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Dairy farms in the Richmond District? Yes, once upon a time.


Old Park Farm, or Richmond Dairy, looking southeast across 21st Avenue from Clement Street, circa 1908. Strawberry Hill on the right and Affiliated Colleges, today’s UCSF, in the distance behind windmill. – Courtesy of outsidelands.org

The photo above is one of the first “jaw-droppers” I came across when I started this blog a few years ago. Our neighborhood was once known as the Outside Lands, with nothing but miles of sand dunes. So it shouldn’t be that surprising to see a vintage photo of a dairy farm at 21st and Clement. Still, there’s something odd about imagining cattle roaming around an area that is now home to Aladdin Rugs.

The photo is part of an interesting article, “Farms? In San Francisco?”, published in the Western Neighborhoods Project October 2011 newsletter:

Just a few blocks east, at the intersection of 21st Avenue and Clement Street, stood one of the pioneer dairies of the area. Theophilis Patten ran thirty-three head of cattle in the middle of the growing residential neighborhood, pasturing the cows on open hills nearby. Patten had started the dairy in 1880, when Point Lobos Road (Geary Boulevard today) was the only path out from the city and not another building stood within a mile. “The life of this dairyman as he galloped over the hills to collect his cows, smacked of that of the cow punchers.”

The article also talks about a bustling dog kennel that operated at 25th Avenue and Lake. Read the full article at outsidelands.org

Mooooooo!

Sarah B.


The same view in present day of the southeast corner of 21st and Clement

5 Comments

  1. In addition to the dairy’s on 21st and Clement, there was one on Clement at 32nd (across from the then Sutro Railroad Company Car Barn).

    Here is a 1899 Sanburn map for that block: http://goo.gl/lYAYi

    The detailed parcel map shows where everything used to sit on the farm, which is pretty amazing. And here is a more detailed scan of the photo which Outsidelands.org has in their blog post: http://goo.gl/AiyXa

  2. Also decided to pull up the 1899 Sanborn maps for the block at 21st and Clement. The Geary (or Point Lobos, at the time) side shows the farm in the photograph in this article. You can even see the “Wind Mill & water Tank Elevated 20′” at the 20th Avenue side of the block, which is clearly visible in the photo above as well.

  3. thanks for the info, serge! i live right there. pretty amazing what a bunch of years can do (or undo).

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