Avenue of Palms

Avenue of Palms
Palms

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Whither are the Palms Bound?


Here you can see that there were still palms languishing

along the Avenue of Palms as the buildings came crashing down.

San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California) ·
Sun, Apr 16, 1916 · Page 29 

(newspapers.com) 

Everyone knows that the palms came back to Niles from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, right? But where is this written? I've searched for years for some record or news article that talked about it.

The Exposition ended on December 4th, 1915. The palms were still there four months later. The water pipes were removed in the spring of 2016. A plea to the community to save the palms was made in October 2016. After a summer with no water? And then still there a year later. 

Is there any truth to the palms "coming home"? Or is it fakelore, a story that people made up and people like to hear.


Why wouldn't it be equally interesting to know where they actually went after the Exposition? 

After putting together the story of how the palms got to San Francisco, I began to doubt that the palms came back. It was a huge amount of effort and expense to get them there. The exposition team did the actual moving of the palms to SF, not the nursery. Who would have paid that same huge expense for them to come back? Could you sell the palms for more than it would cost to hire a crane, a dray, shipping via train and ferry, and then once in Niles another crane, and a dray?

How many palms were there?
A thorough search of the shipping records showed the purchase of 71 Phoenix canariensis and 104 Washingtonia robusta. The bill totaled $2,672 just for the palms, no labor. Thirteen additional P. canariensis were ordered on July, 10, 1914. That's a total of 188 palms. 

The Exposition team boxed the trees in Niles (not the nursery workers) which was stated on one record. There were a couple of charges for teams of men and horses. Perhaps to get some additional help needed to load the palms. 

Who moved the big trees for the Exposition?
The Exposition team had a dedicated and experienced large tree moving team that moved big cypresses and other trees from all over the Bay area. Since there were no charges for shipping the palms, it was more likely that the Exposition paid for the moving and shipping of the palms. Not the California Nursery. The dray in this photo? It was not a nursery dray, but the Overland Freight & Transportation Company. The nursery grew the trees, but did not move them.

Were the palms paid for or not?
Theory #1 The Exposition did not pay for the palms so they were returned
The lore is that all of the palms all came back to the California Nursery after the PPIE, because they were never paid for. Then they were planted right back where they were taken from. 

I've never seen anything that said that they were not paid for. Remember, the Roeding family did not buy the nursery until two or three years later. They were not there right after the PPIE. The shipping records did not reveal anything all the way to 1917. Would the Roeding family have known the details? Perhaps from talking to workers who were there. That's possible.

Theory #2 The Exposition paid for the palms and paid for them to come back
Even if the palms were paid for originally, who would have paid for the palms to return? The cash strapped Exposition? They were selling every door knob and glass pane and azalea. They were under a deadline to return the leased property back to the owners.

Remember it was not an easy task in 1914 to get the palms to SF in the first place. Where would the labor have come from to move them? The nursery that did not have the cranes and drays to move them and would have had by rent them? Unlikely.

Would anyone have laid out more money to pay to re-box the trees, to pay for the cranes to load them onto railroad cars, to ferry them across the bay, to transfer them from Oakland pier, then to Eberly siding, using the primitive horse drawn dray to haul them 1/2 mile to their "original spot"? Then the workers who would have to resettle them in place and water them until established again? 

Why wouldn't the Exposition have cut their losses, like they were doing with the buildings. Would they have just pushed them into the bay with all the other fill from the rubble of the buildings that were torn down to fill in the Marina district? Some of the PPIE grounds were former marshlands and bay that was filled in for the Exposition. (See Laura Ackley and Frank Morton Todd books)
Details about the number of palms and who moved the palms is included in this article. March 28, 2014 - This issue is not in the California Revealed set. [Washington Press March 28 1914 .jpg]





































Wreckage and Salvage 
After the Exposition ended, nearly everything was torn down and salvaged. The Salvage and Wreckage files at the Bancroft library, when examined years ago, did not yield any information about the fate of the palms or even any purchases of huge palms by anyone after the Exposition was over. Lots of shrubs and small plants were bought. (see the Wreckage and Salvage XXXVIII Chapter in Frank Morton Todd.) "The Landscape Department naturally took charge of the sales of plants." [Some of these records were looked at, but a new review in the timeframe of late 1916 would help.]


Timeline of events for the Avenue of Palms - winding down

Plea Made to Save Avenue of Palms (Three Months before the End of the PPIE)

Many people in the city wanted to save some of the wonderful things that were built for the exposition.
October 25, 1915, Berkeley Daily Gazette



John McLaren wanted the Avenue of Palms to be saved.

