India Basin, San Francisco

History

The history of India Basin is a curious combination of industry and open space, business and pleasure. The area was part of a larger 4446 acre rancho granted to José Cornelio Bernal in 1839, named Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo. Bernal sold the land that would become India Basin to two developers in the late 1840s, Dr. John Townsend and Corneille de Boom, but the venture was not successful. Other records indicate that Bernal sold 160 acre to John Hunter in 1849 or 1850 for a new town he was planning to be named South San Francisco, not to be confused with South San Francisco, the city incorporated in 1908 in San Mateo County. then extended to Hunters Point in 1867.

The name India Basin was first given in 1868 by the State Board of Tide Land Commissioners, defined as the area between the mouth of Islais Creek and the eastern end of Hunters Point. Theories as to its origin remain murky. The best guess is that India Basin is named for the ships from the India Rice Mill Company, which docked there in the 19th century. A more creative explanation has it that it was so named because water from nearby springs would stay fresh until a ship reached India.

The area also was known initially as Butchertown for the numerous slaughterhouses, tanneries, and animal processing facilities that were the first industries established in the area. In 1868, a group of butchers purchased an 81 acre parcel as a "Butcher's Reservation" in the Bayview neighborhood; by 1877, the last ranch and butcher near the city center was being removed to the new reservation. At the time, the area was marshy and relatively isolated, facilitating the disposal of offal; Contemporary coverage indicates this did not occur as intended, describing water "black with decomposed blood, [bearing] on its surface masses of foul straw, stable ordure and floating offal" with a smell that reportedly caused a traveler to return on the Oakland ferry without bothering to disembark.

The southern part of India Basin (centered along 9th Avenue South, now Innes) also was used by small boat builders, starting in approximately 1870, drawn from Islais Creek and Potrero Point by inexpensive land and deep Bay water access. In 1969, the Port of San Francisco voted unanimously to approve plans to construct a new 50 acre lighter aboard ship (LASH) terminal for Pacific Far East Lines on the new fill. The LASH terminal was the world's first and opened in 1972.

The Butchertown Redevelopment Plan was developed in the late 1960s by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to combat "severe conditions of blight" and proposed to rezone the area for industrial uses. and backers began to market the site to the United States Postal Service (USPS). Eventually, the USPS moved the San Francisco Processing and Distribution Facility from Rincon Annex to India Basin by 1979, occupying nearly half the available land.

The area has a strong community and many people are members of the India Basin Neighborhood Association (IBNA).

Location

|shape-color1=#d00 |shape-outline1=#fff |mark-size1=20 |mark-coord1 = |mark-title1 =Port of San Francisco, Piers 90–96 (incl. 'Backlands') |mark-coord2 = |mark-title2 =India Basin Industrial Park (Butchertown Redevelopment Area) |mark-coord3 = |shape-color3=#080 |mark-title3 =Heron's Head Park |mark-coord4 = |shape-color4=#080 |mark-title4 =Youngblood-Coleman Playground |mark-coord5 = |mark-title5 =Hunters Point Power Plant |mark-coord6 = |shape-color6=#080 |mark-title6 =India Basin Shoreline Park |mark-coord7 = |shape-color7=#080 |shape7=n-circle |mark-title7 =900 Innes |mark-coord8 = |shape-color8=#080 |shape8=n-circle |mark-title8 =700 Innes / The Big Green |mark-coord9 = |shape-color9=#080 |shape9=n-circle |mark-title9 =Northside Park |fullscreen-option=1

• }} |auto-caption=1 As initially defined, India Basin referred to the part of San Francisco Bay between the Hunters Point peninsula and Islais Creek. There is an undeveloped area within Piers 90–96 which the Port calls the Pier 90–94 Backlands.

The Butchertown/India Basin neighborhood was absorbed into Bayview–Hunters Point in approximately 1938, prior to World War II, when the United States Navy took over the Bethlehem Steel Hunters Point Dry Docks. On December 27, 1965, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 835-65, which defined the Butchertown Survey Area as the area bounded by Arthur Avenue (now Cargo Way) on the north, Third Street (on the west), Jennings Street (on the east), and an irregular route following Innes, Hudson, Galvez, Fairfax, and Evans Avenues (on the south).

