Introduction to the Dogpatch
The Dogpatch neighborhood is located on the flats east of Potrero Hill, bordered by Mariposa street to the north, I-280 to the west, Tubbs street to the south and the waterfront to the east. The Dogpatch is home to some of the oldest buildings in San Francisco, having survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, and contains many historically significant warehouses, factories, and public buildings built between 1860 and 1945. Some of the oldest and most important industrial sites on the west coast, such as Union Iron Works and Pacific Gas Co. were built on Potrero Point, and no other district in San Francisco or California was industrialized as the Dogpatch during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
The gold rush in 1948 marked the beginning of California’s industrialization, and in 1954 E. I . du Pont de Nemours Company began production of black powder on a patch of land protruding into the bay at Point San Quentin, now known as Potrero point. This was the first black powder factory on the west coast and the largest in the country and started the industrialization of Potrero Point.
In 1857, S.F. Cordage Company, later named Tubbs Cordage Co., began production of rope and soon became the largest employer of the area until Union Iron works opened in 1883. By 1860 the area had become the city’s most important center for heavy industry, and employed thousands of industrial workers and craftsmen. This marked the birth of the Dogpatch neighborhood, established by young Irish, Scottish and English immigrants working at the factories. The Dogpatch is still home to some of the oldest houses in the city.
Union Iron Works founded in 1849 as little more than a blacksmith’s shop, and was the first iron works established on the West Coast. In 1883 contruction was completed on the new production plant at Potrero point, and soon became the most important industry in the central waterfront, producing nearly all of the ships for the US Navy during World War I. f World War II, and the largest employer of local residents. After WWII, Union Iron Works became known as Bethlehem Steel Co. and eventually grew to encompass most of Potrero Point after buying up local competition. Many of the buildings used for production of steel and iron for shipbuilding, as well as the drydocks once used to build ships for World War I still exist in the Dogpatch’s waterfront.
