From Windswept Dunes to Green Oasis: How Persistence Shaped Golden Gate Park in 1868

Sometimes the real challenge isn’t approving a new solution—it’s actually implementing it.💡

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In 1868, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors approved a measure to reserve a strip of windswept dunes, three miles long and half a mile wide, on the city’s western edge. This area would later become the stunning Golden Gate Park. San Francisco aspired to be like New York—a modern city with a beautiful green refuge from urban density.

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The challenge was planting trees and shrubs in the dunes. 🌱 The shifting, windblown sands made it nearly impossible for anything to take root. A local newspaper, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, wrote, 'A blade of grass cannot be raised without four posts to keep it from blowing away.'

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Despite this, the park’s first engineer, William Hammond Hall, persisted. Within five years, the park began to take shape. Hall was only 25 years old and had no formal training in landscape architecture, but he was bold enough to submit the lowest bid when the city published the proposal for a topographical survey.

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Hammond overcame every challenge. He installed Dutch windmills to irrigate the park and collected horse manure from across the city to fertilize the sandy soil. Before his efforts, the sweepings were dumped into the Bay instead of being used to benefit the city park.

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His persistence earned William Hammond Hall the title of 'the father of landscape architecture in California.' What an extraordinary man he was! Never afraid of a challenge — just like Fieldman 👷‍♂️ empowers teams to overcome obstacles and achieve extraordinary results. 🚀