Alamo Square Park

Alamo Square Park began as a lonely, wind-swept hill marked only by a single cottonwood tree. This tree stood beside a natural watering hole that served as a vital stop for travelers on horseback moving between Mission Dolores and the Presidio in the mid-nineteenth century. The name itself reflects this origin, as alamo is the Spanish word for cottonwood. In eighteen fifty-six, Mayor James Van Ness officially designated this thirteen-acre site as a public park, preserving the high ground long before the grand Victorian mansions that now define its perimeter were ever conceived.