   
 
  
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