Mount Olympus Park

Mount Olympus stands at an elevation of over five hundred feet and was once considered the true geographical center of San Francisco. In the late nineteenth century, this hilltop was a landmark destination, crowned by a twelve-foot concrete statue titled The Triumph of Light. The monument, donated to the city by wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor Adolph Sutro, depicted a Goddess of Liberty standing over a man who symbolized evil. On Thanksgiving Day in eighteen eighty-seven, the statue was unveiled to a crowd that included city officials, a military band, and the entire student body of the nearby Sanchez Street School. Sutro, who owned vast tracts of land across the city, intended the statue to serve as a beacon that would inspire citizens to noble deeds. For decades, the figure acted as a local landmark, and during the eighteen ninety-four Midwinter Fair, it was even illuminated by a powerful, swiveling spotlight from across the city that could focus on ships at sea. The statue endured a difficult life on the exposed peak. Sailors often complained that the figure's illuminated torch served as a distracting beacon for vessels entering the bay, and over time, the concrete form began to crumble from wind and weather. By the nineteen fifties, the once-proud Goddess of Liberty had lost both her sword and her torch to decay. The city eventually deemed the structure a public hazard and removed the remains in nineteen fifty-five. Today, you can see the empty, thirty-foot-tall stone pedestal that still stands at the dead end of Upper Terrace, a quiet reminder of a monument that once overlooked the entire city.