Golden Gate Park

San Francisco, CA, United States

The Golden Gate park is a large, urban park, 412 hectares (1.017 acres) in San Francisco , California, USA, managed by the Recreation & Parking Department of San Francisco, where the construction of the Golden Gate Park was initially supervised in 1871. Sitting as a rectangle, it is identical to New York City's Central Park, where it is frequently compared, but 20% larger. It is three miles (4.8 km) long from east to west, and about a half mile (0.8 km) from north to south. With 24 million visitors a year, Golden Gate is the third most-visited city park in the USA after Central Park and the Lincoln Memorial.

The 1,000 + acres of land once known as the "Outside Lands" wasn't a promising sight for a park, much like the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco which was dubbed "The Bridge That Couldn't Be Built." A residential oasis was later developed called Golden Gate Park, with master gardener John McLaren and field engineer William Hammond Hill.

The park was originally constructed by the architect William Hammond Hall, the builder and the first superintendent, in an unincorporated section of the Peninsula, called Outside Lands, on 1013 acres of wind-swept sand dunes beginning in 1870. The acreage with extension actually amounts to 1,017 acres.

The California Midwinter International Exhibition in 1894, the first international exhibition to be held in the United States west of the Mississippi, attracted 2 million visitors with its 180 structures set on 160 acres. The presence of the fair was the source of the Music Competition today.

The park has been used as a refuge since the devastating earthquake of 1906, forcibly camping 200,000 homeless people in rudimentary shelters, then temporary wood casers.

The park contains numerous exclusive gardens, including the Shakespeare Garden, the Rose Garden, the Japanese Tea Garden, Queen Wilhelmina Garden and the colorful floral plates of Conservatory Valley. Memorial trees include the National AIDS Memorial Grove, Heroes Grove, Redwood Memorial Grove and the Phil Arnold Oak Woodlands Walk.

The Conservatory of Flowers opened in 1879 as the first official building in the park. The 12,000 sq . ft., all coated in glass, includes mainly tropical plants. The middle of the dome still includes a giant philodendron, Phil, believed to be more than 100 years old. Today the park is home to some of San Francisco's most-visited attractions, including the Japanese Tea Garden, the San Francisco Botanical Garden, the de Young Museum, and the California Academy of Sciences.

The San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum contains 55 acres of 9,000 plants from all over the world. All of this is described in similar plant geography, groupings, or thematic settings. Bison has been in the park since 1891, due to the extinction threat. Today the species names reflect those of Native American origin.

Initially known as the Sharon Quarters for Children, today's Koret Playground, the first public playground in the USA. The park has five playgrounds for children within the park.

The park 's landscape includes 680 forested acres, 130 acres of meadows, 15 miles of roads and 33 acres of lakes. There are many open spaces and fields, as well. There are a wide range of dedicated sports facilities, parks, and courts including soccer, baseball , basketball, hockey, cycling, horseshoe throwing, golf, petanque, archery, and disc golf. The park holds several free annual activities including Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Opera in the Park, and Comedy Day.

Cultural institutions such as the De Young Museum, established in 1895, and the California Academy of Sciences, opened for the first time in 1923. Numerous statues and monuments are also to be found. The average annual attendance is estimated at 25 million people. Half of these are locals, a fourth are Bay Area residents and the balance is outside the Bay Area.