Parks

Parks in the India Basin neighborhood and shoreline include Heron's Head Park, Youngblood-Coleman Playground, and India Basin Shoreline Park. Undeveloped areas considered for parks include the Hunters Point shoreline area, where the Hunters Point Power Plant once stood; 900 Innes, adjacent to India Basin Shoreline Park; India Basin Open Space / The Big Green / 700 Innes, an undeveloped area bounded roughly by Innes, Donahue, and the Bay; and Northside Park, an area between 700 Innes and Hunters Point.

The India Basin Shoreline Park (India Basin) Natural Area is located adjacent to Hunters Point Boulevard in San Francisco, at the shore of San Francisco Bay. India Basin is the only Natural Area within the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (SFRPD) system that borders on San Francisco Bay. The natural area, located in the park's southern section, comprises approximately 6.2 acre of the entire 11.8 acre park. Only the southern third of the entire park is considered a Natural Area.

As the only Natural Area adjacent to the Bay, India Basin has high unique natural resource and recreational values that include: recreational trail use on a segment of the Bay Trail; shoreline access to the Bay for fishing, kayaking and other water-dependent recreation; one of only a few tidal salt marsh wetlands in the City; suitable habitat for a variety of shore birds and foraging habitat for raptors; and views of the San Francisco Bay.

In 2016, the San Francisco Parks Alliance and Build Inc. sponsored a competition for a public 7.5-acre park on the India Basin Shoreline. Seattle-based landscape architecture firm GGN (Gustafson Guthrie Nichol) won the competition, focusing their proposal on a softened shoreline and connections to the existing neighborhood. With an emphasis on access, recreation, and habitat, the park is designed to "be an extension of the local culture and today's patterns of living."

References

References

1. Casey, Connor. (Spring 2007). "San Francisco's 'Butchertown' in the 1920s and 1930s: A Neighborhood Social History". San Francisco Museum and Historical Society }}{{Dead link.
2. Olmsted, Nancy J.. "Long Bridge and the Attack on Rincon Hill".
3. Casey, Conor. (2007). "Butchertown's Beginnings".
4. "Removal of the Butchers".
5. (April 2010). "Trail of Blood: The Movement of San Francisco's Butchertown and the Spatial Transformation of Meat Production, 1849–1901". The Spatial History Project.
6. (August 28, 1891). "The Offal and Bones". San Francisco Call.
7. Doolittle, Lot. (September 11, 1889). "Correspondence". The Weekly Calistogan.
8. (September 19, 1969). "Port to Expand Far East Terminal at India Basin". San Francisco Examiner.
9. (January 9, 1972). "Splash goes cargo". Arizona Republic.
10. Karlin, Sean. (December 16, 2020). "Iconic Bayview sign comes down for vital community center: Here's its surprising history".
11. Adams, Gerald. (August 31, 1975). "Will Butchertown Get The Business?". The San Francisco Examiner.
12. Adams, Gerald. (August 31, 1975). "Will Butchertown Get The Business?". The San Francisco Examiner.
13. (December 7, 1976). "S.F.'s India Basin: Reversing a trend". San Francisco Examiner.
14. Adams, Gerald. (December 19, 1979). "Nagging waterfront-plan questions". San Francisco Examiner.
15. "Status Report for the Board of Supervisors". Port of San Francisco.
16. Kelley & VerPlanck Historical Resources Consulting. (May 1, 2008). "India Basin Survey". Bayview Historical Society.
17. (December 10, 1968). "Proposed Redevelopment Plan for the Butchertown Redevelopment Project Area". San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.
18. "Heron's Head Park". Port of San Francisco.
19. "India Basin Shoreline Park". San Francisco Recreation & Parks.
20. (November 30, 2015). "India Basin Waterfront Parks & Trails". San Francisco Department of Recreation and Park.
21. "S.F. India Basin shoreline in running for major makeover". San Francisco Chronicle.
22. "Gustafson Guthrie Nichol to design San Francisco Shoreline Parks at the India Basin Waterfront - Archpaper.com".
23. "Visions of a new SF park in once-industrial waterfront space". San Francisco Chronicle.