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Guide to the Woodward's Gardens collection
M000020
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Collection Title: Woodward's Gardens collection
Dates: 1872-1877
Identification: M000020
Physical Description: 2.00
Language of Materials:
English
Repository:
Sutro Library, California State Library
1630 Holloway Avenue
5th floor
San Francisco, CA, 94132-4030
URL: http://www.library.ca.gov/about/sutro_main.html
Email: sutro@library.ca.gov
Phone: 415-469-6100
Robert B. Woodward was born in Rhode Island in 1824, came to California in 1849, and four years later opened a hotel called
the What Cheer House on Sacramento Street in San Francisco. The success of this hotel enabled Woodward to buy a plot of land
on Mission Street for his estate, on which he built a house and filled the property with plants, animals and art. He eventually
opened his estate to the public, which he named "Woodward's Gardens" and moved his family to Napa. Woodward opened
his four-acre former country estate in 1865 or 1866, and San Franciscans flocked to this botanical gardens/ amusement park.
Woodward's Gardens contained a museum, a zoo, an aquarium, a "rotary boat," and a 5000-seat pavilion. It became the site for
such events as balloon ascensions, and was popular with San Franciscans because of it's relaxed country setting, its family-oriented
entertainment, and its accessibility via the horsecars of R. B. Woodward's City Railroad Company along with the Sutter Street
Railroad's fabled "balloon cars." Following Robert B. Woodward's death in 1879, the Woodward's Gardens property passed to
his heirs, who did not maintain it to its previous standards. After his children reached adulthood, Woodward's estate was
contested in court, resulting in an even distribution among his heirs meaning that the Gardens would not remain open. By then
such locations as Golden Gate Park and the Cliff House had replaced Woodward's as San Franciscans' favored weekend destinations.
Woodward's Gardens closed late in 1891. In April 1893 its collections were auctioned, a large percentage of which went to
Adolph Sutro. The following year the remaining buildings, except the pavilion, were razed, the land was subdivided, and residences
were built on the property. Woodward's Pavilion, however, remained a popular venue for boxing matches and other events until
the 1906 disaster.
Property rights reside with the repository. Any applicable literary rights would reside with the creators of the documents
or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please email sutro@library.ca.gov .
The collection is open for research. Please page materials three business days in advance of your visit by email: sutro@library.ca.gov
.
[Identification of item] Woodward's Gardens collection, 1872-1877, M000020, Sutro Library, California State Library, San Francisco,
Calif.
Physical Characteristics or Technical Requirements:
2 linear feet.
The original order was not known at the time of the collection's processing in 2019. Aged glue stains appear on the backs
of the letters implying that they could have been bound together and gluded into a book but it is unknown if the order was
by date, subject or alphabetical. Currently, the collection is arranged by alphabetical order.
The collection consists of two series: correspondence and filecards pertaining to the Woodward's Gardens library. series 1
contains correspondence to Robert B. Woodward (although some are addressed to others at Woodward's Gardens) about possible
donations or sale of items and animals to the Woodward's Gardens' collections. Many of the letters have Woodward's draft
replies penciled on them. series 2 contains handwritten file cards with biblographic information on books acquired by Adolph
Sutro from Woodward's Gardens.