Historic Landmarks of San Francisco

Glen Park is one of the City’s most charming neighborhoods. With its own Main Street (Bosworth Street) and its own businesses, shops, and restaurants, Glen Park has a small village atmosphere. It even has its own BART Station!

Glen Canyon is a topographical formation, an arroyo formed by the headwaters of Islais Creek. The Canyon is located to the west of Glen Park and extends all the way to a summit at Portola Drive. The geology of the area is complex, with rock types including pillow basalt, radiolarian chert, and other elements of the Franciscan Formation.

Glen Canyon Park is a municipal green space occupied by the canyon. It has soccer fields, a baseball diamond, tennis courts, a playground for kids, a cooperative nursery, and even a natural area with hiking trails. It now seems an unlikely spot for a dynamite factory, but in 1868 the area, then called Rock Canyon, was uninhabited. The 1869 explosion, mentioned on the plaque (see below), resulted in two deaths and nine non-fatal injuries. The factory was then removed to an even more remote location, in what were then sand dunes. The location is now bordered by Kirkham and Ortega Streets and 20th and 32nd Avenues. The new site was active from 1870 to 1879, when another explosion occurred, taking four lives. The enterprise then left the City for good, relocating to the East Bay, for which the current residents of the Glen Park are no doubt thankful!