Crissy Field Overview

Crissy Field occupies land that was once a tidal marsh used by the Ramaytush Ohlone people for harvesting shellfish and gathering food. An ancestral shell mound found on the site provides evidence of human settlement here dating back to the year seven hundred forty. The area remained a wild marshland for centuries until it was systematically filled in during the late nineteenth century to prepare the ground for the nineteen fifteen Panama-Pacific International Exposition. This layer of imported earth later served as the foundation for a pivotal chapter in American military aviation.