heart of the Mission.
Is the city poorer for all its change? I would say, with apologies to the environment, no. For all its uniqueness, metamorphosis is the nature of San Francisco. We mourn the losses but hail the change that keeps this great city vibrant.
Woodcut of Woodward’s Gardens, ca. 1885. —Author’s collection
Chapter 2
Amusement Parks
WOODWARD’S GARDENS
A visitor to the Mission District of San Francisco sees an impoverished, rundown, somewhat intimidating section of the city. A local recognizes a neighborhood with heart, undergoing rejuvenation. I find the landmarks of my childhood and recall how it looked nearly fifty years ago. What no one sees is evidence of the magic that existed here just over a hundred years ago when Robert Woodward opened his gardens to the public.
Robert B. Woodward earned his fortune in 1849 with sweat and foresight, not in the gold fields of California but by opening a grocery store just off San Francisco’s waterfront. Like many a successful businessman, he knew when to say “enough” as the trend changed from a need for staples to a need for services. Woodward started investing his wealth in the burgeoning new economy. Seeing the demand for rooms and meals for those in transit as well as for the more permanent residents, he opened the What Cheer House on Sacramento Street, a hotel and club for men only, which sold good food ala carte and only non-alcoholic beverages. The hotel provided clean and safe accommodations at low prices, an unbeatable combination. The What Cheer House multiplied Woodward’s wealth.
In 1857, Woodward retrieved his family from Providence, Rhode Island. He purchased a four-acre tract of land once belonging to General John C. Fremont, located in the Mission District in the heart of the city. That district encompasses the original Spanish town of Yerba Buena, home to Mission Dolores originated by Father Junipero Serra. Like many a successful city investor, Woodward build a mansion for his family, but unlike most, he enclosed the spacious grounds and planted magnificent gardens.
The front gateway to Woodward’s Gardens. —Photo courtesy of San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
The former grocer traveled to Europe in 1861 on an extravagant buying trip that spanned a year and a half. Plants, animals, and artifacts of all types were shipped back to California by the crate loads. During that trip, he developed a taste for art and sponsored an aspiring painter, Virgil Williams, to study in Florence, Italy, and to copy the masterpieces, a common practice of the times. Woodward displayed the results and his other purchases in his home and then in the What Cheer House, soon filling a library and small museum there with attractions from around the world. Copies of famous sculptures and busts soon followed the paintings. When display space became an issue, Woodward built a gallery and conservatory on his estate grounds to display his treasures. He longed for public and private museums and galleries in San Francisco to rival those of the East Coast and he set an example for others to follow.
Robert Woodward’s Gardens just before he went public—1866. —Library of Congress
The gardens of his estate soon became Woodward’s obsession, and much of the profit from his investments went into them. He opened his estate in November of 1864 to friends and acquaintances with an appreciation for art and elegance. Word spread and requests for visits increased. People stood outside his gates on Sundays hoping to get a glimpse of the glory inside. It took little convincing to encourage him to open his gates to the public. Cooley Altrocchi relates in The Spectacular San Franciscans, “One day at the Sunday dinner table Mr. Woodward exclaimed, ‘Did you ever see such a crowd of gapers and gazers? I might as well let the public have the run of the grounds.’ To which one of his daughters responded, ‘Well, why don’t you, Father?’ The philanthropist pondered this for a moment, and then said, ‘Well, that’s a thumping good idea. I think I will.’”
By opening his estate to the public, Woodward was ending his private life in San Francisco. After moving his family to his Oak Knoll farm in the Napa Valley, he prepared Woodward’s Gardens for the masses. The Gardens encompassed four city blocks bounded by Mission, Thirteenth, Valencia, and Fifteenth streets. The main entrance stood at the intersection of Mission and Fourteenth streets. Woodward quickly realized he needed more attractions, so he set off for Europe, bringing back hundreds of crates full of the fine, the fascinating, and the odd. He befriended “thousands of skippers and sailor men from the Seven Seas” and they brought him curios from every port. “Beasts, birds, fish, fossils, antique relics, peculiar animal deformities, in great variety, confront the visitor at every turn, affording the student ample opportunity to increase his knowledge, and at the same time, interesting and instructing to a degree, the most superficial observer,” stated B. E. Lloyd in his 1876 book, Lights and Shades of San Francisco.
The Main Gate to Woodward’s Gardens. Many a kid slipped through thanks to an intentional lax policy. —Photo courtesy of San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
Woodward expanded his gateway, topping it with a pair of carved grizzlies and a matched set of statues of the goddess California, the namesake of the state. Kids clamored at the gate even if they didn’t have the price of admission. Woodward made it easy for them to slip inside the park. The park included shows, museums, an aquarium, an extensive zoo, and curiosities from around the world, including freaks of natures. Park attractions also included an amphitheater, a dance hall, multiple restaurants, and a theater. Woodward became the “Barnum of the West.” A patron saw it all at Woodward’s. However, while one newspaper review touted Woodward’s fine beer garden and a pitifully uninformed woman wrote back to her church headquarters (copied in a local newspaper editorial) that beer and whiskey were served more commonly than water, no alcohol was served there. Like the What Cheer House, Woodward’s Gardens catered to teetotalers.
Looking northeast from Robert Woodward’s house. —Author’s collection
REMEMBRANCE OF WOODWARD’S GARDENS
We moved, mother and family, out to Twelfth Street about the time Woodward’s Gardens became popular. This place was really a cultural center of attractions, brought together and maintained by the Woodward brothers, themselves gentlemen of refinement. Its trees, shrubs, flowers and mosses were selected and so attractively arranged as to please the most critical patrons and engage the most casual eyes. The comfort of the animals was made evident to visitors, and a small gallery of art provided for the relaxation of visitors.
It was in this gallery I first saw a replica of the Naples bronze bust of Dante. I have never forgotten its effect upon me as I stood alone there, held by its austere dignity in the
