San Francisco, California story
A Gift of Green
Imagine the west side of the city as a vast expanse of shifting sand dunes. That's what Golden Gate Park was before 1870. It took a multiyear effort to transform those dunes into…
Read the story
Imagine the west side of the city as a vast expanse of shifting sand dunes. That's what Golden Gate Park was before 1870. It took a multiyear effort to transform those dunes into the one-thousand-and-seventeen-acre oasis we see today.
Along the way, the city received some unique help. Between 1905 and 1907, banker Samuel G. Murphy gifted the city a massive windmill.
It wasn't just for show; the Murphy Windmill actually helped pump the water needed to turn the sandy wasteland into a green paradise. It's commonly believed to be the largest windmill of its kind in the world. If you visit on a weekend or holiday, you can still see those giant sails spinning, a mechanical reminder of the engineering that built the park.
Updated June 2026