This report, however, is full of glaring inaccuracies.

Did John McLaren really say that the palms came from Palmdale? The palms came from the California Nursery, not from Palmdale. Palmdale is three miles from the Irvington rail station. It was a half mile to Eberly spur. There are plenty of photos showing the moving of the palms at the nursery.

The landscape plan for the Exposition was on display at the California Historical Society in 2015. The number of palms on the landscape plan matched up with the California Nursery Company nursery order pretty closely.

This actually confirms some people's suspicions that John McLaren's son, Donald, actually did quite a bit of work under his father and that his work was not acknowledged. 

The palms were moved six months before the Exposition started not three months.












Save the Avenue of Palms (Three Months before the end of the PPIE)

SF Chronicle, Oct. 19, 1915.  One of John McLaren's fans, Mrs. Williams, agrees.


Water Pipes Salvaged (March and April 1916 Four Months after the End of the PPIE)

Once the water pipe is gone, who is watering the valuable plants over the summer? Many ads were run advertising for the water pipe. Here's one. March and April 1916.

Thrills Promised in Toppling Three Italian Towers (April 1916, Four Months after)

See the first article and notice that the palms are still present on the Avenue of Palms. 
[San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California) Sun, Apr 16, 1916 · Page 29] (newspapers.com) 

Wrecking of Exposition Slow Work (November 11, 1916)

"The palms meet with no demand, for the reason of their great size and the cost of taking them out and transporting them. They will probably be cut down. The shrubbery, however, is sought after. It is readily removed and transported."

SF Highways Thanksgiving Parade Boast ... The Palms were still there in November 18, 1916

In the SF Call, "Mr. de Young then presented his plan of saving the Avenue of Palms and making it the connecting link of the city's boulevard system. It was his idea that assignments be secured from the Exposition stockholders and the dividends of this stock used to finance the preservation movement. This suggestion was put into the form of a resolution then and there and unanimously adopted, and by the method thus these funds were obtained." 

Exciting! The Avenue of Palms could have become a city boulevard...But it was not. 

Perhaps reading the news from November 18 on will show what really happened. Possibly a subsequent stakeholder meeting will have notes.

The Big Parade November 20, 1916

"Everybody Fall in Line"
SF Call Nov. 20, 1916


November 27, 1916

November 29, 1916

November 30, 1916

32,000 HAIL BOULEVARD SYSTEM BEAUTY (December 1, 1916)

But nothing about the Avenue of Palms! So between November 18 and December 1st the fate of the Avenue of Palms was decided?
December 1st report on the parade


By actual count, there were 8000 machines in the Exposition Marina opening parade yesterday, which carried 32,000 .persons around the entire route, twenty eight miles, over the city's scenic boulevard system. And by unanimous agreement, it was the most inspiring, the most novel, the most successful and largest parade of this kind ever held in San Francisco. It was more than a parade. It was a caravan of discovery. Thirty-two thousand San Franciscans discovered the wonders of their own city. A good many of them had been around this route before. But somehow yesterday things were different. The real significance of it all burst upon those who made the trip. WONDERS REALIZED The possibilities that exist here for wonderful drives, the great asset which such drives constitute, the wonders that are all around the city --- the real, full, deep meaning of California and of San Francisco --- were brought home to the consciousness of those 32,000 paraders. The parade --- successful in every way beyond the expectations of the most enthusiastic and optimistic of the great parade committee, passed into history without the slightest mishap to mar its perfection. On Twin Peaks, in the reviewing stand, from where the guests of honor could watch the long line of cars pass, come and go, and from where they had the most sweeping, magnificent view of the city and its surroundings, stood Governor Hiram Johnson, Mayor James Rolph Jr., Marshal Hale, Captain John Barneson, C. C. Moore. George Cameron, A. J. Gallagher, Richard J. Welch, Charles A. Nelson, M. H. de Young, Judge W. W. Morrow, M. M. O'Shaughnessy. To have these men impressed, as they were impressed, with the view before them, with the automobiles by the thousands passing in an endless line, with a great boulevard system, nearly completed, as the cause of the celebration, meant a great deal to San Francisco, and to California. These men are all builders. STORE FOR MEMORY What they saw and felt yesterday can not forget. Great boulevard projects, conceived, or still waiting to be brought into existence, will feel the result of yesterday's demonstration. That is another thing that all who were in yesterday's wonder-drive are agreed upon. More than 5600 cars passed this reviewing stand on the top of Twin Peaks. And about half that number did not make the climb, but took other routes after leaving the Exposition Marina line. The paraders were impressed with the Exposition preservation work. The Column of Progress, which has been saved, the Marina, along the bay shore, the California Building, now being remodeled for the State Normal School, and last, but not least, the Palace of Fine Arts. All else of the dream of 1915 was flat upon the ground, but these stood along the parade line in all their beauty, in all their majesty --- a majesty which surprised those who saw them again for the first time yesterday since the Exposition closed, and all other buildings have been torn down. But a year hence this part of the city's scenic views will look very different. It is now in a state of construction. A year hence, when the Marina has been rebuilt, the Exposition grounds have become a beautiful residence park, and the workmen are gone, and more of the boulevards now under construction are completed, another parade, such as was held yesterday, will find many new wonders to marvel at."

