How did this 40 acre parcel of San Francisco's waterfront become preserved and gain its maritime history mission? The answer, as is often the case with parks, is a story about people with passion.
First were the swimmers. As early as the 1860's, swimmers used the sandy beach of Black Cove, now Aquatic Park. In 1914 the city responded to demands to preserve the cove from commercial development. In the 1930's the city partnered with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to build an art deco style bath house at the cove.
This beach-oriented city park took on a new mission through the initiative of one man: Karl Kortum who was passionate about ships and the sea. He threw himself into the creation of a maritime museum in the city by the bay. Established in 1950 at the bath house, the museum featured wooden models of ships.
Then in 1953 the collection went full scale. Kortum and a handful of friends acquired an old sailing vessel, the Balclutha, which had been lying derelict on the Sausalito mud flats and restored it. This ship became the centerpiece of a collection of sail and steam vessels anchored at Hyde Street pier for viewing and voyages on the bay.
The museum became San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in 1989. Its mission is not focused on San Francisco alone, but on interpreting America’s seafaring heritage with a particular emphasis on the Pacific Coast. Opposite the Hyde Street Pier, the park’s visitor center offers spectacular exhibits about San Francisco’s maritime history. The original bath house that started it all, its murals recently restored and new exhibits installed, is once again a major attraction.
