Dogpatch History
Excerpted and revised from the Dogpatch Historical District Application.
Read the entire article here, The Story of Dogpatch.
Explore history right where you find it through our History Hunt Walking Tour of Dogpatch and Potrero
Historical Dogpatch is an approximately nine-block enclave of industrial workers’ housing located east of Potrero Hill, in San Francisco’s Central Waterfront district. The neighborhood is comprised of almost one-hundred flats and cottages, as well as several commercial, industrial and civic buildings, most of which were erected between 1870 and 1930.
Credits by photo to OpenSFHistory, SFPL Historic Library, David Rumsey Historical Map Collection,
Dogpatch is also significant on the local level under Criterion A, under the category of Exploration/Settlement, as the first housing developed in the Potrero District. Initially developed in the early 1870s, Dogpatch became the nucleus of the Potrero District that would evolve after the 1906 earthquake. Finally, Dogpatch is significant under Criterion C as a moderately intact district of mostly Victorian and Edwardian-era era workers’ dwellings constructed between 1870 and 1910. The district has several clusters and pairs of identical dwellings, including a group of thirteen identical Eastlake-style cottages based on the plans of San Francisco architect John Cotter Pelton, Jr. While the significance of Union Iron Works/Bethlehem Steel is national, the significance of Dogpatch is local.
The period of significance for the survey area dates from 1867, the opening of Long Bridge and the beginning of construction in the neighborhood, to the end of World War II.
DNA works to save historic resources within the District and along the adjacent Central Waterfront.
DNA sponsors activities that bring all those who live, work and play in Dogpatch together.