San Francisco, California story
Taming the Dunes
It's hard to imagine now, but Golden Gate Park was once a wasteland of shifting sand dunes. When the park opened in 1870, it took a multiyear effort to transform that desert into…
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It's hard to imagine now, but Golden Gate Park was once a wasteland of shifting sand dunes. When the park opened in 1870, it took a multiyear effort to transform that desert into a green oasis. One of the most surprising tools in this transformation was the Murphy Windmill.
Built between 1905 and 1907 as a gift from banker Samuel G. Murphy, this massive structure—believed to be the largest of its kind in the world—helped pump the water necessary to make the greenery grow. From the Victorian wood-and-glass Conservatory of Flowers, completed in 1879, to the spinning sails of the windmill, the park is a testament to early 20th-century engineering and the sheer will to reshape the California coast.
Updated June 2026