"...more of the boulevards..."? Is there still hope for the Avenue of Palms?

Wreckers Invade Last Fair Hall (December 2, 1916, One year after the End of the PPIE)

The SF Call reported on December 2, 1916 that "In a few weeks only the palms and trees surrounding the building will be left., and according to the Symon Brothers Wrecking Company, no disposition has been made of them. Many costly plants are dying for want of care." The building referred to here is the Service Building which was on the east end of the Avenue of Palms. This does not say all palms on the Avenue of Palms, but around the service building. Worth exploring.

What happened to the plan to save the Avenue of Palms? Were they too far gone to preserve them?

Had the 11-miles of railroad tracks been pulled up already so there was no way to transport them from the grounds? So the alternatives would have been few.


Unknown Date





If all the Niles palms went to the Exposition in 1914, why can you still see palms in the 1915 photos?


A photo from 1915 shows palms on the eastern edge of the nursery ... Why are there still palms here in 1915 if they all went to the fair in 1914?
  • [niles west view school copy] 

You need to look at the original enlarged to better see the palms. You can see the Essanay glass houses, the old school, and the Essanay bungalows.



  • A photo taken from the Essanay buildings in 1915 show palms along the eastern side of the nursery. These would be the palms that had to stay home. They were furthest from the loading dock.
  • Records show that the palms were shipped by Western Pacific, which meant that they would have left from Eberly spur  where Rancho Arroyo Park is today, not from Niles station.
  • If you were to haul a 30 ton palm, would you pick the palms that were furthest from the destination of Eberly Spur? Or would you have taken the palms closest to where they would have been loaded?
  • Maybe there was a double row of palms originally and they left a single row? There are no photos prior to 1914 showing that there was a single or double row.
  • There is a photo of a tightly planted row of palms that says that they were being prepared for the exposition? Did they take every other palm? Or is this another place where the palms were planted. Check on the earliest planting books.
OK so maybe some palms had to stay behind?
  • And anyway why would they have taken all the palms if the landscape plan didn't call for that number?

Alternative places that the palms may have gone. 
  • Landfill in the new Marina district neighorhood, formerly marsh and bay.
  • Viña del Mar Park in Sausalito has the PPIE elephant fountain and two large palms? It's just a ferry ride across the bay. Did the two palms come with? 
  • San Mateo Park neighborhood designed by John McLaren. The neighborhood was along the railroad. The tunnel was finished by then, you know, the Dirty Harry tunnel, so the palms could just be placed onto the train at the exposition and unloaded at the neighborhood train station. But the neighborhood predated the PPIE. Another neighborhood down there? There are palms there.
  • Burlingame Highlands and other neighborhoods? San Mateo Park and Hayward Park: Over 100 type of trees were selected by John McLaren. The articles refer to "Landscape Engineers" and palms [San_Francisco_Chronicle_Sat__May_20__1916_] The train could have brought trees from the Exposition to the Peninsula.

  • Clark Drive in San Mateo Park

  • The Santa Venetia neighborhood in Marin County. Big dreams with buildings shipped from the PPIE and a "few palms" planned and failed, with the "endorsement of such experts as Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McLaren and architect Bernard Maybeck."?
  • Main Post site at Presidio - notice that the palms are alternating Canary Island date palms and fan palms, just like the Avenue of Palms. (check the archives at the Presidio) This would have been a good exercise for the military to practice moving large items. The post is just a hop skip and jump from the Avenue of palms, about 3/4 of a mile to a mile. 

Main Post at the Presido - 34 Graham Street 


More references from here

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