Before the Construction of SF State Lake Merced Campus (c. early 1950s)

About This Item

View of the largely undeveloped Lake Merced site prior to major construction of the new San Francisco State College campus, circa early 1950s. The landscape consists primarily of open fields, brush, and graded earth. A Parkmerced apartment tower is visible at right, situating the future campus within the rapidly growing southwest section of San Francisco. Within a few years, this open land would transform into the college’s new 19th Avenue campus, replacing the overcrowded Haight and Buchanan Street site.

Identifier
TP-ATA-0475
Context

The old San Francisco State College campus at Haight & Buchanan Streets operated from the early 20th century through 1952. As enrollment rapidly grew in the 1930s, the campus became overcrowded and a search for a larger location began. Classes officially moved to to the 19th Avenue location in 1953.

 

Credits: Some descriptions were developed with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model by OpenAI.

Geographic Coverage
San Francisco, CA
Temporal Coverage
1950s
Type
Still Image
Format
12x7 Print
Source
San Francisco State University Archives
Rights
Public
Views
507

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