In the next few years, a large section of the Balboa Reservoir land will be developed as a housing project and park, making it a good time to review its long, complex, and often surprising history.
Here is a portion of the 1938 and 1948 aerial photos of San Francisco that shows the extensive farming in the area of Balboa Park below Havelock Street. This land had been used for the purpose of growing food from the 1890s until I-280 freeway was built in the 1960s. Some part of it was cultivated by inmates from the Ingleside Jail, but there was also a nursery business which leased land here.
1938 aerial photo of extensive vegetable gardens below Havelock Street in Balboa Park. Land here used for that purpose from 1890s through to construction of I-280 freeway in 1960s. CLICK FOR LARGER Photo from DavidRumsey.com, altered with labels. 1948 aerial photo of area around present Balboa Park, still being used for vegetable gardens. Photo from DavidRumsey.com, altered with labels.