Outside Lands

Outside Lands was the name used in the 19th century for the present-day Richmond District and Sunset District in San Francisco, California. With few roads and no public transportation, the area was covered by sand dunes and was considered inaccessible and uninhabitable. Today, after extensive development, the area is home to Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, and well-developed neighborhoods.

History

Like all of California, the Outside Lands were a Mexican possession until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February 1848 ceded it to the United States. The area was U.S. government land at the time of the Gold Rush. The City and County of San Francisco, which was growing rapidly, desired the land and petitioned for it in the 1850s. After years of court battles, the U.S. government declared the area part of San Francisco in 1866.

In 1866, the federal government upheld the city’s title to the Outside Lands against claims of squatters. During the course of lengthy litigation over the Outside Lands, local politicians, led by Frank McCoppin, and residents of San Francisco rallied for the establishment of a public park in the western quarter of the city. A supervisory committee subdivided the Outside Lands and proposed an arrangement whereby squatters could donate a portion of their claims for a public park in return for clear title to the remainder of their lands. The proposal won McCoppin the Mayor’s office, and gained the approval of the state legislature.

San Francisco

San Francisco (/sæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California and the only consolidated city-county in California. San Francisco encompasses a land area of about 46.9 square miles (121 km²) on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, which makes it the smallest county in the state. It has a density of about 18,187 people per square mile (7,022 people per km²), making it the most densely settled large city (population greater than 200,000) in the state of California and the second-most densely populated major city in the United States after New York City. San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in California, after Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, and the 13th-most populous city in the United States—with a Census-estimated 2014 population of 852,469. The city and its surrounding areas are known as the San Francisco Bay Area, and are a part of the larger OMB designated San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland combined statistical area, the fifth most populous in the nation with an estimated population of 8.6 million.

Land

Land, sometimes referred to as dry land, is the solid surface of the Earth that is not permanently covered by water. The vast majority of human activity occurs in land areas that support agriculture, habitat, and various natural resources.

Some life forms (including terrestrial plants and terrestrial animals) have developed from predecessor species that lived in bodies of water.

Areas where land meets large bodies of water are called coastal zones. The division between land and water is a fundamental concept to humans. The demarcation between land and water can vary by local jurisdiction and other factors. A maritime boundary is one example of a political demarcation. A variety of natural boundaries exist to help clearly define where water meets land. Solid rock landforms are easier to demarcate than marshy or swampy boundaries, where there is no clear point at which the land ends and a body of water has begun. Demarcation can further vary due to tides and weather.

Etymology and terminology

Outside

Outside may refer to:

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Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of 1,017 acres (412 ha) of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development of Golden Gate Park. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20 percent larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles (4.8 km) long east to west, and about half a mile (0.8 km) north to south. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the fifth most-visited city park in the United States after Central Park in New York City, Lincoln Park in Chicago, and Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park in San Diego.

History

In the 1860s, San Franciscans began to feel the need for a spacious public park similar to Central Park, which was then taking shape in New York City. Golden Gate Park was carved out of unpromising sand and shore dunes that were known as the Outside Lands, in an unincorporated area west of San Francisco’s then-current borders. Conceived ostensibly for recreation, the underlying purpose of the park was housing development and the westward expansion of the city. The tireless field engineer William Hammond Hall prepared a survey and topographic map of the park site in 1870 and became its commissioner in 1871. He was later named California's first state engineer and developed an integrated flood control system for the Sacramento Valley. The park drew its name from nearby Golden Gate Strait.